Photo By Scott Sturkol | Service members enjoy a lunch meal in the dining facility in building 50 on Aug. 3,...... read more read more
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Every time a large exercise like Combat Support Training Exercise (CSTX) 86-18-02 takes place at Fort McCoy, thousands of troops need to be fed.
The installation’s food-service team ensures that need is always met.
That team includes the Food Program Management Office (FPMO) and the Subsistence Supply Management Office (SSMO) with the Fort McCoy Logistics Readiness Center; the full food-service contractor DCT Inc.; and food suppliers, such as Sysco Foods of Baraboo, Wis.
The 86th Training Division’s CSTX 86-18-02 takes place from Aug. 4-24 on post. Fort McCoy Food Program Manager Andy Pisney said the team was preparing months in advance to be ready for the thousands of people participating in the training.
He said the SSMO, for example, is one of the busiest organizations during any large training event.
The SSMO has a staff of five people.
The office orders, receives, and distributes all food and rations necessary for each exercise as well as for units conducting weekend, extended combat, or annual training.
“Three of those people also oversee the installation central fuel facility, so they pull dual duty at both 490 where they unload, store, and issue rations, and they also unload fuel and maintain the Central Fuel Point at building 3010,” Pisney said. “The SSMO staff provides service to exercises seven days a week.”
During CSTX 86-18-02, Pisney said the SSMO is supporting the exercise at both Camp Ripley, Minn., and Fort McCoy.
“In preparation for the Camp Ripley piece of the exercise, the SSMO has already dropped/shipped more than 1,400 cases of Meals, Ready-To-Eat (MREs) to Camp Ripley,” Pisney said. “The advance team picked up the MREs from the Camp Ripley Class I warehouse when they arrived.
“In addition to the MREs, the exercise itself will line-haul rations from Fort McCoy to Camp Ripley during the exercise,” he said.
“The food items that will be shipped from Fort McCoy include milk, cereal, fresh fruit, salad, and Unitized Group Rations (UGR).
The total number of UGR servings anticipated to be hauled to Camp Ripley is approximately 10,000.”
At Fort McCoy, SSMO Supply Technician Kelly Tilbury said the office will issue bulk rations to the CSTX Class I point. The CSTX Class I point will break and distribute the rations to all the field feeding-site kitchens.
Tilbury said the SSMO expects to order, receive, and issue more than 50,000 meal kits, 11,000 MREs, 5,500 bags of ice, and 100,000 UGR servings.
The food-service team also will be busy supplying dining facilities during CSTX. DCT Inc. is operating the two largest dining facilities on the post.
“Dining Facility (DFAC) 2674 is a 1,400-person-plus capacity DFAC, and up to 1,000 people per meal for the CSTX cantonment participants can be fed,” Pisney said.
DFAC 2674 started operating July 30 and will continue through Aug. 25. Breakfast and dinner meals are being served.
DFAC 1672 also is a 1,400-person-plus capacity facility in use for training support.
“This DFAC will feed up to 900 people per meal with the normal garrison organizations and for the Diamond Saber exercise, which is connected to CSTX,” Pisney said.
DFAC 1672 is operating from Aug. 4-17 and serves three meals daily (breakfast, lunch, and dinner).
At the FPMO, Pisney said the staff there will continue to coordinate exercise and unit feeding to provide headcount projections to both DFACs on a daily basis.
“We’ll also oversee the full food-service contractor while they operate the dining facilities,” Pisney said.
CSTX 86-18-02 isn’t the first CSTX the food service team has supported in 2018 either. They supported CSTXs in March and June.
“During the June CSTX, the SSMO issued out 11,242 cases of MREs, 3,400 cases of heater meals, 2,384 bags of ice, and more,” Tilbury said.
After successful completion of an exercise or training event, everyone takes some time to reflect while still working on the next event, Pisney said.
“They are all kind of like the unsung heroes when you are talking about logistics,” Pisney said.
“Food service is a training enabler, and we don’t ever want it to be a distractor. The mission always comes first, and if we can support the mission without distracting from it — that’s perfect.
“I appreciate everything this team does,” Pisney said. “We are here to support. It’s our mission, and we always try to do the best we can.”
Tilbury said, “The best thing about our team is that we work as a team. We know that we can go through some hard and difficult times, but we count on each other and we trust each other. It’s a total team concept here.”
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at www.mccoy.army.mil, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.
| Date Taken: | 08.09.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 08.09.2018 16:59 |
| Story ID: | 288091 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 515 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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