Photo By Staff Sgt. Lucas Vega | Pfc. Irving Moreno, a food service specialist with Headquarters Battery, 14th Marine...... read more read more
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FORT WORTH, Texas - Nine multi-tasking Marines scurry back and forth between food preparation tables and burners in the field mess kitchen. The stoves are filled to the brim with enough Creole chicken, rice and cornbread to feed nearly 150 Marines with Headquarters Battery, 14th Marine Regiment. Each food service Marine, assigned a different task, works against the clock to prepare enough food to satisfy the Marines’ hungry stomachs.
Already an hour and a half behind schedule, each cook now works independently to complete their assigned task, with hopes of meeting an 11:30 am deadline. At 11:30, the lunch line must be open, or else the battery’s Marines will not eat on time. Meeting that deadline seems nearly impossible due to a late start because of lack of equipment and technical difficulties with the refrigerator and burners.
Emotions run high as Marines frantically work to prepare each portion of the lunch by the bulk load. The cooks are urged on by commands encouraging them to work faster.
Leading the way is a chief cook, a position typically held by a corporal or a sergeant. This Marine however, is a lance corporal with three and a half years of Marine Corps food service experience.
“Let’s get this food out of here!” yells Lance Cpl. Vanessa Gonzales, the chief cook for Headquarters Battery.
The Marines respond by moving faster and replacing the cooked food from the stoves with raw, uncooked food.
A master gunnery sergeant, chief warrant officer, staff sergeant, and a civilian in chef’s jacket, watch carefully as they evaluate the junior Marines working to prepare the meal.
The four-man team is from 2nd Marine Logistics Group, Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., representing Headquarters Marine Corps. They are food service specialists by trade and are at the field mess evaluating the Headquarters Battery Marines for the W.P.T. Hill Memorial Award for best reserve field mess, a title claimed by the Portland-based 6th Engineer Battalion for the last several years.
The team evaluates a wide range of categories including sanitation, appearance and attitude of the food servers.
It is the first time in the unit’s history that they have competed for the most prestigious award in military food service. They are in the top three with two other reserve units from Portland, Ore., and Marietta, Ga.
The Out-Brief
The battery’s food service Marines have not ran a field mess since June 2010, but the hungry Marines still received their chow. Reserve Marines only meet for one weekend a month and once a year for a two-week annual training period. During drills and AT’s, the units are dedicating their already minimal time for annual training requirements, professional military education, and handling administrative matters. The unit does not have the time to set up a full-fledged mock field mess as often as they would like.
Even though they did not meet the deadline, the evaluators remained optimistic and used this evaluation to teach and motivate the field mess Marines.
“Marines got their chow, and that’s what we do in this job field,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Christine Reliford, head of the inspection team, as she stood in front of the food services staff. “A lot of the new Marines who had never worked in a field mess definitely learned a lot today and can use this experience to make sure Marines in the field get hot chow.”
Gonzalez reflected on her team’s performance during the evaluation.
“Bottom-line, we feed Marines,” said Gonzales. “We fell off schedule in the beginning, but we bounced back once we got in the groove of things."
She commended her team for working fast despite the added pressure of the competition. She also mentioned that Marines with little experience were stepping-up to get the troops fed.
“We were kind of understaffed, but we made do with what we had,” said Gonzales. “To me it was just another day in the galley. We had a few new guys, but we are all a family, and we work together.”
The W.P.T. Hill award was established in 1985 to improve food service operations as well as encouraging excellence in the garrison/field food service programs.
The winner of the award receives the W.P.T Hill trophy in Chicago next May. The trophy is awarded on behalf of the National Restaurant Association, based in Portland, Ore. One or two food service Marines from the winning units will receive a trip to the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley, Calif., for 10-days of culinary training.
The previous winners, 6th ESB were evaluated earlier this month. Headquarters and Service Battalion, 4th Marine Logistics Group, in Marietta, Ga., is slated to be evaluated for the award Oct. 23.
The final results will be announced in January.
| Date Taken: | 10.26.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 10.26.2010 16:39 |
| Story ID: | 58867 |
| Location: | FORT WORTH, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 268 |
| Downloads: | 6 |
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