Photo By Lt. Col. Simon Flake | 49th Multifunctional Medical Battalion Food Operations Specialist, Jonathan Velez,...... read more read more
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Puerto Nuevo, Puerto Rico -- According to the Joint Culinary Center of Excellence, "The Philip A. Connelly Program is the personification of food service excellence executed by culinary specialists resulting in the presentation of extremely gratifying dining experiences across all Army food service platforms in garrison and field environments."
In the experience of the 49th Multifunctional Medical Battalion, the food service platform is a field environment. The 49th MMB distinguished itself by advancing through several stages into an elite category of competitors in 2017 Philip A. Connelly Competition. The 49th MMB is one of only four United States Army Reserve units who remain active in this competition. The winner will be selected in April and honored in May at the National Restaurant Association Headquarters in Chicago, Ill.
The Food Program Manager for 3rd Medical Command Deployment Support, CW3 William Goebel said, "This is the Superbowl of food service for field feeding. It's also a unit exercise, not just cooking. The entire unit contributes in this training and is evaluated by graders for logistics, security, site layout, power, and water."
The soldiers of the 49th MMB get inspired as they reflect upon their journey to this point in the competition. Sgt. Liza Baez, the Dining Facility Manager for the 49th MMB, said, "We are at the Department of the Army level, we never thought we were going to be here. In the beginning it was really hard, we didn't feel like we were prepared, but now I'm comfortable because our team has experience from last year and things run smoothly. I notice a big difference from when we first started."
Experience is always a plus but it doesn't negate the challenges presented by the field environment. 1st Cook, Sgt. Israel Mendez said, "We do most of this stuff on a regular basis, but the environment and terrain present the biggest challenge. Prior to this competition, it rained for a month making engineer support a necessity to ensure our equipment remained level throughout operations."
As competition heats up two evaluators from the United States Army Reserve Command, CW5 Pamela Null and CW4 Kim Shiner, and one evaluator from the National Restaurant Association Military Foundation, Mr. Samuel Stanovich, test, observe, inspect and score the 49th MMB Food Operations Team to decide where they rank in the final stages of competition and also to ensure they remain in compliance with all standard procedures.
As the competition in Puerto Nuevo closes the 49th MMB Food Operations Team is awarded a golden plate by their evaluators for making it to the Department of the Army stage of 2017 Philip A. Connelly Competition.
The evaluators will conduct identical testing and observation with the other three reserve units between now and April and then crown a Department of the Army Level 2017 Philip A. Connelly United States Army Reserve Champion in May at the National Restaurant Association in Chicago, Ill.
3rd Medical Command Deployment Support is a senior deployable medical command and control headquarters, providing support to U.S. Army Africa and U.S. Army Central areas of operation. The division provides support and technical supervision for more than 6,515 soldiers and civilians located in 21 states and Puerto Rico to prepare and provide trained and ready soldiers and units to U.S. Army Reserve Command for mobilization. Capabilities include health care specialists, X-ray technicians, ophthalmology, nurses, physician assistants, physicians, dentists, surgeons, and veterinarians.
| Date Taken: | 03.12.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 03.15.2017 13:30 |
| Story ID: | 226809 |
| Location: | PUERTO NUEVO, PR |
| Web Views: | 122 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, The 49th Multifunctional Medical Battalion Delivers at the Philip A. Connelly Competition, by LTC Simon Flake, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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