FORT BRAGG, N.C. – The Army is investing in its facilities to improve the quality of life for the Soldiers, families and civilians who live and work on installations, and to ensure the infrastructure will support the Army of 2030. As Army modernization efforts continue, improvements to dining facilities, now known as Warrior Restaurants, are in full swing.
Michael Panella and Brian Worn, Stand Alone Network Enterprise Center (SANEC) Bragg received recognition for their efforts modernizing installation Warrior Restaurants across Fort Bragg March 2.
In support of the Army’s initiative for improving installation Warrior Restaurants, Panella and Worn were responsible for modernizing 12 Warrior Restaurants with the hardware to allow cashless payments.
To modernize garrison Warrior Restaurants, the Army mandated facilities to be equipped to accept electronic payments through a point of sale (POS) device. These modernization efforts fully support the Army Food Modernization Program and Army initiatives to expand options for paying customers.
“The credit card readers make the quality of life for both the customer and staff exponentially better,” said Staff Sgt. William Jordan, Culinary Outpost Food Truck manager, 82nd Airborne Division Sustainment Brigade. “It’s more convenient for the customer [when] not too many people are carrying cash anymore.”
The modernization efforts also help staff operations in garrison restaurants.
“For the staff, it's less money they must handle,” Jordan said. “It minimizes the chances of cash transaction errors and it’s a simpler process to get money to a bank.”
The team began supporting the Army Food Management Information System in July 2022.
Having served 12 years as an active-duty Marine for Panella and seven years active-duty Air Force for Worn, the team understood what modernizing the facilities would mean to those who frequent them.
Although the team received unit challenge coins for their efforts, knowing they successfully completed the mission is an accomplishment all its own.
“Understanding the impact of our work to the warfighter is all the recognition we need,” Worn said. “Doing our job to the best of our ability and for the benefit of all.”
With their support, all Ft. Bragg Warrior Restaurants received the devices. The installation became the only installation in the Continental United States with working credit card systems in restaurants.
“Bragg was the first across CONUS Army installations to crack the code and make the machines work on the network,” said Lt. Col. Jimbo Hayes, commander, Army Field Support Battalion-Bragg, 406th Army Field Support. “We couldn’t have done it without the SANEC team’s support.”
The Army is committed to improving readiness and modernizing the force. For more information on the Army Food Modernization strategy, please visit www.army.mil/g-4.
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