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ershing

b l eServing

by Stephen R. SchroederPersh ing C able Staff Writer

Thi s fall was a very busy and success ful season forthe cooks of the 56th Fie ld Artill ery Command.

Sand"iched between field problems and regulardu,ies, many cooks spiced up their lives when theymixed i up with other cooks in two USAREURco mp e,i,ions.

In Berlin, seven cooks served winn ing dishes arUSAREUR's 7th Annual Cu linary A m Co mpetition, bringing home a plateful of awards.

A, Camp Redl eg in Heilbronn, the dining faci litywas rece nt ) evaluated for the Phi lip A. ConnellyAward - USAREUR's best dinin~ facility.

The Co m mand 's eight- man culinary >res team savored s,veet success after taking second place in theimracommand competition and winning two gold, .tw o si h-er and six bronte medals.

Sgt. Roy Richards, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 38th Signal Batta lion , and Sgt. MelvinCheeks , Charlie Bmerv, 4th Bmalion, 9th Field Artille ry, teamed up to put ,h e icing on a trip to Ft.Lee, Va. wi th USAREUR's Culinary Arts Team inMarch . The rwo grabbed first place in "FieldCooking . Richards also won a bronu in Pu lledSugar." Pu lled sugar, which resembles taffy, is usedto make decorations suc h as Roses.

Sfc. John C rawford, Headquarters and Headquarters Service Battery, 419 took silver in Co ld MeatBuffets~ and Spec. Cynthia Henry, HHSB, 1st Batta -

._.nder the watchful eye of Philip A. Connelly Award

evaluator and envlronmenlll l health speclaliet Sgt.Karen Smith, Alpha Battery , 4th Battalion, 9th FieldArtillery cook, Sgt. Reba Bounds, checks the cookingtemP9rature, of seve ral roasts. Correct cookingtamP9ratures ware only on e Item Smith and the otherevaluator, Inspected at Camp Redleg 's dining facility.

successl,on, 9th Field Artillery, won silver in "Petit Foursand bronze with her "Complete Meal for Two.

Sgt. Allen Cannon , Delta Battery, 1 /9 , took onebronze in "Sculpture" and another in "VegetableCenterpieces."

The other bronze medals went to Sgt. Thelma Bellof Bravo, l /9, and Delta, 4/9's Sgt. NapoleonGrimes.

Meanwhile in Heilbronn, Camp Rcdleg's cookswere busy training, cleaning and preparing for the-irL1pcoming taste of victory or defeat .

After a final G. I. Party, th e facility was ready forthe arrival of the thre e-ma n Connelly Award evaluation team on December I.

The competition is divided into three categories;large, small and field. The Command's competitor is

P against IO other facili ties in the small category.The winner of each division will be USAREUR'sBest Dining Facility and advance to All Army Co mpetition.

CW03 William Evans, team chief, said an evaluation takes eight to ten hours. "We watch one shiftdo what it does in a normal day." he explained.

For the eva luation team it may hav e been a norm alday, but for the dining facility staff it was one they'dspent months preparing for. The evaluation was thefmt ingredient in the cook's recipe of dreams.

"There's no question that if has been a lot ofwork, said Sfc. Jerry Biggar, NCOIC of Camp Redleg's dining facility. "But, if we win, it'll all pay of f .W e'll be number one

"There's no greater honor than this award. It issomething to strive for."

Spec. Phil Moss, Charlie Company, 38th SignalBattalion, said just being chosen to compete was ana.ccomplishment. "We're proud of ourselves and ourfaci lity but I'll be prouder if we win.

If they don't win, Spec. Carl Icenhour, Charlie4-19 won't be too disappointed because w e have alrudy proven that we are the best dining facil ity inth e Command "

According to Evans the competitors know whatwill be looked at before the evalua tion . The evalua'tion is no secret," he said, "they know we're goingto look at everything."

Evans does mean everything. During their stay,evalu2tors check cash shuts, production schedulesa.nd accountabi lity procedures. They watch the preparation of food and the overall operation of the fa-cility. They look for safety and energy awareness, sanitation and correct cooking and serving temperatu r es.

The competit ion is very stiff. Stan dards are veryhigh," remarked Evans. "We're dealing with the b estin the business."

Because the competition is so stiff and standards sohigh, Sgt. Karen Smfrh, evaluator and environmenta lhealth specia list, said it's very hard to find majorflaws that would produce an easy winner.

That's why the evaluators "walk a round with a'white glove on, Smith said. The competition is sointense. Eve ryone wantS 10 be number one. It 's tightand we have to come up with a winner somehow."

If all goes as the cooks of Camp Redleg hope, the'white g love' worn at their faciliry will be the cl eanest.Then they will be one of USAREUR's Philip A.Connelly awardces and Richard s and Cheeks won'tbe the on ly Command cooks competing at All Armylevel.

~I . 27, No 458th Reid Artillery ommand

Janu y 1989

Update FYINew jobs for women

A yea rlong review of the military's treatment ofthe women in its ranks has ended and the Armyhas announced that it will open a numbe r o f noncombat occupations that have been closed to wo-men.

Th o ugh no count of the occupantions was g iven, the Pentagon said the change could mean asmany as 11,138 new Army jobs open to women .

The Task Force on Women in the Miliiarrfound that whil e roughly S percent of personnelwere assigned to combat positions and rouijhtly SOpercent to noncombat jobs, thousands of 1obs re-quired judgme nt calls that frequently went againstwomen

The new rule specifies that a parcicular occupation be judged not on the basis of the ski lls in-volved or the unit 10 which it is assigned, b ut onwhether the postition would expose an individua lto the same risk of hostile fire as a comba t job.(Associated Press)

Customs cautionsCustoms inspectors will examine you r car be

fore you ship it to the United States . In order toshorten the proc essing time , th 42nd Military Police Group is ur ging so ldiers t clean their vehiclesfrom top to bottom before turning it in for shipment

Diseases and pests transmitted in soi l causegreat harm to the U.S. farming industry, so so il, inany amount, is prohibited from going to the U. S.

Ensure your car is clean before yo u try :>nd turnit in. Simply running it through the local car washwon't do the trick. In many cases steam cleanersor high pressure hoses are needeed.

According to the 42nd your car is not a shipping container. You are on ly allowed co shipthings which promote safe operation, such as afirst aid kit. Flammables like car wax and cans ofoil are strictly forbidden.

For more information on shif.>ping a car contactyour local 42nd MP Group fie d office.

Black History helpPreparations for Black History month have al

ready begun. The Neu Uh-i:i, Hcilbronn andSchwabisch Gmiind commun1t1es are expected toparticipate with a varie ty of events, celebratingMartin Luther King's birthday, emphasiz in g th econtributions of important black people, and ed ucating soldiers and family members about blackhistory. . .

In Schwiibisch Gmiind, Sfc. Robin M oms,equal opportunity advisor for the Comm and, islooking for books dealing with black history,paintings, figures, costumes and jew elry to displayn the Bismarck Library .

A lso planned for Schwiibisch Gmiind are an essay contest; a Manin Luther King birthday party;a memorial service in January; an ethnic food casting afternoon or evening; a film presentation; anddisplays . ,

If you have any ideas about how to improve theblack history celebrations, you are encouraged tocontact Sfc. Robin Morris in Schwabisch Gmiind,427-5994; Sfc. Castillo in Heilbronn; and Sfc.Jerry Sanchez, in Neu Ulm.

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Pe, hmg Ca/JIJanuary 989 3

Mud motors move mechanics

For mechanics In the field there 's a lot more to dothan just pull vehicles out ol the mud . Here, Spec.Michael Monte and Spec. Troy Hatcher, both fromHeadquarters and Headquarters Battery, repair analternator at one ol the two field site tacticalheadquarters.

by Troy DarrPershing Ca b le Staff Writer

t was raining when I arrived at th e field trainingexercise site . Three day s later still hadn', seen thesun.

l t was time to move out on a mission but there wasa mudhole bigg er than Texas in fron, of the 3/4-tontruck. "Well, thought to myself, American soldic:rs can do anything.

Fortunate ly, wasn ' t dr iving so it made ,he decision easy. "Let's go for it, we c:tn make it.

We didn't.A fter rwo hours of struggling, we were no close r

10 getting out than when we started. The driver said,Go find a wrecker.Thi .rty minutes later we were merrily on our way

to comp lete our mission.Rescuing mud -enveloped vehicles is on ly one o f

the jobs mechanics face while in th e field.According to Spec. Kev in Henderson, a light wheel

" 'ec hanic and wrecker driver for Alpha Company,38 th Signal Battalion, mechanics have 10 pick uppa.rts, retrieve and repair broken down vehicles and"m aintain vehicles a, all times m keep them combat

ready.""We can', get by without them (mechanics)," saidn Lt. Larry Turner, executive o fficer, Headquarters

and Headquart ers Battery . "When you take a s muchcquipment 10 the field as we do chere has to be somebody who can make a part out of nothi ng whee,something goes down."

According to Henderson, mechanics put in a lot oflon g hours in the field "pu lling guard duty and roadwork."

"When th e vehicles break down, most of the timeit's small things like alternators and seals go ing out,~sa.id Henderson. B ut it's s till more difficult in thefie ld because we're working outside and sometimes

we have to drive four hours 10 pick up a part."If a vehicle br eaks down on the road, mechanics

have to go out and "fix it or bring it back" to the sitewith a wrecker.

"When we get a broken down vehicle we ha- e totrouble -shoot to find out what the problem is. If analtern ator belt breaks, some times we have m make dowith another belt t hat we have handy - one that's designed for a different truck," H ende rson sa id . Onetime we had to chain an axle 10 the frame of a vehicleso we could drive it back to the site."

Henderson said most of the time it' s harder in thefield. It seems like eve,;body has a problem . Wehave to decide which problem is worse and try m fixit first."

"I like 10 operate the wrecker. It's exiting becauseof the different situations that can occur," said Henderson.

The hardest recovery job Henderson has ever donewas two years ago when a "fiv e-ton tractor trai ler rigrolled over. It took us about six or seven hours 10turn it back over with the assistance of cv o otherwrecker s and a M.A .N . truck," he said.

Spec. James Clawson, a mechanic for Headquartersand Headquarters Battery, said his field duties in

clud etr

ouble-shooting, supervising, and pu llingother vehicles out of the mud with his HMMWV(High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Veh icle) .

One differ ence b etween the motor poo l and thefield is that we use field expendicnt methods such aswrapping things with wire co get the vehicle to itsdest ination, so it can be fixed proper ;- ," ~aidClawson.

He enjoys going to the field because it "breaks themono tony of everyday kaserne life."

dont' know about breaking the monotony, butdo know that if it weren't for mech anics like Henderson and Clawson would still be out there, breaking my neck - trying to get my truck out of the mud.

ield is no cakewalk for cooksby Stephen R. SchroederPershing Cab le Staff W ricer

In garr ison they wear white, like angels, servi ngthe boun ies of the ,arch, breathing life in,o wearybodies.

In the field they v ear green and look like anyocher sold ier but still fulfill one of man's most basicneed s becau . i:e an army travtls on its stom ach."

"Coo ks are vita l to tro ops in the field , said Reginald Sha,v, 38th Signal Batta lio n Dining Facilitymanager. "Take the cooks away and you take awaylife support ."

Under the Arm y's Co mbat Field Feeding System,accord ing to Shaw, his cook's mission i s serving cwohot, ba lanced meals and one MRE (Mea l, Ready 10Ea t) da ily.

To accomplish this mission and those common to

all soldiers in the field, our cooks work 17 10 19hours a day," Shaw said. "We set up our tent s andcamouflage , conmuct fighting pomions and teardown like everyone else. Plus, we keep everyonefed."

Pfc. There sa McAfce, Headquarters and Headquarters Compan)', 38th Signal Battalion, recentl ywent on her first field problem as a cook and foundt lm a lack of sleep was the only problem she had."Three or four hours night after night just doesn'tcut it. I found myself 'sneaking' sleep, gettingquickies.

Although Pfc. Roy Dozier, HH C, 38t h Signal, alsothinks lack of rest is a prob lem for cooks in the field,

the self-proclaimed outdoors man looks forward tothe field becau se it's a chance to "gee outs ide, sec th etrees and hear the birds s ing. "

Through the use of T-Raes (Tray Rati ons), 'k eepingeveryon e fed' has become a little easier for those whosatisfy one of the field soldiers "most importantneeds," Shaw said.

T-Rat s are complete meal s, wh.ich resemble largeT.V. dinners. Ac cording to Shaw each entree munonly be placed in boi ling water for a predeterminedtime and it is finished, ready to serve .

Not only arc these ration s easy to prepare, theyalso "use less manpower, less fuel and less water thanA-Rations and can save rwo to three hours of cooking time , Shaw said. A-Rations consist of perishablefoods like fresh meat and fruit.

Whether preparing T-Ra itons or A-Rations, thecooks need somewhere to do their job.

The MKT 75A Mobile Field Kitchen is that place .

It has all the comforu of home; cabinets, burners ,gr ill, serving tables, ice chest and serving utensils.O ne four-man crew , Shaw said, can pull into a

field site, se t up and be cooki ng a meal in 30 m 45minutes.

Both Dozie r and McAfec agree that cooks are appreciated much more in the field than garrison . Dozier said many soldier's attitudes take "a 180 degreeswing in the field . They know there's no Burger Bar .If they want to cat they have to come to us."

But, it makes no difference 10 the Comman d's 'angels' whether they ar e in th e field or garrison, wearinggreen or white, ther e are a lways hungry mouths tofeed and empty stomac hs to fill.

Ptloto by Yack 9

"Serving two hot, balanced meals and one MRE aday" te not tha only thing Spec. Mark Mendoia doeswhen he's In the lleld. Mendoza l a cook a.signed toDelta Company, 38th Signal Battalion.