Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Danilo Reynoso | 180424-N-VO895-0004 NORFOLK, Va. (April 24, 2018) - Culinary Specialist 2nd Class...... read more read more
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The fitness center had the aroma of a five star restaurant. Walking through the enormous gym’s double doors, amphibious assault ship USS Bataan’s (LHD 5) Culinary Specialist Second Class Emily Whittaker felt right at home.
For many, the 43rd annual Joint Culinary Training Exercise (JCTE) held at Fort Lee, Virginia is the armed forces culinary arts version of the war games. The gym itself is an old hangar bay turned into a cooking exposition of exquisite smells and fine cooking that one would expect to spend hundreds on the bill. These smells can be attributed to U.S. and international military cooking teams from all over the world; teams from Korea, Britain and France to name a few.
An Olympic style cooking competition, JCTE hosted 17 teams this year and over 237 competitors. For this Longview, Washington native, this year marked her second return to JCTE.
“This year I was placed as team manager. Managers are usually the person with the huge knowledge bank,” said Whittaker. She went on to explain the rigorous preparation that goes into this fierce competition. “The Navy culinary arts team started practicing January 16 at Fort Pickett, Virginia. We trained for about two months and then traveled to Fort Lee where we competed.”
Her leadership and extensive cooking expertise helped the Navy team win 11 bronze and eight silver medals across multiple categories.
Events such as these are important to Sailors as they strengthen moral, offer extensive job training and overall invaluable experience.
“When I went my first year, I was not planning on reenlisting in the Navy, but because of how this opened my eyes and how it’s presented itself as an opportunity; I’ve reenlisted for another six years and I am looking to do 20,” said Whittaker. “It’s definitely worth it for the level of knowledge that they instill.”
Whittaker encourages junior and senior Sailors to take advantage of opportunities the armed forces provide such as this competition. For Chief Warrant Officer Donnie Townsend, Bataan’s food service officer, these opportunities are ones he simply can’t pass up on sending his Sailors to.
“These opportunities offer a no distraction-training environment. Sailors get to concentrate on nothing but whatever the skill is,” said Townsend.
The benefits these opportunities bring to Bataan are immeasurable, according to Townsend and Whittaker.
“I have more advanced knowledge so I can teach our junior [culinary specialists] about,” concluded Whittaker. “Even though we only have certain ingredients on the ship, you can still take it and make beautiful creations.”
| Date Taken: | 04.12.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 04.24.2018 15:49 |
| Story ID: | 272846 |
| Location: | NORFOLK, VA, US |
| Hometown: | LONGVIEW, WA, US |
| Web Views: | 24 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Culinary Delights and Prospects, by PO2 Danilo Reynoso, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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