Ohio National Guard News

A tasty competition

Sgt. 1st Class Bradley Riggs with Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 174th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, walks out of a mobile kitchen trailer June 17 in the woods of the Camp Ravenna Joint Maneuver Training Center during the annual Philip A. Connelly Food Service Competition.

Cincinnati resident Pvt. Drew Munlin with the Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion, 174th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, serves freshly prepared soup for the annual Philip A. Connelly Food Service Competition June 17 at Camp Ravenna Joint Maneuver Training Center.

Soldiers at annual training June 17 enjoy a freshly prepared meal made by Soldiers from the 174th Air Defense Artillery Regiment. The meals were prepared for the annual Philip A. Connelly Food Service Competition.

Story by Spc. Ryan A. Cleary
196th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

RAVENNA, Ohio—More than 50 people gathered in the woods of the Camp Ravenna Joint Maneuver Training Center June 17 for the annual Philip A. Connelly Food Service Competition.

The team from the Ohio Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 174th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, participated in this year’s competition that featured mobile kitchen trailers (MKTs) and tents set up in a tactical wooded environment simulating real-world stress. Although the scheduled competitor from the Minnesota National Guard pulled out of the event, the Ohio team still completed the competition to standard.

“We were designated to feed 50 in a tactical environment,” said Sgt. 1st Class David Tillmon, food service noncommissioned officer-in-charge for the 174th. “In a combat situation, we can maintain safety in the perimeter and feed Soldiers a healthy meal during a tactical situation.”

The Connelly competition was created in 1968 to recognize excellence in Army Food Service and has since put into the spotlight the Army’s best cooks.

“The Army provides the opportunity and the International Food Service Executives Association (IFSEA) provides the graders and recognition, along with award banquets and scholarships,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Beverly Zwayer, a Grove City resident and the state food service technician with Joint Force Headquarters-Ohio.

The competition is graded in ten categories including supervision, accounting, accountability of rations, sanitation, appearance of personnel and quality. The event finds its roots in the research of Connelly who was the grandfather of food-service professionalism.

“Connelly was the gentleman who pioneered food service safety both for civilian and military sectors. He researched food timing and temperatures to determine how to prevent bacteria growth,” Tillmon said.

All judges are certified in food service and sanitation and are knowledgeable about the equipment involved including the MKTs the Soldiers use to prepare and serve the food.

“This competition is a training tool that teaches leadership, time management and attention to detail,” Zwayer said.

The competitors began preparing the food in the early morning and served the finished meal a little after noon to more than 50 people.

Also, as part of the training, a team was lead up to the dining site in wedge formation and moved tactically to simulate real-world protection tactics that will aid the Soldiers in future combat missions.

“The food was a great bonus to the tactical movement training that was part of the grading,” said Sgt. 1st Class Bradley Riggs, squad commander for tactical movement and member of the Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 174th Air Defense Artillery Brigade. “And in spite of the poor weather conditions, the food remained hot and no one left hungry.”

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