Photo By Claudia Neve | Soldiers with the 238th Quartermaster (Field Feeding) Company prepare food on May 15,...... read more read more
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The 238th Quartermaster (Field Feeding) Company competed in the 2024 Philip A. Connelly Competition in the U.S. Army Reserve in mid-May at Fort McCoy.
The unit, comprised of 92G (culinary specialist) Soldiers, held their competition under the eyes of Army Reserve evaluators at Logistical Staging Area (LSA)-Freedom on May 14-15. The 238th is newer concept field feeding unit in the Army Reserve, said Sgt. Zachary Smalley, the unit’s competition noncommissioned officer in charge. And in this competition, it’s about feeding troops in the field.
“When it comes to this competition, we’re judging the troops on how to jump in a combat situation and feed their troops without having extra assistance from others,” Smalley said. “It’s supposed to be like a mobile site feeding situation. … They judge to see if we can do a speedy set up in a field situation, and then we should be able to (feed) our Soldiers and then pack back up and continue the mission.”
According to the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps, 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.” Program objectives include improving the professionalism of food service personnel, thus providing the best quality food service to supported diners and providing recognition for excellence in the preparation and serving of food in Army dining facilities and field kitchen operations.
The 238th has Soldiers from teams in multiple states, including Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, and they often train together at Fort McCoy, Smalley said. So, completing this competition at the installation also made sense.
Smalley also said he hopes the newer Soldiers in the unit gain a lot from being a part of the Connelly competition as well.
“Well, when it comes to this competition, I want them to have the passion. I want them to be competent with how their cooking skills and their abilities are,” Smalley said. “So for doing these field (competitions), when they know how to set up the MKT (Military Kitchen Trailer) correctly and it’s timed, or they’re setting up the FSC (food sanitation center) and it’s timed, or just setting up a field site, that a lot of good experience these Soldiers haven't had yet. I feel like it's nice for them to have that.
“And as an NCO (noncommissioned officer) training these Soldiers, I want them to be confident enough to train other Soldiers,” Smalley said. “The more we do that, the more passion builds. And the more you’ve competed in these competitions, … I assume (you) pass on some of the things you learn as well.”
For the competition, the 21 Soldiers competing with the 238th had to first convoy to their site at LSA Freedom with their equipment. Then they were timed in setting up their MKT and their FSC for operations. That was on the first day of competition.
On the competition’s second day, the 238th then prepared their menu and meal in the MKT and served the food from the MKT. They also had to clean and sanitize wares in the FSC as they did their work and preparation and cleanup as well.
Second Lt. Alexander Zacharias, food service officer with the 238th, said the competition gives his unit a chance to highlight the skills of the Soldiers, and more.
“At the end of the day, the ultimate goal is for each field field-feeding team (in the unit) to be deployable in different environments,” Zacharias said. “Our company is spread out over 11 different locations in multiple different states. So, there’s few chances to bring everyone together. Getting Soldiers from different (areas) working together just kind of gives a good opportunity for team building as well as, you know, getting to know people better so that we can work better as a team to facilitate this training and complete the competition.”
Spc. Gregory Baughman, a 92G culinary specialist with the 238th, said he was in charge of the rations for the competition.
“I have to do inventory every day, and then I have to sign out food for the competition,” Baughman said. “They come to me for whatever they need with exact numbers, or they’d sign out modules which each module is about 50 servings for competition.”
This was Baughman’s first competition participation. He said he and others had come to the competition ready after having practiced regularly at Fort Sheridan, Ill.
“We know our team pretty well,” Baughman said. “We’ve trained for the competition since January together, so we all know each other. We're all from different locations, but here we’ve had a lot of team-building exercises, especially over at Fort Sheridan. We got to know each other on a personal level, and we started opening up.”
Spc. Christine Costes, also a 92G culinary specialist with the 238th, said one thing about participating in a competition like this is participants not only do the food work of a 92 “Gulf,” she said they also complete their Warrior tasks that all Soldiers have to do.
“I think that doing your Warrior tasks and being able to do your job and everything goes hand-in-hand,” Costes said. “And especially with this training, the best part is that everything has the field in it. So essentially, you get ready for any sort of mission. Whether it’s cooking for your team in general for a weekend, or if you had to stay a month out here. I think the beneficial thing is that you have that training to get you well rounded with the mission at all costs.”
Spc. Terry Drake, a 238th 92G culinary specialist, said he arrived to the competition to do whatever they needed him to do. He discussed the importance of the team effort by the 238th Soldiers to do well in the competition.
“Teamwork is very important,” Drake said. “Because without a good team, you’re not gonna get very far. You can’t do anything alone. You need a stable team, and for their first time setting it up … I think they did pretty good.
“I just got thrown into this unit recently, so I don't know a lot of them,” Drake said. “I only know a few which is like the guys from Madison. So, the people who are cooking, I know them pretty well, and they’re all great Soldiers. All of them seem to have a level head, and they all want to strive to be better. … And like this week we’ve been, they’ve been learning, and we’ve all been learning. It's just one big learning exercise.”
Towards the end of their competition, the 238th served their main meal from the MKT and fed their entire unit, and more. They were even joined by the 15th Command Sergeant Major of the U.S. Army Reserve, Command Sgt. Maj. Gregory Betty. Betty happened to be visiting Fort McCoy at the time of the competition and took the time to be a part of the competition’s final event.
The final results of the 2024 Army Reserve Philip A. Connelly Competition will be announced at a later date. Learn more about the overall Connelly program by visiting https://quartermaster.army.mil/jccoe/Special_Programs_Directorate/Philip_A_Connelly/P_A_Connelly_main.html.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on the Defense Visual Information Distribution System at https://www.dvidshub.net/fmpao, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”
Also try downloading the Digital Garrison app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”
| Date Taken: | 05.23.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 05.23.2024 18:26 |
| Story ID: | 472195 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 614 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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