MARINE CORPS MOUNTAIN WARFARE TRAINING CENTER BRIDGEPORT, Calif. -- As the old saying goes, an army marches on its stomach. To keep Marines and sailors “marching” during Operation Javelin Thrust, food specialists from participating units gather together to provide a hot meal every day.
To prepare thousands of rations for Marines in dispersed training areas, the day begins early in the morning said, Gunnery Sgt. David Anderson, a field mess chief with 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.
After everything is organized, the cooks can begin actually preparing the tons of food required to feed the Marines for one meal.
“The hardest part is keeping the quality up with the quantity of food we are cooking every day,” said Sgt. Timothy Lisenko, a platoon sergeant, with 2nd battalion, 24th Marine Regiment and a native of Chicago.
Once the food is cooked and the Marines finish eating, the cooks have to clean everything up before they can call it a day.
Food service is another example of active duty and reserve Marines working alongside each other to accomplish their mission during Javelin Thrust.
“The active duty Marines have been teaching us some of their tricks and we have been teaching them some of ours,” Lisenko said. “This has been a great experience with everyone learning a lot and gaining a lot of experience with our job field.”
All the work improving the quality of food produced by the cooks is for their brothers and sisters to keep on training.
“The evening chow is a time for the Marines to come sit down together and it acts like a morale boost after a long day’s hard work,” Lisenko said.