Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Herschel Talley | Master Corporal Keith McDonald (right) of the Canadian Armed Forces 19th Mission...... read more read more
CANADIAN FORCES BASE WAINWRIGHT, Alberta - Culinary specialists with the Nebraska National Guard’s Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC), 1st-376th Aviation Regiment, joined with their foreign counterparts from the Canadian Force Field Cooks in the Mobile Kitchen Trailers (MKT) to provide food services for more than 400 troops in support of Exercise Maple Resolve 2018 at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright, in Alberta, Canada.
Capt. Aloma Moncrief is the commander of the HHC and said everyone was excited to work together.
“That was one of the primary objectives of our battalion commander coming up here was to integrate with the Canadian Forces and not only show them what we can do, but also to learn from them,” Moncrief said. She continued by saying she wanted her Soldiers to build more confidence in their abilities and a better working knowledge of what it is they do in a field environment.
“I hope they just really have a good time and enjoy this experience,” Moncrief said.
Overseeing the entire kitchen operations is Sgt. Matthew Keddy, Canadian Air Force 408th Tactical Helicopter Squadron based in Edmonton, Alberta. Keddy has been a member of the Canadian Air Force for more than 18 years and is the kitchen officer overseeing 11 cooks from the Canadian Armed Forces. The Canadian Forces field cooks are a mixture of multiple branches brought together for the exercise and through their combined skills, along with their American counterparts, they deliver hot meals to the Soldiers throughout the two-week training event.
Keddy said the cohesion between the two countries has been incredible.
“It’s really been a great experience,” said Keddy. “The camaraderie, being able to share trade secrets and skills and learning about the different parts of the country and their different regional foods.”
Master Cpl. Keith McDonald of the Canadian 19th Mission Support Squadron and Staff Sgt. Cletus Arasmith of the Nebraska National Guard are the noncommissioned officers in charge of the day-shift multinational and multi-branch cooks preparing more than 1,200 meals a day using five Canadian MKTs. Arasmith admits there was some awkwardness on the first day learning the styles of the other cooks, but he said that quickly dissolved and everyone came together.
“We’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing,” Arasmith said. “We’re in our element.”
The cooks pull 12 hours shifts starting at either 6 a.m. for days or at 6 p.m. for nights. As the day crew comes in at 5:30 a.m., the work from the night crew preparing breakfast for the troops is turned over, and the night crew returns to their bunks for sleep. The Soldiers take these long shifts in stride.
“The first night was really rough, but once you get used to it, it’s not so bad,” said Sgt. Keyle Alcorn, a culinary specialist with HHC, 1st-376th Aviation Regiment and the night shift team leader. “It’s nice and cool, really more relaxed and we all mesh really well. There’s not disagreement or tension at all.”
The day crew is responsible for serving breakfast and preparing and serving the next two meals, ensuring that Soldiers are able to have hot chow three times a day. A secondary area in the dinning tent provides Soldiers the opportunity for other meal substitutes such as fruit, cereal and salads. Out of the 11 Canadian cooks, the most experienced are assigned to the dinning tent to prepare the meal substitutes and the least experienced remain in the MKT.
McDonald said he did this to ensure the least experienced Soldiers had the best chance to learn how to cook on the MKT.
“The trailer runs 24 hours,” McDonald said. “The food requirement here is very high. There’s a standard the entire Canadian Forces has to follow. What is required (nutritionally) is the same across the force and they have to cook to that requirement.”
McDonald has been a civilian cook for 22 years, but has only been in the Canadian Army nine years. He said cooking in an MKT can present its own challenges preparing food. The MKT is fueled by generators, which power the lights and propane tanks, which are used for the steam tables, ovens and griddles.
“Steam is your friend,” McDonald said. “You can’t cook without steam.”
Between the serving, the meal preparation and cleaning, the soldiers share stories from home and how their experiences differ between the forces. Sharing their differences between the regional languages has been an interesting experience for them as well. For example, what the Americans would call a stocking cap, the Canadians call a toque and the differences don’t stop there.
“What we use to transport meals to the field, we call them mermites. But up here, they call them hayboxes,” Arasmith said.
He said it was explained to him that during the 1800s, the Canadian Forces would transport meals to the field in wooden boxes, and layer hay around them to keep them warm.
“It’s learning stuff like that, which makes this experience so interesting,” Arasmith added.
More than 150 Soldiers from the Nebraska Army National Guard’s 1st-376th Aviation Regiment traveled to Canadian Forces Base Wainwright, in Alberta, Canada, May 8-24, for Exercise Maple Resolve; the Canadian Army’s most comprehensive annual training even designed for any contingency operation. This year’s Maple Resolve included approximately 6,000 service members from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and France.
| Date Taken: | 05.15.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 05.05.2023 11:12 |
| Story ID: | 444099 |
| Location: | WAINWRIGHT, ALBERTA, CA |
| Web Views: | 336 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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