Cooking and Healing Going Hand in Hand

U.S. 5TH FLEET AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY

04.28.2017

Courtesy Story

USS Bataan (LHD 5)

U.S. 5th FLEET AREA OF OPERATIONS – In one hand a shimmering stethoscope, in the other a glistening spatula, Culinary Specialist 3rd Class Christine Stenger works as both a cook and medical professional aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5).

Never judge a book by its cover is how the old saying goes. This saying applies to many Sailors in the Navy, especially Stenger.

Stenger is a 2014 graduate of Walsh University in Ohio and holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing.

Stenger joined the Navy in December 2014, hoping to be selected for the nurse commissioning program. “I think the Navy has the best medical advancement field out of all the branches,” said Stenger. “I was hoping later to go to the Marine Corps side to work with them after commissioning.”

However, when Stegner went to apply to the program the quotas had been filled for the year. Not wanting to wait till the next board and still wanting to make a difference and serve her country with her nursing goal in mind; she decided to go the enlisted route.

“I went to the enlisted recruiter, I picked Cryptologic Technician Interpretive (CTI) rate, which is a linguist job,” said Stenger.

After going through the linguist program, before she could graduate she had to take a proficiency board to completely qualify for the rate. “I didn’t score at the certain level they want you to reach, so I had to re-rate” said Stenger.

At the time she needed to re-rate, Hospital Corpsman was unavailable, so she chose Culinary Specialist.

In November 2016, she reported to the Bataan working in the ship’s galley, feeding a crew of Sailors and Marines that number over 2,000 daily.

When Stenger isn’t cooking for the crew, she’s helping heal the crew. When the ship’s medical department opens for sick call, she switches out her apron and chef hat for scrubs and throws a stethoscope around her neck.

Stenger leaves the galley after breakfast and works in the Medical ward during sick call hours seeing patients and working alongside with corpsman, doctors, and nurses. The goal is to help her gain experience, keep her skills sharp and build her package to submit to the nurse officer commissioning board later on this year.

“When we found out that Stenger was already a nurse, we wanted to get her into medical for skill sustainment and experience, and integrate her into our team,” said Lt. Matthew Forbes, Bataan’s medical administration officer. “She gets to work alongside our intensive care unit nurse, our operating room nurse and work during sick call, so she is not only seeing patients, but she gets to work alongside her nursing peers.”

With unlimited possibilities in the Navy, Stenger is optimistic about her future and sees her goals being met in the coming future.

Stenger is on her first deployment aboard Bataan and it’s ready group as part of a regular rotation of forces to support maritime security operations, provide crisis response capability, and increase theater security cooperation while providing a forward naval presence in the U.S. 5th and U.S. 6th Fleet areas of operation.

• Date Taken: 04.28.2017
• Date Posted: 04.30.2017 03:19
• Story ID: 232066
• Location: U.S. 5TH FLEET AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY