Historic feat for 1st TSC Soldier

Photo By Staff Sgt. Jerome Bishop | Brig. Gen. Kevin A. Leonard, 1st TSC commanding general, hands Chief Warrant Officer Azzalee Brown her certificate of promotion during her promotion ceremony June 7 at the 1st TSC/507th Corps Support Group field kitchen site.  

10.05.2006

Courtesy Story

1st Theater Sustainment Command

by Spc. Jerome Bishop
1st Theater Sustainment Command PAO

When a Soldier decides to enlist in the Army, he or she may not realize that their initial career goal might change completely before its time to get out.

Whatever their career goal, there are options for Soldiers to either advance in their service or just get out and find a civilian job.

For Chief Warrant Officer 5 Azzalee Brown, a Denmark, S.C. native and command food service advisor for the 1st Sustainment Command (Theater), enlisting for three years on June 15, 1977, might have been all she wanted to do in the Army at the time.

However, by June 7, 2006, three years had turned into 29 as she became the first female chief warrant officer 5, following an additional milestone on May 31, 2001, when she became the first female chief warrant officer 4, in the food service career management field.

"I thought I was going to do my three years. I never thought I'd stay longer, but after I just started taking it one day at a time," Brown said. "And now, I have about three combat tours and 29 years in."

However, being a warrant officer wasn't the first thing she wanted to do when she enlisted.

"By the time I went to school to be a warrant officer, I was in for 11 years. The school was on hold because they were reevaluating the warrant officer program, but I was accepted to go at about 10 years in," said Brown.

Brown was stationed at Fort Steward, Ga., at the time.

Moving through the ranks as an enlisted Soldier was one of the most helpful tools that would help Brown become successful at her new career.

"I hate to say 'chef', but basically that's what I was," said Brown. You start as a food service specialist then move up to shift leader and after that you become a dining facility manager."

"Before I went to Warrant school, I was also working at the NCO academy as an instructor," she said.

Brown used both her leadership skills and knowledge as a food service noncommissioned officer to aid other food service specialists coming through the Primary Leadership Development Course who were failing out after three days. Since the 1980's Soldiers rarely cross-trained outside of their initial military occupational specialty. Almost all food service specialists served solely as cooks, she said.

She attributes a majority of her success to the experience she has had in both being the Soldier behind the counter at the serving line, preparing the food in the kitchen and then moving up to a position to lead them.

"I truly think that the 10 years as an NCO and being a sergeant first class has helped me with being successful," she said.

By April 1988, Brown decided that maybe remaining in the Army as an enlisted Soldier wasn't the best option for her, she said.

"The thing about being a warrant officer is you have to look to the future because it's a better career path. That's what I was looking at and that's why I switched over," Brown said. "I didn't lose any money (from switching pay grades). I didn't gain much more, but I didn't lose any."

In only about 11 weeks, Brown's stripes were replaced with silver bar with a single black square in the center, which opened new doors and new possibilities for someone who would end up making food service history.

"I was a food advisor as a chief warrant officer 2 during Operation Restore Hope and I remember being there during the 'Black Hawk Down' incident," said Brown.

In addition, Brown also deployed to Haiti in 1994 during Operation Uphold Democracy with the 1st Corps Support Command, which is now the 1st TSC, who supported over 10,000 Soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division as well as deploying to support Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm and to Afghanistan with the XVIII Airborne Corps during Operation Enduring Freedom from December 2002 through June 2003, she added.

All of this might not have been the case had Brown remained as a sergeant.

"I definitely wouldn't be in the Army today, I'd probably be teaching in public school or sitting on a board of education because that's what I'm going to do when I get back into civilian life now and I did it for a year before I joined the army," she said. "I probably only would have done 20 years though (as enlisted)."

Brown's time as a sergeant first class is helping now helping her in not only completing her job and leading her Soldiers, but also helping her Soldiers prepare for success in their future.

For Sgt. 1st Class Steven Chow, the 1st TSC food operations noncommissioned officer-in-charge, spending the last three years working with Brown has helped him in many ways.

"She doesn't hold onto knowledge, she shares it," said Chow. "She always shares experiences with everyone making them more knowledgeable people," Chow said.

"When I was the DFAC manager, she gave me so much needed guidance to succeed in our field," he added.

Even after leaving the NCO ranks years ago, Brown still carries the qualities with her that make NCO's the backbone of the Army.

"Because of the fact that she was an E-7 before he went to WOCS, you can always see the caring quality for Soldiers that she had as a sergeant first class," said Chow. "She's always looking out for her Soldiers."

Maj. Matthew Houser, the deputy command supply chief for the 1st TSC, is one of many Soldiers who have worked with Brown in the past and present, and is glad to have her available to share her knowledge and talents.

"I learn a lot from [Brown] everyday," said Houser, "not only about food service support but about leadership and taking care of Soldiers."

"Like a lot of Soldiers, when I'm deployed I just go to the DFAC and never thought too much about all the hard work and detailed coordination that goes on behind the scenes to make sure our Soldiers get nutritious, great tasting food," he added.

Making sure Soldiers have good food in both the nutritional and satisfying sense is at the forefront of Brown's duties. Not only does this become evident in actual combat operations, but also in showing the rest of the Army just how capable the food service specialists of the 1st TSC and 507th Corps Support Group are.

"She has worked hard on various deployments and here on Fort Bragg ensuring (former) 1st COSCOM units, who are now the 507th CSG and 1st TSC, train and prepare to win the Department of the Army [Phillip A. Connelly] Award many times over," Houser said.

It wasn't coincidence that during such an event Brown received her promotion to chief warrant officer 5.

"When I was promoted, we were doing the FORSCOM-level field competition for the Phillip A. Connelly Awards and I elected to get pinned out there with [Brig. Gen. Kevin A. Leonard, the 1st TSC commanding general]," said Brown.

Having the promotion ceremony under tactical conditions mirrored her previous promotion to chief warrant officer 4 in 2001, when she was stationed in Sinai, Egypt as part of the Multinational Force Observer.

"Of all the jobs performed in the food service, I love the field the most, or the combat environment," said Brown. "It's a lot more challenging then in the garrison so I wanted to get pinned out there."

"One of my joys is ensuring the Soldiers enjoy their food. When you deploy you can't just get anything you want like different restaurants, so we try to make dining at the DFAC as enjoyable as possible," she added.

With preparation continuing for any possible deployments, Brown's knowledge and experience is helping the food service section of G-4 prepare as best they can.

"She brings a wealth of experience to the 1st TSC from her deployments in the Sinai, Afghanistan, etc ... that we use to prepare for upcoming deployments to [the Middle East]," Houser said.

Modestly acknowledging her accomplishments as being the first female food service chief warrant officer 4 and 5, Brown continues to do her job for the joy, more so than the glory.

• Date Taken: 10.05.2006
• Date Posted: 10.05.2006 14:44
• Story ID: 7935