Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Herschel Talley | Under the watch of the evaluator, Chip Johnson (left); Sgt. Tom Schute (center) and...... read more read more
The culinary specialists of the 195th Forward Support Company (Airborne) competed in the 52nd Annual Philip A. Connelly Competition which was held at the Mead Training Site on Saturday Aug. 10, 2019, in Mead, Nebraska. The 195th Forward Support Company (Airborne) won the state level award and now hope to win at the regional level.
The Philip A. Connelly Competition was established in 1968 to recognize excellence in Army Food Service. National Guard units across the United States participate in the National Guard category of the competition, first at the State level before moving on to the regional level where they compete against other states. During the Reserve and National Guard categories, one meal (lunch) is evaluated consisting of line-item A-rations.
For these culinary specialists of the 195th Forward Support Company (Airborne), this competition is the pinnacle of their military occupational specialty. Sgt. 1st Class Brody Mayberry, the culinary management noncommissioned officer, said this competition is very important to the Soldiers.
“This competition is our bread and butter,” said Mayberry. “Supply has the Supply Excellence Award, Maintenance has the AAME Award (Army Award for Maintenance Excellence), so for food service this is our way to showcase our talents. We come to a field environment, put our skills to the test and get to compete against our peers from across the United States.”
The Soldiers arrived at the Mead Training Site with their Containerized Kitchen Trailer (CKT) and set up a field site in preparation to the graded portion of the competition as well as executing field feeding operations while maintaining security on the site. On the morning of August 10, the competition evaluator arrived to begin grading the unit. 5 cooks, five kitchen police and three water purification specialists stood in formation for the cooks mount, an inspection of the Soldiers and the cleanliness of their hands. Once completed, the water purification specialists inspected the water for any contaminants before the cooks can begin to prepare for the lunch meal.
The cooks have to follow a strict menu that allow for little deviation from the recipe card. The menu remains the same across that level of competition to ensure fair competition. The evaluator, Chip Johnson, travels from state to state to judge each unit. Johnson, who spent 37 years in the Army food service, said that most people think the Connelly Competition is just about cooking, but it’s more than that.
“They (the unit) are graded on maintenance, field sanitation, food safety and protection, said Johnson. “They are also graded on administrative stuff and yearly training.”
Johnson said following the recipe cards were also important.
“We also look to make sure they are doing the correct knife cuts dictated by the card,” said Johnson. “There is always something in the menu that you have to pay attention to.”
Cooking food for large numbers is not an easy task. For serving 80 Soldiers, the cooks must prepare 80 pork chops, 31 pounds of potatoes, and 16 pounds of green beans, 16 pounds spring salad, 10 pounds of corn bread, 12 pounds of bread pudding and two gallons of gravy. Time is crucial as well as the Soldiers must have everything ready to begin serving by a certain time.
Sgt. Will Cozad is the shift leader of the culinary specialists and is responsible for the management of the cooks and their time.
“We do what is called progressive cooking,” said Cozard. “We have to have at least one serving of everything ready by our allotted time.”
Calling out the time every so often, Cozard does this to ensure the cooks are on schedule to deliver their food all at the same time.
“After that we can keep cooking and preparing the rest of the food,” said Cozad. “Usually, we can have 10 to 20 servings ready every 10 minutes. It’s a harder way, but it’s a better way. It’s fresh this way.”
In spite of the difficulties cooking in a field environment, the soldiers complete their mission of having the meal prepared.
“I’m really proud of the team coming together,” said Mayberry. “We are a well-oiled machine…It’s really fun to be a part of a group of guys that are willing to work as hard as they are.”
Mayberry says his Soldiers would not have performed as well as they did without the support from the unit.
“This is an entire unit competition and it’s just awesome that this unit could come together, ‘one team, one fight,’ and execute it,” said Mayberry.
The unit will have to wait until November to find out the results and see if they advance to the national level in the competition.
| Date Taken: | 08.10.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 05.06.2023 04:43 |
| Story ID: | 444163 |
| Location: | MEAD, NEBRASKA, US |
| Web Views: | 137 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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