FORT POLK, La. " Nine Soldiers from Fort Polk’s 1st Maneuver Enhancement Brigade’s Dining Facility have spent months perfecting their culinary crafts in preparation for one of the Army’s most prestigious competitions.
The Philip A. Connelly Competition, named after the former president of the International Food Service Executives Association, was established in 1968 to recognize excellence in Army Food Service. The competition is co-sponsored by IFSEA and the Department of the Army, and presents a challenge to Soldiers while instilling a sense of pride for food service workers.
The competition is comprised of five categories, two categories for active duty garrison and three for field feeding. The Fort Polk team is entering the active Army field kitchen category at the U.S. Army Forces command level. Army commands conduct multi-level competitive evaluations from March through June with each choosing one finalist in each category " three in the FORSCOM active Army field category " to compete at DA level.
For fours months, the “92 Golfs,” food service specialists, have spent countless hours preparing their military field dining facility to meet Army standards.
Staff Sgt. Patrick Hiebert, 46th Engineer Battalion, the non-commissioned officer in charge of the site, said there many are elements to conducting a field feeding site.
“We’ve been practicing to make sure everything is on one sheet of music, so that when we’re actually competing, we ace it,” he said. “They judge us on a lot of things. The field site, personnel, how many hand-washing stations we have, if the cooks are washing their hands and how far away are the latrine and incinerator from the mobile kitchen trailer. There’s a lot of elements that have to be monitored.”
Hiebert said the team’s performance during an exercise determines if it moves forward to the DA level.
Hiebert said the scenario involves the team in a field feeding site in Afghanistan that must use excess rations and unitized group rations to create a menu from scratch. UGRAs are “build-to-order” rations, which provide all of the components needed to prepare 50 perishable meals in the field.
The facility will be judged July 7 in 10 categories including food preparation, taste, nutrition, service and sanitation. Hiebert said even though the team is judged as a group, each member has a job to ensure the site is run properly.
“There are groups in the team itself. For example, there’s a field sanitation NCO, with two personnel under him who are responsible for the site’s sanitation,” he said. “Their jobs are to make sure the water is good, check for pests or rodents, monitor the heat index, make sure the site has enough water and ice for each Soldier and control the traffic of dirty dishes that go back for cleaning.”
Even the site itself was built by the team.
“Everything out here has been built by these nine troops,” he said. “From laying down rocks, building sidewalks and digging foxholes. Either way, if we win or lose, it will be a great day. I cannot express how much these troops have done. These Soldiers deserve all the praise.”
Hiebert said the competition brings civilians and military food service members together and shows the pride and the morale of the food service industry. “As ‘92 golfs,’ a lot of people think we don’t do too much,” he said. “This brings our morale together and tells the world that whether it’s in the field or garrison, we’re on top of our game.
“So instead of taking the UGRAs straight out of the bag and preparing them to serve, we have to take them out of the bag and add stuff to them. That’s where the culinary skills come in. This is what we do, as well as being Soldiers.”
The facility will be judged July 7 in 10 categories including food preparation, taste, nutrition, service and sanitation. Hiebert said even though the team is judged as a group, each member has a job to ensure the site is run properly.
“There are groups in the team itself. For example, there’s a field sanitation NCO, with two personnel under him who are responsible for the site’s sanitation,” he said. “Their jobs are to make sure the water is good, check for pest or rodents, monitor the heat index, make sure the site has enough water and ice for each Soldier and control the traffic of dirty dishes that go back for cleaning.
Even the site itself was built by the team.
“Everything out here has been built by these nine troops,” he said. “From laying down rocks, building sidewalks and digging foxholes. Either way, if we win or lose, it will be a great day. I cannot express how much these troops have done. These Soldiers deserve all the praise.”
Hiebert said the competition brings civilians and military food service members together and shows the pride and the morale of the food service industry.
“As ‘92 golfs,’ a lot of people think we don’t do too much,” he said. “This brings our morale together and tells the world that whether it’s in the field or garrison, we’re on top of our game. This is what we do, as well as being Soldiers.”
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