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Chef gets Bronze Star for convoy rescue
Chief Warrant Officer 3 David J. Longstaff, manager of the U.S. Army culinary team, has been awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Valor for rescuing
five Soldiers pinned down in an ambush.

Longstaff was serving as Division Support Command food service technician for the 1st Armored Division, when he went on a procurement mission
in the Al Rasheed district of Baghdad on Aug. 7, 2003.

It was early afternoon with temperatures reaching 113 degrees fahrenheit. During his first five months in Iraq, Longstaff had participated in more than
150 convoys into Baghdad. This particular mission had proceeded as normal, but while driving through a shopping district along the route back to
camp, he spotted a burning Humvee in the center medium.

“The Humvee was hit by an RPG and an ambush was in progress,” said Longstaff. “We just happened to be coming down the road, so we got in
there and supported them.”

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A Navy Chef Shares  
His Skills

The Pentagon Channel
03/31/2008
Marine chef takes care of business  3/27/2008  
MCRD PARRIS ISLAND/ERR, S.C.  — Professional chefs are well known for being highly temperamental individuals. Marines are not exactly known for
their friendly demeanor, either.

Now, imagine Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Millican, the enlisted aide and personal chef to Brig. Gen. Paul E. Lefebvre, commanding general, MCRD Parris
Island/Eastern Recruiting Region.

People familiar with both Marines and chefs might assume Millican would be an easily irritated individual. They'd be wrong.

"I'm very mellow, very calm," Millican said. "It's my personality. It's just my way of doing business."

Millican's business is the day-to-day running of the general's quarters, he said. As the enlisted aide, he is responsible for the caretaking of the
general's house, the preparation of all meals and taking care of anything the general or his wife might need.

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Culinary Arts Competition Heats Up 03/13/2008
FORT LEE, Va  - The Army's top chefs gathered at the Army Center of Excellence, Subsistence, here this week to trade recipes, techniques, join the
Culinary Arts Team and become better chefs.

The 33rd U.S. Army Culinary Arts Competition serves as a training environment for the chefs trying to earn gold, silver and bronze
awards. A roomful of competitors gathered March 9 for an hour-long tutorial in preparation for the Armed Forces and Junior Chef of
the Year events.

Staff Sgt. Nolan Kniss, the 2007 Senior Chef of the Year, served as chief instructor, with Staff Sgt. Steven Broome assisting. Both
seasoned competitors tried out Wednesday for the U.S. Army Culinary Arts Team. Their experience also serves to assist and
educate other chefs, as the two-week competition includes a variety of classes, such as hot and cold sauces, tallow and garnish.

Sgt. 1st Class Rene Marquis, USACAT captain and U.S. Army enlisted aide to the commander at U.S. Central Command,
emphasized the learning aspect of the competition and reminded chefs to use each others' expertise.

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EATC debuts Advanced Culinary Class 2/15/2008
ANDREWS AFB, Md. -- The Executive Airlift Training Center recently introduced an Advanced Culinary Class as part of it's curriculum.

The five-day course was geared toward increasing the culinary skills of the resident EATC instructors and student resident squadron flight attendants.

"The purpose of the class is to advance the skills flight attendants already possess in the cooking arena," said Master Sgt. Tangella Brown, EATC
superintendent. "But we're stepping it up a notch by presenting our customers with really nice meals that they'll remember us by," said Sergeant Brown.

Flight attendants receive formal training at the Basic Flight Attendant Course, (formerly Flight Attendants Culinary EGRESS Training School) in San
Antonio, Texas. There they learn how to set a table with plate, saucer and cup placement accompanied by the correct silverware placement.

"Once they graduate, our job here is to teach them a little bit more about cooking and marry that with what they already know and then show them how
to apply it on a Special Air Mission," said Sergeant Brown, who received her Master Certified Food Executive certificate.

The new class started with Culinary 101 academics. The day culminated into a strategy event, where the students were presented with a work station
stocked with different types of food, and they were required to display a creative presentation in a specified time limit.

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'The Next CG Food Network Star' 02/05/2008
Trout marinated in grape jelly and marshmallow puree smothered sole aren't dishes you would usually eat aboard Coast Guard cutters, but these
were just a few of the plates served up on the Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba on February 1, 2008.

The Escanaba pulled into South Street Seaport in New York City to host more than 40 cast and crewmembers from the reality television series "The
Next Food Network Star" while on a break from a Living Marine Resource patrol in the frigid North Atlantic.

The show challenged contestants to prepare gourmet dishes in 45 minutes for more than 30 Escanaba crewmembers. Each Coast Guardsman was
given a card to vote for their favorite dishes. Contestants were eliminated according to how well they did.

None of the contestants were told of the challenge they faced aboard the Escanaba.

"It is exciting for us to put the contestants in a situation where they can be creative and inventive with a new fish dish," said Robert Bleifer, executive
chef at The Food Network. "The challenges for them are definitely going to be trying to cook these dishes in such a confined space with such a small
time constraint."

Click here to read more of this Coast Guard food service article..
Army Cooks in Afghanistan Provide a Taste of Home 04/01/2008
FORWARD OPERATING BASE SHARANA, Afghanistan, April 1, 2008 – Army cooks from Task Force Pacemaker in Afghanistan are providing their
own unique touch and a taste of home with each hot meal they serve to soldiers throughout Regional Command East.

The Task Force Pacemaker Headquarters Support Company cooks, deployed from Fort Lewis, Wash., work throughout RC-East, often in remote
areas for extended durations.

“Our cooks use the Army-standard recipes as a guide, but as soon as a new cook learns those standards, we show them how to customize the
recipe, and this is what makes it a traditional homemade taste,” said Army Staff Sgt. Melanie Scott, lead cook at the Reception, Staging, Onward
Movement and Integration dining facility here. “Our weekly barbecues are the most loved meals by the soldiers.”

Scott, a Grosse Ile, Mich., native, has a staff of eight military cooks and 16 Afghans who work on midnight and day shifts.

“Transportation has been a challenge, getting supplies to these remote locations,” Scott said. “KBR and other contractors do not support these
locations for security reasons.

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‘Standing Tall, Cooking Good’ 03/14/2008
The 33rd U.S. Army Culinary Competition capped two weeks of intense competition, training and camaraderie with an awards ceremony held Friday
at Mifflin Hall.

The event, the largest of its kind in the United States, is one that aims to showcase and improve military food service skills.

Brig. Gen. Jesse R. Cross, Quartermaster Center and School commanding general and the event’s host, said this year’s competition set a standard
for future ones.

“I’m told that this is the best competition that we’ve ever had,” he said during the ceremony’s keynote speech.

That sentiment came from the participants themselves, said Lt. Col. David K. Allen, director, Army Center of Excellence, Subsistence.

“We talked to them throughout the competition and that’s the feedback they gave us,” he said.

About 161 military food service personnel from installations all over the world converged at ACES’ McLaughlin Hall and other locations to compete in
40 different events during the competition. They included members of the Marine Corps and Coast Guard, intermittent competitors in the event and
the Air Force and Navy, who were competing for the first time.

None of the competition winners were announced before the awards ceremony. Most of the competitors and about 100 others packed Mifflin Hall in a
drama-laced atmosphere similar to that of the Academy Awards.

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Navy Luncheon Honors 50th Ney Award Winners 4/8/2008
DENVER (NNS) -- Experts in Navy food service gathered in Denver, to recognize first-place winners of the 50th Captain Edward F. Ney Memorial
Awards for Outstanding Food Service.

The Ney Award, established in 1958, was designed to improve food service operations and recognize the best food service facilities in the Navy.

"This award is a collaborative effort," said Lt. j.g. Danny Headrick, the food service officer at the Galley. "The simple answer is every single part of the
team, both military and our civilian staff of 110 Goodwill Industries employees, came together to excel."

The Ney Award was quite a feat for the large galley, whose minimally manned staff work hard each day to provide 3,000 quality meals.

"I am very proud of my Sailors because we achieved this honor while our manning was down. When I first got here two years ago, we had about 30
Sailors and now we are down to 19, including myself and the food service officer," said Senior Chief Culinary Specialist (SW/AW) Nelson Sanpedro,
the assistant food service officer and leading chief petty officer at the galley.

"This award can be attributed 100 percent, not just to the Sailors, but to the positive attitudes and motivation of everyone involved," he said.

Click here to read more of this Navy Culinary Specialist news article...