CAMP CARROLL, South Korea-- The 55th Military Police Company competed in the Eighth Army Philip A. Connelly Competition (Field Portion) Monday at the North Star Range near Camp Stanley.

The competition, which measured the company's ability to maintain food service operations in a field environment, came to a close Monday after judges from Eighth Army inspected the site.

Chief Warrant Officer 4 Don Urie, the Eighth Army food advisor, and Sgt. Maj. Michael Davis, the Eighth Army food service sergeant major, judged numerous areas of the food service site to include the mobile kitchen tent, dining tent, sanitation site, rations operations and control , incineration site and the ability of the company to maintain a secure perimeter.

"We are looking for proper training and a realistic set-up based on what was available to the soldiers," said Davis. "We want to ensure soldiers take something away from the exercise."

For many of the soldiers, it was their first time competing in the competition and conducting food service operations in a field environment for an extended amount of time.

"It was a good learning experience," said Spc. James Holdsworth, 55th MP food service specialist. "I learned how to set-up a lot of the sites."

Spc. Antonio Davis, 55th MP food service specialist, said it was his first time working in the field sanitation site and dealing with the soakage pit but is grateful for the opportunity to learn.

Sgt. 1st Class Catherine Catano, the senior food operations sergeant, gives all the credit to her soldiers despite their previous lack of experience.

"If it wasn't for the motivation of the soldiers, we wouldn't have made it," said Cantano. "Even though the main inspection was geared around the cooks, we had 40 other MOS out here to support them. It's the soldiers that did it. Motivation was the key."

"We are here to support our battles, the cooks," said Pfc. Brent O'Neill, a 55th MP military police specialist. "We want to show our support and help out."

The 55th MP Company has been competing in the Philip A. Connelly Competition (Field Portion) for the past seven years and has won at the Eight Army level every year. If the company wins the competition this year, the company will go on to compete at the Department of the Army level.