Posted on 03/24/2006 5:35:35 PM PST by SandRat
FORT LEE, Va., (Army News Service, March 24, 2006.) – Napoleon Bonaparte once said that “an army fights on its stomach.” On today’s battlefields, Soldier-chefs deploy a mobile food service system that meet the challenge presented by Soldier’s stomachs in a matter of hours.
Unlike the singular movements of large armies of Napoleon’s early 19th-century Europe, many of today’s U.S. troops are deployed as modular units in a fast-moving, world-wide environment. This creates a challenge to get hot, quality chow to Soldiers on the move.
The Army’s Field Operations Training Branch has answered the call to serve rapidly-deployed troops with the Containerized Kitchen – a seven-ton, compact mobile trailer that is twice as efficient as traditional, much larger mobile kitchen trailers used in past decades.
“It took two of the older mobile kitchen trailers to serve 700 Soldiers,” said Sgt. 1st Class Charles Ray, an instructor at the Field Operations Training Branch, Army Center of Excellence, Subsistence, Quartermaster Center and School, Fort Lee, Va. “With one CK, we can serve 800 troops in less time, and with greater mobility than ever before.”
The CK is a self-contained system for food preparation – cooking and warming by utilizing a griddle, steam pans, cook pots, roasting pans, or sheet pans in the oven. Food is kept fresh in two refrigerators or warm in a holding cabinet. Hot and cold water are provided for food prep and clean up.
“Four Soldiers and one supervisor man the CK, and once they reach their destination, it takes less than 45 minutes to get a CK up and running,” Ray added. “The CK is a very efficient system that is mostly beneficial to division-sized elements.”
For the teams of Soldier-chefs who operate these state-of-the-art systems, precision-timing is critical to enabling CK’s and their crews to prepare nutritious meals for hundreds of hungry troops on the move.
“Once we get it unpacked, we simply hit a button, the system comes alive and we are ready to feed up to 800 Soldiers within three hours,” Ray said. Keeping the systems up and running is just as easy, according to Ray.
“The CK’s come with a solid collection of maintenance tools to troubleshoot almost anything that might go off-line. Most of the components of the CK are made in such a way that the teams who operate them will be able to troubleshoot and affect repairs on site.”
At a cost of $150,000 each, more than 200 CK’s have been put into operation at forward operating bases around the world since March 2001.
Sgt. 1st Class Charles Ray, an instructor at the Field Operations Training Branch explains the dual capabilities of an M2-A burner to former Brown and Root Balkans Division cook Samira Hall during a tour of the Containerized Kitchen display, at the Culinary Arts Competition, Fort Lee, March 15. While mainly used to prepare hot foods for troops, the M2-A has also served as a secondary heating source for adjascent tents during winter months.Field Kitchen Ping
During my first tour in VN, 65-67, I lived on peanut butter and C-Rats, gave the rest to the flies. On my second tour we had a Big Black Mean, Mess Sgt, when we on Base Camp the food was excellent, same rations and equipment.
SandRat, I know you remember the days when spoons really, really cooked- every company had it's own mess, and you could stumble on into one after the NCO club closed, and talk the mess daddy out of a sandwich...
Or if the mess daddy knew you and liked you, when you came on KP in the weeeeeeeee-hours of the morning he'd have the 1st cook fix you real eggs to order and maybe, just maybe pull out a couple of steaks he'd been saving to fry up with them instead of green baloney.
man, those were the days...makes me hungry just thinking about them...gonna have to go make me a sandwich...hoo ahh...
When I was a mess sergeant back in the '60s I had one of those gasoline fired burners catch fire and I had to drag it out of the tent.
Man, even with the treasonous democrats, I do love this Country.
wow, so what are they going to do with KBR then?
Bush lied, Troops gained weight.
Just does not have a ring to it.
Time to go back to the MoveOn.org.website.
Oh well.
I didn't want you to miss this thread!
You'll feel right at home here.
BTTT
Current employment search pulled from the web:
DESCRIPTION
Food Service Specialist
The Food Service Specialist is a Soldier who supervises or prepares, cooks and serves food in field or garrison food service operations.
Major duties
Performs preliminary food preparation procedures.
Prepares and/or cooks menu items listed on the production schedule.
Bakes, fries, braises, boils, simmers, steams and sautés as prescribed by Army recipes.
Sets up serving lines, garnishes food items, and applies food protection and sanitation measures in field and garrison environments.
Receives and stores subsistence items.
Performs general housekeeping duties.
Operates, maintains, and cleans field kitchen equipment.
Erects, strikes, and stores all types of field kitchens.
Performs preventive maintenance on garrison and field kitchen equipment.
Benefits
$20,000 Bonus
Paid Food Service Training
A Monthly Paycheck
Montgomery G.I. Bill
Up to 100% Tuition Assistance for College
Student Loan Repayment Program
Retirement Benefits for Part-time Service
Low-Cost Life Insurance (Up to $400,000 in coverage)
401-K-type Savings Plan
REQUIREMENTS
High School Diploma or GED (If you do not have a diploma or GED, you may still apply - ask a recruiter about how the Army National Guard can help you earn your GED)
Between the ages of 17 and 42
Must be able to pass a physical exam
Must meet citizenship requirements (see www.1-800-GO-GUARD.com for details)
A valid driver's license
Normal color vision
Ability to lift heavy objects
At a cost of $150,000 each, more than 200 CK’s have been put into operation at forward operating bases around the world since March 2001.
When I was a mess sergeant back in the '60s I had one of those gasoline fired burners catch fire and I had to drag it out of the tent.
We used to wake up the troops by firing those things off.
I lit one hard-to-light heater one day in Vung Tau for a sand crab. It did a nice “BOOM” and shot a flame about 20’ up. I noticed several of the base camp types dive for cover and come up a bit damp in the pants.
Us line platoon people had to find our fun where we could.
/johnny
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