FORT DRUM, N.Y. (May 11, 2017) -- The rain was coming down in sheets, and tent restraints faltered under the strength of the wind. Soldiers clambered to hold down the camouflage nets that they had laboriously set up just hours ago. The Soldiers of D Troop, 1st Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (LI), attempted to salvage their field feeding station as they prepared for the XVIII Airborne Corps Phillip A. Connelly Field Feeding Competition.
A team of 12 Soldiers had been working hard to prepare for and provide breakfast and lunch to more than 300 Soldiers in a simulated combat environment. They would be graded on all aspects of their service, from the sanitation of equipment to the preparation of food to the storage of perishable goods.
Maj. Thomas Campeau, 2nd Brigade Combat Team support operations officer, described the purpose behind holding the event.
"The key to the competition (is not) the fact that they made the tents look nice," he said. "It's that they know their doctrinal roles. It's them being extremely proficient in their doctrinal skills of how to set up a field feeding site. It's hard to do."
He went on to explain what it means to have made it to this level of the competition.
"They are the best field feeding section in the brigade, and they beat out everybody else in (the) 10th Mountain Division. This is the second year in a row that they've done this," Campeau said.
Last year, the 1-89 Cavalry field feeding section won the XVIII Airborne Corps Connelly Cup and went on to place second in the U.S. Army Forces Command-level competition.
First Sgt. Rebecca Devillier, supervisor of the field feeding team, had the daunting task of preparing the section for the corps-level competition and attempting to match and exceed last year's impressive outcome.
"All of the hard work and dedication from the practice days (leading up) to today's final inspection will be marked as an accomplishment in and of itself. We all did the best that we could and we worked as a team. In the end, regardless of this competition's outcome, we have claimed victory," Devillier said.
Devillier, who only recently took responsibility of D Troop, would not be on her own, as the team received assistance from a leader who knows the field feeding process very well.
Sgt. 1st Class Andrew Propes, the previous first sergeant of D Troop, came out to the competition for his final act before changing duty stations, serving food alongside the Soldiers he used to call his own. Although no longer assigned to the unit, Propes explained that the competition served as much more than just another training event to him.
"I love my guys. This is a team I've been building since 2014, so it brings me pleasure to see them with smiles on their faces when everyone comes to recognize the hard work that they do," Propes said.
Even with the strongest of team members, everything didn't go exactly to plan. The previous night brought an unexpected storm, complete with intense rain and forceful winds. The team had just finished setting up the field feeding station when the storm struck.
Pfc. Megan L. Lopez, a member of the field feeding section, reflected on the previous night.
"All of the poles were down, the camouflage nets were over the combat kitchen, one tent was collapsed on one side, and another tent collapsed," she said.
But the section wouldn't be deterred, and Soldiers came in early the next morning to fix their station for the inspection that would begin at 6 a.m.
"We had to come in at 3:30 a.m., so we had to wake up around 2:30 a.m., and we've been going at it ever since," Lopez said.
When describing her experience, Lopez highlighted the relationships she made in the process of preparing for the competition.
"(It was rewarding) meeting all these great people and knowing that, after the Army or at a different duty station, I have people I can always rely on," she said.
The field feeding team waits to hear the results of the competition as the representative forward support companies from other divisions across XVIII Airborne Corps will be assessed on their field feeding capabilities over the next few weeks.
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