Oregon Guard culinary specialists train future chefs in second annual ‘Chopped Challenge’

SALEM, Ore. - High school culinary students got a taste of Army field cooking June 4-5 as Oregon Army National Guard culinary specialists mentored them through a two-day "Chopped Challenge" at the Career Technical Education Center in Salem.

The event, now in its second year, connected Oregon Army National Guard 92G culinary specialists with CTEC culinary arts students for hands-on training inside Army Field Feeding System mobile kitchens. The experience gave students a look at a National Guard career field while challenging them to cook under conditions far different from those in a commercial classroom.

Each Containerized Kitchen, capable of feeding 800 Soldiers in the field with three hot meals a day, became a working laboratory in limited equipment, tight space, intense heat and the pressure of cooking under a clock.

Eight student teams competed over two days in four shifts. The first shift each day featured two teams preparing an entrée, while the second shift brought in two new teams to compete on an appetizer. Guard culinary specialists embedded in each kitchen served as team leaders and mentors, and a panel of professional chefs judged the dishes.

"We are always in need of 92 Golf cooks in the National Guard," said Lt. Col. Thanh Vo, commander of the 1249th Engineer Battalion. "My unit specifically is the field feeding team, always needing cooks. We were thinking outside the box on how to boost that within our ranks, and working with CTEC, we figured what better way to show students what we do than to have them embedded in the Containerized Kitchen with our cooks."

For students used to a commercial classroom, the Containerized Kitchen was a culture shock.

"They're in an entirely different environment than they're used to," said Sgt. Malik Durden, a 92G Culinary Specialist with the Oregon Army National Guard, who served as a team leader inside one of the kitchens. "They're used to normal commercial kitchens where they have five ovens, multiple stove tops, endless supplies nearby. In the Containerized Kitchen, they're limited. They have one oven to share, few burners, and equipment they have no experience with. They just have to adapt."

Durden, who served 12 years with the Hawaii Army National Guard before transferring to the Oregon Army National Guard in January, said the goal inside the kitchens was to keep students from getting overwhelmed.

"They have 20 things running through their head at the same time," Durden said. "I'm making sure they're not making mistakes."

CTEC culinary arts instructor Caroline Spaulding, in her 10th year at the school, said the experience pushes students in ways their regular classroom cannot.

"The element of chaos that's contained in these spaces is something that they're not prepared for," Spaulding said. "The level of being comfortable being uncomfortable helps them grow a lot. When we asked our graduating seniors, a lot of them told us this was one of their most meaningful experiences of their whole two years in our program."

Spaulding said the Guard mentors also opened a career pathway many students had not considered.

"They're not seeing the pathway of a culinary specialist very well - it's usually recruiting at lunch, recruiting at events," she said. "This is really meaningful because it's really real. They can see, 'I could actually do something like this as a career.'"

Among the judges was Scott Daffron, a chef at Willamette High School who previously owned a culinary school for children and worked for 14 years at Disneyland.

"Considering they'd never been in there, the food they were delivering, the plates, were amazing," Daffron said.

He added that the experience carried personal weight, as his brother is retiring from the military next month after 25 years of service.

"After 25 years, I finally get a glimpse into what he gets to live every day."

For the 1249th, Vo said the event ties into a broader vision championed by Brig. Gen. Alan Gronewold, The Adjutant General of Oregon, of positioning the Oregon Army National Guard as the service of choice for Oregonians.

"They get to stay within their community, serve their nation on a drill weekend, and still have a civilian career," Vo said. "A lot of these kids have interests in pursuing a culinary career, and having us out here allows them to see a little of what we do."

The 1249th Engineer Battalion, headquartered at the Anderson Readiness Center in Salem, specializes in construction, contracting, medical operations and engineering.

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