Photo By Staff Sgt. Adam Keith | Soldiers from the Courage Inn, a dining facility on JBLM, stand in formation with The...... read more read more
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JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - The 2014 Philip A. Connelly award for Excellence in Army Food Service in the large garrison category will be proudly displayed at the Courage Inn, a dining facility on JBLM, after an awards ceremony here Sept. 26.
The finalists for the award are evaluated in many areas including food preparation, taste, nutrition, service and sanitation.
The award has three categories: large garrison, small garrison and field kitchen, and is presented once a year by the Joint Culinary Center of Excellence to the best Army facility in each category.
Sgt. 1st Class James Hardin, manager of the Courage Inn, said he attributes the success of the Courage Inn to the dedication of the soldiers and civilians who work there.
“All of the soldiers came together and did a great job; They performed at the highest level,” said Hardin. “A lot of times you hear about other [bases] like Fort Bragg and Fort Stewart but you never really hear about JBLM when it comes to food service, so we were happy to bring this award here.”
The Courage Inn is a consolidated dining facility staffed by soldiers from the 201st Battlefield Surveillance Brigade, 62nd Medical Brigade and 51st Signal Battalion.
Hardin said his soldiers trained for an entire year for the competition and the award is a huge accomplishment for a dining facility.
“The preparation [for the competition] is about getting back to the basics of food service, preparing things to standard, the right way, every time,” he said. “It feels great to see how we all came together.”
“Teamwork put us over the top; It couldn’t be done by just me or by any one soldier, it was a complete team effort,” he added.
Spc. Bianca Garcia, a cook at the dining facility, said preparing for the competition was a good learning experience because of how well the facility staff worked together.
“The judges told us that we [showed] some of the best teamwork that they had seen in the Army,” she said. “We were positive about it too. It’s very stressful [in the kitchen] and if you have a bad [attitude] you’re going to hate every second of it.
Garcia said that helping each other while having a positive outlook is what made working under the pressure of competing for the Connelly award bearable.
“I never cooked before I joined the army so I had to learn in a few months for the [competition],” said Garcia. “There are very experienced soldiers here that take pride in cooking, some have cooked before the army, and they helped me a lot. Now I’m teaching [soldiers].”
Even though the soldiers of the Courage Inn have bragging rights for the next year, Hardin said what his soldiers do on a daily basis isn’t going to change because every meal they put out is judged by those dining at the facility.
“There’s nothing that should be done special for the competition, it’s just basic soldier and food preparation skills and that’s what we apply on a day to day basis,” said Hardin. “We just make sure that all of those techniques are perfected. We always strive to be the best.”
| Date Taken: | 09.26.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 10.01.2014 13:22 |
| Story ID: | 143918 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 339 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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