This was originally published in The Belle Banner, Belle Missouri September 6^th, 2017.  If you would like to see the current articles as they are published, you may subscribe to The Belle Banner by calling 573-859-3328, or email tcnpub3@gmail.com, or mail to The Belle Banner, PO Box 711, Belle, MO 65013.  Subscription rates are; Maries, Osage, and Gasconade County = $23.55 per year, elsewhere in Missouri = $26.77, outside Missouri = $27.00, and foreign countries = $40.00.

For those interested in Law Enforcement, another army job that is trained at Fort Leonard Wood is Military Police – MP.  In fact, all services, Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Department of Defense Civilian Police are trained at the US Army Military Police School (USAMPS) at Fort Leonard Wood.  USAMPS is fully accredited by FLETA (Federal Law Enforcement Training Accreditation).

Up until a few short years ago, when the question was asked; “Does being an MP in the military help you get a job as a civilian police officer?” The answer was a flat NO.  In fact many law enforcement agencies, while eagerly accepting veterans, preferred that an applicant not have been a military MP.  First, the military didn’t teach the subjects taught in civilian police academies, they didn’t do much of the same type of work, and they were in the military.  To many civilian police forces, having been an Army MP was a detriment, because they came with bad habits.  The military had different forms, different reporting procedures, and they were soldiers.  A soldier is a soldier, regardless of job.  While in service, they think differently, act differently, and speak their own language.  So regardless of the military experience, most civilian police forces required veteran applicants complete a civilian police academy.

That started changing in 2011 when a military police captain and a lieutenant, at Fort Leonard Wood, took the Missouri POST (Police Officer Selection and Training) Exam.  They identified the subjects tested in the exam which were not covered in their military training.  Their boss, the battalion commander, of the 787^th MP Battalion, contacted the University of Missouri-Columbia Law Enforcement Training Institute.  In 2012, Mr. William Stephens, the senior instructor at the Columbia Institute partnered with the USAMPS to help them evaluate their training and re-develop it to meet the 600 hours of training required by Missouri.  Initially a core of instructors were trained, and in January 2013 twenty one officers, non-commissioned officers (NCO’s) (sergeants), and two civilians from USAMPS took the Missouri POST exam.  All passed and subsequently received their State of Missouri police license.  After redeveloping and extending the initial military police training, Missouri recognized 722 hours of training, well exceeding the 600 hour requirement.

Army military police, MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) 31B, are trained in OSUT (One Station Unit Training) companies, meaning that their basic combat training and their advanced MOS training is conducted in the same company, all together.  The basic training phase is ten weeks and the MP phase is 11 weeks.  In February 2013, Company E, 787^th MP Battalion, having most of its cadre Missouri POST certified, was designated as the pilot company to test the new curriculum.  At graduation, 69 members of the class, who were age 21 years or older, took the Missouri POST Exam with 62 (90%) passing and receiving their state license.  Now, all 31B graduates, who are 21 or over, take the Missouri POST exam.

The Missouri POST examination is a 200 question exam, which covers constitutional law, Missouri statutory law, traffic law, ethics and professionalism, domestic violence, human behavior, patrol issues, jail population management, traffic accident and law enforcement, criminal investigation, offense investigation, report writing, juvenile justice and procedures, first responder, defensive tactics, firearms and the fundamentals of law enforcement driving.

In addition to the required civilian subjects, military police training covers advanced communications and advanced map reading skills, the M2 .50-cal machinegun and the MK 19 .40-cal automatic belt fed grenade launcher, vehicle Preventive Maintenance Checks and Services (PMCS) and driving the HMMWV on and off road, pistol qualification, MP Law Enforcement Operations, Defensive tactics and techniques, Detainee Operations, Active shooter response, Tactical operations, and Battlefield Forensics.

Much of the training is conducted at Stem Village, a mock city on Fort Leonard Wood named for a former MP Corps commandant.  The village covers 77,670 square feet and is constructed of dual purpose buildings like a movie theater which also contains weapons training classrooms.  There is a mock MP Station, bar, strip mall and gymnasium.  Another part of the village, used by officers and NCO’s that attend nine different courses from special police operations to anti-terrorism and counterdrug, has a credit union, shoppette, health clinic, family housing and other buildings that might be encountered on a military base.  There is also a state-of-the-art urban operations training area that resembles areas in Iraq and Afghanistan.  There is also one of the most realistic anti-terrorism evasive driving training areas for Department of Defense drivers for general officers and VIP’s.

MP duty varies with the unit and its mission.  The following was written by an MP stationed at Fort Leonard Wood.

“Most units rotate trough a cycle on a base. Here at Ft. Leonard Wood we have a pretty average cycle. One month Law Enforcement, one month Access Control, One month training. During the Access control month we work the gates checking IDs. We issue passes and ensure that only authorized personnel and their vehicles enter the post. During the Law Enforcement month we patrol the base in vehicles and on foot. We respond to 911 calls and general complaints. We use RADAR to enforce speed laws and of course watch stop signs for violations. The training month is used to prepare for field missions. These can consist of basic soldier skills or advanced unit specific missions. Some units train to escort POWs during war, others train to support forward units in finding their way. A unit may be tasked with setting up a holding compound for prisoners or detainees.

A big question I get asked is, Are you treated differently as an MP? The answer is yes and no. Some people are afraid to approach police officers. They picture us all a mean, power hungry people. Others love to taunt cops. Most people are indifferent to us though. They know we are around they just don’t think about us much. We are by the nature of our duties different. While many people sleep or take holidays, we work the roads and gates.

24 hours a day you can find a crew of MPs standing guard or working a beat. 365 days a year you can call the MP station and get a dispatcher on the phone. That’s the nature of MP work.

Military Police are just soldiers doing a different job. We carry weapons with live ammo every day. We write tickets for people well above our own pay grades.

We face combat situations in the front lawns of soldier’s homes weekly. And when we see a cop behind us we think, “What does this jerk want”.”

Another wrote; “God forbid you write a Colonel’s wife a ticket and it gets pulled.”

In combat areas MP’s can and do see combat.  They are occasionally used for route reconnaissance, and sometimes for convoy escort.

On Sunday, March 20^th 2005 a squad, in three Humvees, from the 617^th MP Company of the Kentucky National Guard was escorting a convoy of 30 civilian tractor trailers in Iraq.  Staff Sergeant Timothy Nein was the Squad Leader and Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester the assistant.  The MP vehicle, leading the convoy, came under attack from insurgents in a pair of dry irrigation ditches that ran parallel to the road.  They were firing AK-47’s, machineguns, and rocket propelled grenade (RPG) launchers.  The other MP’s all sped down the shoulder of the road to get to the front of the convoy between the insurgents and the trucks.  They made a right turn onto a side road, in an attempt to flank the insurgents, when the lead vehicle was hit by an RPG round, wounding the three MP’s in that vehicle.  Simultaneously, ten insurgents, firing their rifles, ran across a field to within about 60 feet of where the MP’s had come to a halt. Two MP’s in the second vehicle ran to give aid to the wounded, while one continued firing a Humvee mounted .50-cal machinegun. Staff Sergeant Nein and Sergeant Hester, in the third vehicle, ran to a nearby berm and started firing their M4 carbines, Sergeant Hester also had an M203 Grenade Launcher, with which she pumped out several 40 mm high explosive rounds. By that point in the firefight, the attackers had moved into the ditches and hidden behind several trees. The two MPs treating the wounded on the ground then came under sniper fire as the skirmish continued to escalate. Both soldiers responded by firing AT-4 rockets toward the farmhouse where the sniper was hiding. With the fire of the .50-cal. machine gun beginning to thump away at the enemy’s flank, Staff Sgt. Nein and Sgt. Hester laid down a continuous volume of fire at the 10 insurgents in the closest ditch. Although the Americans were fighting back, the situation had reached a stalemate. The MP’s were greatly outnumbered and had wounded, they couldn’t withdraw, and they would run out of ammunition long before a relief force could reach them. Staff Sergeant Nein and Sergeant Hester had only one option – attack. Realizing that their ammunition was dangerously low, Sergeant Hester ran through the fire back to a Humvee for ammo and hand grenades. Resupplied, the two rolled over the berm and attacked the ditch, while the .50-cal was forcing the insurgents to keep their heads down. Sgt. Hester killed three insurgents with her M4 Carbine and a fourth with her M203 grenade launcher. “It was either them or me—and I wasn’t going to choose the latter,” she later recalled. At the end of the 30 minute firefight, the MP’s had captured one unwounded Iraqi, six wounded, and found 24 dead. They also found 22 AK-47 rifles, 6 PRG launchers, 16 rockets, 13 RPK-type light machine guns, three PKM belt-fed machine guns, 40 hand grenades, and a mountain of small arms ammunition, plus one other chilling discovery – the insurgents were all carrying handcuffs.

Both Sergeants were awarded the Silver Star for valor, for that action. Making 5 foot 4 inch, 23 year old, Leigh Ann Hester, who was a Shoe Carnival store manager in Nashville before her guard unit deployed, the first female to be awarded the Silver Star, since World War II.

One of the AIT (Advanced Individual Training) courses at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri is MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) 88M, Motor Transport Operator, i.e. “Truck Driver”. If you’re a truck junky and your day doesn’t start until you climb in the cab and light up that big diesel, this is the Army job for you. It is one of the easiest AIT’s, consisting of seven weeks of training, plus one week of administrative stuff. Unless you already have a Class A CDL (Commercial Drivers License) and two years’ experience driving 80,000 pound tractor trailers then the training is only four weeks, after basic, then you are promoted to Specialist E4 upon completion of the four weeks. It is also one of the easiest jobs to get in the Army. If you want to get in the Army fast, if you just want to get in and not wait a year for a slot as a Satellite Communication Systems Operator Maintainer, and you don’t want to go into the Infantry, you can almost always get in as a truck driver. The ASVAB requirement is not high, a score of 85 in the OF (Operator – Food) area, which is comprised of four parts of the ASVAB, Verbal Expression (word knowledge and paragraph comprehension), Numerical Operations (very simple math), Auto and Shop Information, and Mechanical Comprehension.
The Army has a gazillion 88M’s, and it will always need more. They are everywhere all over the world in every type of unit. The type of job a soldier has as an 88M depends entirely on the unit. If a man or woman enlists as an 88M, they could end up hauling mail and supplies in Germany or Hawaii, or hauling tanks at Fort Bliss, Texas, or pulling maintenance and weeds in the motor pool at Fort Leonard Wood.

Freezing temperatures and snow? No Problem! The Road Kings keep rolling along, delivering supplies forward across Europe. #RaiseUp

The 66th Transportation Company is a United States Army medium truck company that provides line haul support to units for USAREUR operations. Raise Up!

66th Transportation Company, Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany

Fuel convoy, National Training Center, Fort Irwin, California

Big rigs hauling tanks in the desert

If they enlist with an airborne option, they have a 90 percent chance of going to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, about a 10 percent chance of going to Vicenza, Italy or Anchorage, Alaska.

82nd Brigade Support Battalion  October 7, 2020  ·    Paratroopers of the 82nd BSB conducted a rapid Battalion Support Area (BSA) displacement, showing the flexibility and adaptability of the battalion.

88M’s of the 173rd Airborne Brigade from Vicenza, Italy on an exercise in Germany.

The 88M’s do not usually drive Humvees, unit soldiers drive those, the 88M’s drive 5 tons and above. Driving a truck in the Army can be a great job, it can be a boring job, it can be a very busy job, and in combat it can be a very dangerous job.
A former Army truck driver had this to say; “Imagine yourself in the cab of a truck bouncing along a highway in Iraq. Palm trees and dun-colored houses whiz past. Children run out to beg. Men in white dishdashas and red headscarves with hostile faces watch you pass. You swerve to miss a donkey carcass; it could be booby-trapped. Suddenly, a familiar sound: the pop, pop, pop of machine-gun fire. You hope the soldiers in the Humvees escorting your convoy shoot back. You pray the flak vest you’re wearing stops an AK round, because the truck you’re driving is not armored. Above all, you tell yourself, “Don’t stop.” There are bad guys out there who want to pull you out and cut off your head. Then suddenly there’s a sharp concussion, black smoke, chaos. An IED on the left side of the road. You say a quick prayer and you move on. It’s another day on the job for a truck driver in Iraq. In Afghanistan, First Lieutenant Ben Keating did not want to ask a driver to drive over a narrow and unstable mountain road to haul supplies to a new outpost, so he drove the truck himself. The road gave away, the truck rolled down the mountain, and 1LT Ben Keating was wedged in rocks where he died. Combat Outpost Keating was named for him. Two Medals of Honor were awarded when the Taliban tried to overrun COP Keating. That is described in the book “Outpost”, by Jake Tapper, which is a 600 page gripping, detailed, fascinating, hold-you-to-the-page account of a terrible story.

If you are a line grunt, in a unit that has been in the field so many days that you’ve lost count, and you’re facing a 10 or 20K walk back to camp and trucks arrive, they are treated like hero’s. An Infantry Brigade Combat Team consists of seven battalions counting the Brigade Support Battalion, which includes the Brigade Headquarters Company, There are three Infantry Battalions, a Cavalry Squadron (Reconnaissance), a Fires Battalion (Artillery), and an Engineer Battalion which has two Combat Engineer Companies, a Military Intelligence Company and a Signal Company. Infantry, Cavalry, Fires, and Engineer Battalions each have a Forward Support Company attached. Each Forward Support Company has about 20 88M’s and ten trucks. The Distribution Company in the Brigade Support Battalion has about 10 88M’s and six trucks. So there are around 150 88M’s dedicated to driving a truck, in a brigade. I have read that in many places in the Army truck drivers are called “POG’s” along with all other POG’s (Person Other than a Grunt). We had a different name for rear echelon people when I was in the Army (can’t put it in print), but we didn’t include the truck drivers who picked us up in the field. The slurs to anyone not a grunt are not as prevalent in airborne units, because everyone jumps out of airplanes, so the pride of being airborne transcends the petty bickering and jealousies found in other units.
If a person enlists for MOS 88M, they get trained and awarded the MOS 88M. Where they get assigned, in the world, is according to the needs of the Army. If they get the airborne option, there is a 90 percent chance of them going to Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
After basic combat training, at Fort Leonard Wood, they move a couple blocks down the street to new barracks that are more like hotels. There are three bunks in a room, a stacked double and a single. Each room has its own bath and shower and closets instead of wall lockers. There are usually more males than females, so the females often have only two people to a room. There are modern laundry rooms on every floor. There are usually two or three days of waiting until the company is full, before training starts. First call (wake up) is 04:30, then PT (physical training) at 06:00. The course may be fairly easy, but the PT is not. An initial PT test is given the first week. Anyone who fails the PT test gets remedial PT in the evenings, and some companies have full PT twice a day. The new ACFT, the six event Army Combat Fitness Test, is now being conducted in AIT.  With the introduction of gender neutral army jobs, there is extra emphasis on physical fitness. So, the message is get in shape in basic and stay that way. Everyone is issued a little red book, which is how to PMCS (Preventive Maintenance Checks and Service) the vehicle each time before, during and after operation. PMCS is a term that becomes imbedded in the mind of every driver in the army. There is a check list and a form to complete. You have to clean the vehicle, maintain it, and complete the paperwork, swearing that you have done those things. . The Army is completely serious about PMCS. I saw a super Lieutenant Colonel Infantry Battalion Commander and his Major Executive Officer in the 82nd Airborne Division, both relieved of duty (fired) because a surprise maintenance inspection found that the battalion vehicles were not being maintained.  Those two officers then needed to start working on their resumes because their future in the Army was basically over.
Some have written that the first week of training is the hardest, because it is five days of eight hours a day in the classroom, and if caught sleeping the threat is that they will not graduate on time. Hands on and driving training is on “pads”, which are giant concrete and paved areas, out in the woods on Fort Leonard Wood, built specifically for 88M training on specific vehicles. Training is on the 5 ton truck (M1083), the HEMTT (Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck) M1120 LHS (Load Handling System), and the M915 standard tractor semi-trailer, plus others. Over a week is spent on the 915 semi. One female soldier said that she just could not back a semi. She went to the PX, bought a toy tractor trailer set and sat on the floor in her room moving them back and forth until the light went on, “If I turn the wheel this way the trailer does that”. She said that the next day she “threaded” the M915 and trailer.

M 1083 five ton truck.

M 1102 HEMTT with Load Handling System.

M915 Semi Tractor.

M915 with 40 foot container.

Various configurations with the M 915.

Students drive in convoys both day and night, on highways and off road. There is a lot of driving time, and there are always two in the cab.

Student convoy on Fort Leonard Wood.

88M AIT students training on the M 915.

88M AIT students training on reaction to an unexpected roll over.

Driving simulator.

There is a week in the field about halfway through the course. They sleep on cots in tents. As with most jobs in the Army, the real learning happens when the soldier gets to his or her permanent unit.
You don’t get a civilian Class A CDL (Commercial Drivers License) in the Army, but most states have adopted a “troops to truckers” program, which, with the commanders signature, allows a soldier leaving the Army to skip the skills test, and take only the written test to get a Class A CDL.
I have attended graduation ceremonies of 88M’s at Fort Leonard Wood, the sergeants were professional and the students were having fun.
There are a hundred different types of professional truck driving jobs. The people who stay in the seat usually find a particular job that suits them. I remember one lady who hauled household goods, during the summer, for moving companies. She was 35 to 40, had her 9 year old son with her, she was beautifully manicured with her designer jeans and boots. She meticulously checked everything going on and off her trailer, but never touched anything herself, lumpers did that. She said that she just enjoyed the adventure and the freedom.

Susie Lyons.  Woman Truck Driver of the Year.  40 years and 4 million accident free miles.

Then there was an older couple from Florida, who hauled household goods. They had a 12 foot long sleeper on their truck. They said that they left home in April and returned in September and that they made enough to just stay home in Florida for the winter.

Kenworth Road Tractor with 13 foot living quarters.

Soldiers, with MOS 88M, who stay in the Army, advance up the ranks at about the same rate as most other support MOS’s. Sergeants may be senior drivers responsible for their own and one or two other trucks, or they may drive very large or complicated vehicles. Staff Sergeants are Squad or Section Leaders, Material Movement NCO (Non-commissioned Officer) or Transportation NCO. A Sergeant First Class may be a Brigade Motor Sergeant or a Transportation Platoon Sergeant or a Truckmaster which is like an administrative supervisor in a motor pool.

If you enjoy cooking and think you would like to cook for a living, be a chef in a restaurant, or manage a restaurant, becoming an Army Cook might be of benefit to you. There was a time when I would never have recommended this. When I went in the Army a cook was the bottom of the food chain (no pun intended). If a person scored too low on the entrance exams for most Army jobs, he was made a cook. When I got to my company in the 82nd Airborne Division, each company had Its’ own building with its’ own mess hall. All Privates through Specialists were on the KP (Kitchen Police) roster. Six or eight KPs were sent to the mess hall every day, to scrub floors, wash pots and pans, and generally do anything the cooks didn’t want to do. It was from 04:00 AM to 21:00 (9:00 PM). It was hot, loud, steamy and continuous. Our Mess Sergeant was an infantry Staff Sergeant who was mean as a snake with a perpetual hangover, and ran the mess hall with an iron hand. On weekends and holidays you could sell your KP for $20, and that was 1962 and 1963. I pulled so much KP that I was offered the job as a cook. No way! Things didn’t change much through Vietnam, but around the time the Army started trying to change from rough riders to professionals, the food service people started realizing their value and becoming more professional themselves.
I was a Rifle Platoon Sergeant in the 509th Airborne Battalion Combat Team in Italy in 1977 – 1979. We went on a fast moving 17 day field exercise in an Italian Army Training Area north of Rome. The food people couldn’t keep up with us, we missed meals. They caught up with us one time and all they had was condensed rice and shrimp, you just add water and heat it up, which they had done. It is not very good, the troops usually leave it. The troops came back for seconds and ate every drop that was there. About a week later our Battalion Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Murphy, was making rounds, visiting the troops, I took he and our Company Commander, Captain Victor Mitchell, to see my platoon. The colonel talked to the troops about the exercise and asked how they were doing – OK, then as he was ready to leave, he smiled and asked; “Are you getting enough to eat?” They answered in unison a big loud NO SIR! As we were walking back up the hill Colonel Murphy turned to Captain Mitchell; “Vic, what’s going on with the chow?” Captain Mitchell explained that the food service people couldn’t seem to keep up with us, or find us at meal time. We heard, through the rumor mill, that there was a shakeup in food service supervision, but we never had chow problems again.
How things have changed. Army MOS 92G was a Cook, then a Food Service Specialist, and now a “Culinary Specialist” who can receive civilian certification as a chef. They wear black trousers and a white chef jacket, while on duty.

Sometimes the jacket comes off during food prep.

They have competitions for chef of the quarter, and large army posts have annual installation culinary competitions. Then there is the annual Military Culinary Arts Competition at Fort Lee, Virginia, which has competitors from all the services, National Guard and Reserves. The Pentagon has its own TV channel for military personnel. The cooking show “The Grill Sergeants” with military chefs, is one the most popular shows. There are no more “mess halls”, now there are Dining Facilities (DFAC). These are large consolidated facilities, with the latest equipment and technology, and offer a wide variety in their menus, because soldiers are no longer bound to eat in “their” DFAC, they can eat in any DFAC, which has created a competition between DFAC’s on the same post. Where there was once probably a hundred mess halls in a Division of about 12,000 soldiers, there are now 14 DFAC’s on all of Fort Bragg, North Carolina of over 50,000 soldiers. And there is no more “KP duty”, civilian contractors provide the KP’s in the DFAC’s. In fact, of those 14 DFAC’s, 10 are military and 4 are operated by the civilian contracting company.
In 1968 the Army established the “Phillip A. Connelly Awards Program” to promote professionalism in Army dining facilities. It has grown to an annual inspection of almost every dining facility in the Army, by the Joint Center of Culinary Excellence at Fort Lee, Virginia. There are three main categories “Military Garrison”, “Active Army Field Kitchen”, and “Reserve Component Field Kitchen” (guard and reserves). DFAC’s which are operated by combat units compete in the “Field Kitchen” category, because both their DFAC and Field Kitchen are inspected. The Joint Culinary Center of Excellence from Fort Lee, Virginia has a check list of 61 items in 9 different categories they use during inspections. They check Administration/Training/Supervision, Accounting Procedures, Request/Receipt/Storage of Rations, Field Food Service Sanitation, Command Support, Appearance/Attitude of Food Service Personnel, Servicing/ Troop Acceptability (they interview soldiers who eat at the DFAC), Kitchen Site Selection/Layout, and Food Preparation and Quality.

I have said many times that the most elite force you can simply enlist for is “Airborne”, I have the same recommendation if you want to be a cook. The top winners of the world wide “Phillip A Connelly Award” have been; In 2009, the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division, in 2012 and 2014 the 1st Brigade Combat Team, in 2015 the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, the 1st Brigade again in 2016, and in 2019 the award for the best Dining Facility in the Army went to the 82nd Support Battalion.

The DFAC manager of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, “Devils Den DFAC”, through those last two inspections was Sergeant First Class David Sarnecki. SFC Sarnecki graduated from high school in 1992, went to Illinois Wesleyan University for three years, tried to find a job, but couldn’t, so he decided to serve his country for three years, until the jobs opened up. He ended up loving the Army and loving his job, he commented; “They say an army moves on its stomach and keeping paratroopers fed, I’m right at the heart of the action”. Now he’s retiring from the Army, at age 43, with a masters degree in political science, which the Army paid for, and a certified chef with extensive experience in large food management and catering.

The 2019 winning DFAC is called the Provider Café, and is operated by the 223^rd Quartermaster (QM) Field Feeding Company, of the 82^nd Special Troops Battalion, 82^nd Airborne Division Sustainment Brigade, and they are professional paratroopers as well as professional chef’s.

Serving in any job (MOS) in the 82^nd Airborne Division is working in a different culture from most of the rest of the Army.  It is a culture of achievement and success, a culture of professionalism.

Provider Café DFAC Thanksgiving layout.

223^rd QM Co paratrooper preparing for a parachute jump.

223^rd QM Co shooting on the range.

223^rd QM Co taking the ACFT (Army Combat Fitness Test)

Culinary Specialist soldiers must stay fit.  The maximum score on the new ACFT is 600.  These are the 223^rd QM Co soldiers who scored above 500.  This would be impressive for any army company.

223^rd QM Co Specialist Sindi Rodriguez won the 82^nd Airborne Division and the Fort Bragg Installation Chef of the Year FY20.

The 223^rd is a company of winners, but it is not unique in the 82^nd Airborne Division.

82^nd Airborne Division, 3^rd Brigade Combat Team Dining Facility

1st QTR FY2020 Superior Dining Facility Winner. This is our FOURTH consecutive quarter receiving this Award, sweeping the calendar year of 2019. So proud of the Culinarians and Leaders of the Panther Brigade Dining Facility.

3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82^nd Airborne Division October 23^rd 2020.Panther Family;  today we are recognizing the outstanding performance of the following Culinary Specilalists:

Staff Sgt. Christopher Go awarded an Army Achievement Medal for winning Brigade Chef of the Quarter.

Sgt. John Bawuah an Army Commendation Medal for winning Installation Chef of the Quarter.

Specialist Treshawn Speight was awarded an Army Achievement Medal for Brigade Chef of the Quarter and an Army Commendation Medal for winning Installation Chef of the Quarter.

Congratulations and well done!

82^nd Airborne Division, 1^st Brigade Combat Team Dining Facility (Devil’s Den DFAC)

Your Devils Den team won the Super Bowl(Best Thanksgiving Fort Bragg Installation). This is the most important meal of the year for a 92G. To say for the next year we are the champions is an honor and a pleasure. Of course we could not accomplish anything without the hard work of all the Culinary Specialist/Paratroopers assigned to 1 Brigade Combat Team. Thank you to all for the support. #StrikeHold #BlackDevils #DevilsDen #IfYouAintFirstYoureLast

In the 82nd Airborne Division, even our cooks can go to #RangerSchool! Meet Specialst Matthew Braswell, a culinary specialist assigned to the 307th Brigade Support Battalion,  1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division.  He loves being in the #AllAmerican Division because he gets to jump out of airplanes and work for some of the best leaders in the US Army.

The 2017 Phillip A. Connelly award for the best DFAC went to the CSM Lawrence T. Hickey Dining Facility at Grafenwöhr, Germany, which is staffed by both US Army Culinary Specialists and German civilian cooks.

To become an Army Culinary Specialist, the entrance requirements are still not that high, so it is easy to qualify for that MOS. Although, now college graduates are enlisting specifically to be a cook, because they want the training and experience in preparing and feeding in large volumes, and they want the Culinary Chef Certification. After basic training, the 92G AIT (Advanced Individual Training) is eight weeks and three days at Fort Lee, (Petersburg) Virginia.

US Army veteran Bryce Ward gave this detailed description of 92G AIT.

“I am a 92G and graduated Culinary Specialist AIT in July 2017.

Let me give you an outline of it:

Congratulations, you graduated basic training. You’re reporting to Fort Lee, Virginia, to the 23rd QM BDE, 266 QM BN. (266^th Quartermaster Battalion, 23^rd Quartermaster Brigade) There are two companies in this BN. There is Bravo Company and there is Tango Company.

Your first stop with be 23rd QM BDE, BDE HHC.  (Headquarters and Headquarters Company)  Your stay here can range from a few hours to a few months. It all depends what your AIT is and when classes start. There are 92A’s, 92F’s, 92G’s, 92R’s, 92S’s, 92W’s, 92Y’s, 68M’s, and 27D’s with you here.

From BDE HHC, you all will branch off and head your separate ways to AIT when your classes start.

You’ll either take a walk across BDE HHC’s basketball court to Tango Company, or you’ll walk, west I think, to Bravo Company. In my time in AIT, we did not have Drill Sergeants but Platoon Sergeants. Today, you WILL have a Drill Sergeant. Why? Because big Army doesn’t think there’s enough discipline in AIT, and Drill Sergeants will bring that back. So, they’re not just in basic anymore. Beware.

Before AIT, you will pick up your TA-50 gear (field gear) plus your cook whites. You may wear the old cook white smocks, but since the Army has transitioned to the chef jacket, you may be issued that now instead.

AIT will begin with the first day being an 8 hour long orientation at the Joint Culinary Center of Excellence (JCCOE) auditorium. On this day, you will be taught what you’ll learn throughout your 8 week, 3 day stay in AIT land. You will be told what your class number is (ex. 20–016, or ‘Year 2020 – Class #16) who your civilian instructors will be for the Techniques of Cookery and Small Quantity Baking modules (TOC/SQB), and what date your class will graduate. They’ll reiterate the battle buddy system, SHARP policies, EO policies, etc, and TRADOC regulations that apply to initial entry training soldiers. If you are a re-class, TRADOC rules for IET don’t apply to you.

A caveat: You will see that the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy also train their cooks at Fort Lee JCCOE. They will all be trained separately from each other. You will not share classes with them. You will see them in formations outside of the building, however, and that’s about it. Notably absent will be the Coast Guard, as they train their cooks at USCG Training Center Petaluma, California.

For lunch on this day, you’ll get to eat at the JCCOE DFAC, where your meals are cooked by Soldiers three weeks ahead of you in AIT. They’ll try to sell it like you’re eating at a Michelin rated establishment that serves superb food. Don’t believe it. If you barely know how to cook, your battle buddies just three weeks ahead of you don’t know how to cook much better. Trust me. If you survived your basic training DFAC, you’ll survive this one. If the rice is crunchy just swallow, don’t chew.

The next day, you’ll sit in the same auditorium and be lectured for another 8 hours about basic food safety, the military rules and regulations that govern military food service operations, simple rules even a Jack in the Box employee would know such as; ‘FAT TOM’, proper hand washing and kitchen sanitation, what cross contamination is, how to rotate stock properly, what the proper hot and cold holding temperature is, how to shelf foods properly (like never putting raw meat over cooked meats), what a cooks mount is, and what is required to wear with the chef uniform (thermometer, note pad, pen, ID card, ID tags, apron)

Then, you’ll spend one week in Techniques of Cookery, and one week in Small Quantity Baking. In TOC, you’ll learn the system of measurement used in cooking (tablespoon, teaspoon, cup, quart), you’ll learn the different types of knives, how to cut with those knives, how to read a recipe card, how to prep ingredients. If you’re lost, or have questions, there will be a salty, retired 92G civilian instructor to guide you, and possibly yell at you.

In the TOC module you should learn how to quarter a chicken, you’ll bake macaroni and cheese, you’ll learn the different ways to prepare an egg (scrambling, over easy/medium/hard, soft/hard boiling, fried, omelet, and even poached if your instructor has time, mine did. You will not be taught sunny side up, because by regulation it is not allowed to be served) It escapes my mind what your final dish in TOC is in order to move on to SQB, but it wasn’t hard. I think it was spaghetti and meatballs.

In SQB, you’ll make cookies, cupcakes, a pie (or turnovers, your choice), and to complete the SQB module, you’ll bake a cake.

After SQB, you’ll move on to small garrison. There used to be a ‘large garrison’ module, but that was phased out some time ago. This is when you’ll be introduced to DFAC operations. What you’ll actually be doing for the next three to four years of your life. Before you actually begin cooking, you’ll return to the JCCOE auditorium where you’ll receive classroom instruction on what to expect and what to do for that module. Then, you’ll start cooking in the other half of that week. Remember when I said on your first day of AIT you’ll have people three weeks ahead of you cooking for you? Well now it’s your turn. Those brand new AIT students will be coming through the line and you’ll be serving them.

There will be two shifts. Early and late. Early shift will report at 0500 and cook, serve breakfast and cook lunch. Late shift will report at 1100 and serve lunch and then clean up and close the DFAC. Breakfast shift will go home at 1300, late shift will go home at 1600.

Once you wrap up small garrison, you will spend two weeks in the ‘field’ at FOTB, or Field Operations Training Branch. As I said, this is a two week module. The first week you will be trained on all field equipment and how to use it. You will learn about rations, SSMO operations, etc, as well. The following week, you will cook at FOTB.

After FOTB, you will head into your QMSTX (Quartermaster Situational Training Exercise). The first day, you will do a ’round robin’ and refresh on everything you learned in basic training, and the next day you will apply it to practical scenarios. A lot like basic training, without boring the reader with details.

Then, you’ll spend the latter portion of your STX week making sure your ASU is in order, that it still fits, getting any rank/awards added, finalizing orders, getting out-processed from Fort Lee, and then you’ll graduate.

That’s the academic aspect of AIT.

Now for the physical aspect:

You will PT from 0500 to 0615. Chow will be at 0630 to 0700. Hygiene will be from 0700 to 0730. Class starts at 0800.

PT will vary, but was straightforward for me. Monday, Wednesday, Friday RUN DAY. Tuesday muscle failure, Thursday muscle failure with light cardio (i.e. one lap around the track and then do as many pushups as you can, rinse and repeat) Give PT everything you have each morning. Just because you’re a cook doesn’t mean you get a free pass on staying in shape. It’s a job requirement, after all.

Important note for the physical aspect: You will take two APFTs (and soon, ACFT) in AIT. The first one should be during week two or three of AIT. It will be a diagnostic to see where you are at. If you pass this diagnostic, you are eligible to go on pass during the weekends, and order out for food. You will then take a record APFT. Passing this one means you will graduate.

If you do not pass the record APFT/ACFT, there’s time for one more but it is very important you pass it the second time, or you may not graduate on time. You will not graduate AIT or leave Fort Lee, that is a promise. You don’t want to be stuck in AIT land any longer than you have to.

For your downtime:

ENJOY IT. When you are not in class, on duty at night (yes, you will have fireguard but it’ll be called by a different name), doing PT, or barracks maintenance, and you have down time (weekends especially), enjoy it. Watch movies, play cards with your roommates, play video games, go on pass if you’re allowed to (go bowling, to the warrior zone, movie theater, PX, Church)

You will be punished and smoked, just like basic. Your platoon will fowl up, another platoon will fowl up, it will happen. Get used to it. Just like in basic, the quickest way out of AIT is to graduate.”

After AIT you can literally be assigned anywhere in the world, where the Army is located. If you use the airborne option you will attend three weeks of airborne school at Fort Benning, Georgia, then you will have an 85% chance of being assigned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Either the 82nd Airborne Division, (it has 90% of the cooks on post) or Special Forces or one of the other airborne units on post. Some will go to the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Vicenza, Italy, and some to the 4th Brigade (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division in Anchorage, Alaska.
A Culinary Specialist has to be out of AIT for at least a year, and working in a DFAC to apply for the Certified Culinarian program (it is a test). Military cooks in the grade of Sergeant and above may apply to attend the Advanced Culinary Skills Training Course. That is a three week course at the Joint Culinary Center of Excellence at Fort Lee, Virginia, which is attended by cooks from all the services. I think they learn real TV Food Show level chef cooking.
There is also an Enlisted Aide Training Course. Cooks are enlisted aides for general officers. That course teaches household management, uniform maintenance, basic bartending, accounting and scheduling.
This field is big, there are a lot of cooks in the Army. After making Specialist, promotions are sometimes slow, but morale among food service personnel now is 1000 % better than years past. There are still some units where cooks work full shifts (long hours), but most have DFAC’s staffed with shifts so everyone gets to work a normal day. A Brigade Combat Team in the 82nd Airborne Division consists of three infantry battalions, a cavalry squadron, an artillery battalion, an engineer battalion, and a brigade support battalion. The cooks are all assigned to the brigade support battalion, however some are in Forward Support companies. A Forward Support Company, which provides transportation, supply, maintenance, and field feeding is attached to each of the other battalions, however, in garrison all help staff the brigade DFAC.
If you enjoy cooking, this can be a good job, a person can become a chef, but keep in mind that on the way to becoming a chef there will be a lot time over a hot stove cooking for several hundred people at one time.