Photo By Staff Sgt. Tegan Kucera | Capt. Abby Steiner, the officer in charge of the nutrition division of the 212th...... read more read more
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Some jobs in the military are well known internally as well as externally, others are complete mysteries to all but the ones they affect.
There are only approximately 350 nutrition care specialists in the active duty Army at any given time. Currently, there is a team are here in Poland participating in Saber Strike 18.
“I do wish that more service members were aware of what we do nutrition-wise,” said Staff Sgt. Anthony Profit, the non-commissioned officer in charge of the nutrition care division assigned to 212th Combat Support Hospital. “They don’t see us when we do a nutrition assessment with patients or when we are putting together patient trays, interviewing patients periodically, and ensuring that they are receiving the right nutrition therapy for whatever diagnosis they have when they are in a hospital.”
Profit said nutrition care specialists are dual military occupational specialty holders who cannot do their whole job without learning both parts of the job. The first part they learn is how to cook the food, like all cooks in the military. The second part is nutrient and diet therapy, learned at Fort Sam Houston, in San Antonio, Texas. In total, they spend over six months in school learning both parts of their job.
Profit, who was a cook in the Army for the first five years of his career, said the job is similar, but a nutrition care specialist is much more. They can do everything the cooks can, but they also have patient interaction because they are part of the team who figures out what foods are best for which medical case.
“One of the things you get to see is someone recover over the long haul. You get to know the patient and you can track their recovery,” said Profit.
One of the things Profit likes is working at specialized hospitals where he can get more time with the patients and can monitor the whole recovery. Now he is working for the 212th CSH based in the Rhine Ordnance Barracks, in Kaiserslautern, Germany. After spending the last several years at the Brooke Army Medical Center, located in Fort Sam Houston, Profit considers San Antonio, Texas, home.
The desire to help people is strong within the nutrition care specialists because many voice the same wish.
“I like working with patients and seeing them improve gradually,” said Pfc. Shane Rose, a nutrition care specialist also with the 212th CSH. “It gives you a since of satisfaction and pride that you can help this person recuperate and get back to their best.”
Rose who is currently studying sports nutrition, was steered into the specialty by his recruiter. He was a certified nursing assistant before he joined the U.S. Army two years ago. He said he enlisted because he wanted to be a part of something bigger and help others at the same time.
“My mom and dad are both nurses, so they instilled in me that desire to take care of people is something good. To me, if you’re not taking care of somebody, you’re not doing anything really,” said Rose.
Now Rose is in Poland taking care of all the soldiers who make up the CSH as well as any notional patients the exercise can come up with and the few real world ones who are injured during Saber Strike 18.
Saber Strike 18 is the eighth iteration of the long-standing U.S. Army Europe-led cooperative training exercise designed to enhance the interoperability among allies and regional partners. This year’s exercise will focus on improving land and air operational capabilities with an additional key objective to train with NATO’s enhance Forward Presence battlegroups.
“It’s good to work with your allies and build stronger relationships. I think it’s good for all countries involved,” said Rose.
One relationship that is very strong is that of the nutrition care specialist and the registered dietician or the officer in charge of the whole nutrition care division.
“I couldn’t do my job to the best of my abilities without having the 68Ms (nutrition care specialists). They are the experts on cooking and preparing that food. I’m pretty ecstatic to have them on my team,” said Capt. Abby Steiner, the officer in charge of the nutrition care division.
Steiner, a registered dietician, received her bachelor’s degree in nutrition before joining the Army to obtain her master’s degree in an accredited course through Baylor College. She attended an intense nine-month course in San Antonio, Texas, before a year-long internship to receive her master’s degree.
“Not a day goes by that I think I made the wrong decision…the people you get to work with, the patients you get to see, and the military side of it too,” said Steiner.
When she was an undergraduate at Ohio State University, an Air Force recruiter came to talk to her class and told them about the opportunities the military provided for registered dietitians.
“I’m pretty blessed to have the opportunity to learn the Army side of things and also have the ability to treat patients and understand what they are going through,” said Steiner.
Enjoying the tactical side of Army, Steiner loves going out into the field during exercises like Saber Strike 18. She said the environment of the exercise allows her to prepare for any type of deployed environment. The CSH is operating out of a massive tent and the food is coming from a mobile kitchen trailer not too far away.
Steiner’s crew of six provides food for approximately 350 soldiers, both breakfast and dinner. They also provide meals to the real-life injured of Saber Strike 18 as well as some notional players who have been mixed in to enhance the training for them. While the nutrition care specialists can come up with meal plans, the registered dieticians are the ones with final authority. They work it all out while they are in the field supporting the CSH and the other personnel who run it.
“The experiences you get in the military are unlike anything you’re going to see in the civilian sector,” said Steiner. “You are seeing real world casualties. You can really make a difference with the performance nutrition side of it as well.”
During Saber Strike 18, Steiner once again had the opportunity to work with the British with whom she had worked before on a previous exercise. She said, since they go down range together, they work very well together and that the facilities mirror each other in many ways.
Steiner, along with the rest of the nutrition division are working well with feeding the American crew of the CSH, who, in turn, are working well with the British during Saber Strike 18 showing how well the interoperability is working during Saber Strike 18.
| Date Taken: | 06.11.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 06.14.2018 04:35 |
| Story ID: | 280763 |
| Location: | SWIDWIN, PL |
| Web Views: | 723 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Nutrition is a way of life, by SSG Tegan Kucera, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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