Cooks of the Michigan Army National Guard Epitomize the Definition of “Interoperability”

Photo By Lt. Col. Charles Calio | Cooks of the Michigan Army National Guard’s F Company, 237th Brigade Support Battalion, and chefs of the Royal Wessex Yeomanry, a British Reserve tank regiment, prepare food on Sept. 20, 2017, in one of the kitchens located at Sennelager Training Area, Germany. Throughout the entire training period, the American cooks and British chefs have worked side-by-side to prepare delicious meals for the hungry Soldiers and tankers conducting joint training exercises. (Michigan Army National Guard photo by Maj. Charles Calio)  

SENNELAGER, GERMANY

09.20.2017

Story by Maj. Charles Calio 

126th Theater Public Affairs Support Element

SENNELAGER TRAINING AREA, Germany – Interoperability: it’s a catchy word often used throughout the U.S. military. But what does it mean? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary online defines interoperability as the “ability of a system (such as a weapons system) to work with or use the parts or equipment of another system.” An online NATO document from 2006 refers to interoperability as the “…ability of different military organisations to conduct joint operations. These organisations can be of different nationalities or different armed services (ground, naval and air forces) or both.”

The ability to function in an interoperable fashion is clearly an important goal of today’s NATO allies, and interoperability was a major focus of the training that occurred between the Michigan Army National Guard’s C Company, 1st Battalion, 125th Infantry Regiment (C-1-125IN), and the tankers of the Royal Wessex Yeomanry (RWxY), a British Reserve tank regiment. But despite what you may intuitively think, it was the American cooks and British chefs that likely represented the epitome of interoperability for this recent training period.

“I loved the food at Sennelager Training Area,” said Staff Sgt. Brandon Ames, a print journalist with the 126th Press Camp Headquarters, which sent two Soldiers to document C-1-125IN’s training in Germany. “I would go to the dining facility and I couldn’t tell the American cooks from the British chefs. They wore the same uniform, and if they had never spoken to you, it would be impossible to tell them apart. At the end of the day, it didn’t matter, I just knew I was eating great food.”

From nearly the minute they arrived at Sennelager Training Area (STA), Germany, the cooks from F Company, 237th Brigade Support Battalion, sent to support C-1-125IN, joined their British counterparts in the dining facility, and hardly left their side. Unlike the infantrymen and tankers, who in fairness did meet on a regular basis and did joint training, the cooks and chefs literally worked side-by-side for the entirety of the training that occurred at STA. Unlike the Soldiers and tankers, however, the cooks and chefs didn’t just train, they did the actual jobs they would be expected to do during any deployment except there were no dry runs, and the “crawl, walk, run” principle did not apply to their time in STA.

That’s not to say challenges did not exist, as terminology was initially a hurdle to overcome. For example, according to Sgt. James Chenault, a cook with the 237th BSB, “…what Americans may call “pot pie”, the British Army refers to as “babies heads” pudding (steak and kidney pie), but the concept is the same except that the British steam the final product instead of baking it (thus the lack of a hard crust), and then they serve it upside down.”

The RWxY was happy to work with the cooks from the 237th BSB, as considering the number of Soldiers and tankers training at STA, the RWxY needed all the help it could get. “They’ve been absolutely fantastic,” said Sgt. Aaron Parsonage, RWxY’s master chef for the joint training period. After working through the initial hurdles, the Americans “… were absolutely all over it … it’s been a one, big team effort, they’ve made my job very, very easy.”

You want to see interoperability at its finest? Next time you are in a joint training area, visit the cooks and chefs, likely from different nations, working side-by-side to provide first rate food to military personnel and civilians on-site.

• Date Taken: 09.20.2017
• Date Posted: 09.20.2017 08:46
• Story ID: 248935
• Location: SENNELAGER, DE
• Hometown: BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN, US
• Hometown: GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, US
• Hometown: LANSING, MICHIGAN, US
• Hometown: SAGINAW, MICHIGAN, US