Photo By Staff Sgt. Alfred V. Lopez | U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Garrett Camacho, a food service specialist with Headquarters...... read more read more
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PATROL BASE SRE KALA, Afghanistan – U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Garrett Camacho was raised in a military family. His father is a retired Marine sergeant, his stepfather a retired U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. and his brother is a sailor, as well.
In addition to this familial military tradition, Camacho, a food service specialist with Headquarters and Service Company, 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion and 19-year-old native of Fredericksburg, Va., also grew up loving to cook.
“I’ve always had a thing for cooking,” said Camacho. “My uncle is a cook … he used to take me to where he worked and show me what he did.”
He recalls smelling his grandmother’s home-cooked meals every time he went on vacation to Dallas.
“Every summer, I used to visit the Spanish side of my family in Texas,” explained Camacho. “My grandma was always cooking. She made the best, most amazing food... especially her tamales.”
“When I was little, I used to watch my dad and my uncle cook and I liked it,” he added. “I liked watching and eventually, I just started doing it.”
After graduating from Mountain View High School in 2010, Camacho decided to join the Marine Corps. He wanted to combine his love for cooking and his desire to continue his family’s military tradition.
“I saw my brother after he was done with Navy basic [training],” said Camacho. “He looked a lot more focused and a lot more locked on.”
“After high school, I saw that I needed to focus myself too,” explained Camacho. “That’s another reason I joined the Marine Corps.”
Camacho walked into a recruiting office and told the recruiter that he wanted to be a combat cook, a common term of endearment for food service specialists used by other Marines.
“My recruiter said to me, ‘You want to be a cook?’,” recalls Camacho with a laugh. “I said, ‘Yeah.’ He told me, ‘You’re going to have to sign for this because my gunny (gunnery sergeant) is never going to believe this.’”
Camacho shipped off to boot camp in August 2010. After 13 weeks of boot camp and four months of his military occupational specialty school, he arrived at Camp Pendleton, Calif. in April 2011.
A few months later, Camacho found himself in Helmand province’s Khan-Neshin district, serving with the Marines and sailors of Alpha Company.
“I get to show everyone what cooks do,” said Camacho. “They get to see how much work goes into preparing the food.”
Everyday, Camacho serves breakfast and dinner for about 150 warriors living at Patrol Base Sre Kala. He gets up before sunrise each morning to prepare breakfast for the Marines and sailors going out on patrol.
Later in the day, he prepares dinner for the same Marines, ready to enjoy a well-deserved meal following a hard day’s work. Camacho’s cooking breaks the daily monotony of packaged Meals Ready to Eat that are standard for Marines at most positions like PB Sre Kala.
“Camacho gets up early to serve chow everyday,” said Lance Cpl. Nathanial Fink, a light armored vehicle driver with Alpha Company and 19-year-old native of Neenah, Wis. “He takes a lot of time out of his day to cook chicken and steak for us.”
“We’re grateful for having someone out here to cook for us, so we don’t have to eat MREs everyday,” he added.
In between breakfast and dinner, Camacho a takes care of his other duties to include cleaning the mess tent and accounting for the company’s food and drinks. With what little free time he has to spare, Camacho reads his Bible, listens to music or works out.
Though his time in the service has been brief, Camacho already plans to reenlist at the end of his contract. He can see neither his passion for cooking nor his passion for serving his fellow Marines disappearing anytime soon.
“Being a food service specialist in the Marine Corps, I get to do what I like best, while I’m serving with the best,” Camacho explained.
Editor’s note: First Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion is part of Regimental Combat Team 5, 1st Marine Division (Forward), which works in partnership with the Afghan National Security Forces and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to conduct counterinsurgency operations. The unit is dedicated to securing the Afghan people, defeating insurgent forces and enabling ANSF assumption of security responsibilities within its area of operations in order to support the expansion of stability, development and legitimate governance.
| Date Taken: | 03.05.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 03.09.2012 13:17 |
| Story ID: | 85007 |
| Location: | PATROL BASE SRE KALA, AF |
| Web Views: | 678 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Cooking for a company: Virginia native serves 1st LAR in Afghanistan, by SSgt Alfred V. Lopez, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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