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MILITARY CULINARY AWARDS

Afloat category winner, the USS America (LHA 6), attributes LARGE GENERAL MESS CATEGORY
the victory to its commitment to maintaining the highest
standard in quality year-round. ***WINNER***
“This award is not just about the couple of days of Naval Base San Diego
inspections,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Paul Arboleda.
“This award is the final result of the year-round hard work, Commanding Officer: Capt. Roy Love
dedication, and quality service that the America food service Executive Officer: Cmdr. Jesse A. Lankford
team provides day in and day out.” Food Service Officer: CWO4 Cesar P. Valencia, SC, USN
Leading Culinary Specialist: CPO(SW/AW) Xena A. Simpson
America set a standard to ensure it would qualify, and
maintained that level of performance throughout each in Total Number Culinary Specialists: 36
the series of inspections that had to be passed in order to Total Number of Civilians: 19
reach the goal. Teams are evaluated for attention to detail, Total Number of Meals Served Per Day: 1,600
including such categories as general
sanitation, administration, training
documentation and service.
“We set ourselves for a high stan-
dard, and we maintained that high
standard throughout our inspection
cycle,” said Culinary Specialist 1st
Class Travis Rhinehart, America’s
cargo chief. “In order to qualify for
the award, we went through Supply
Management Certification 1.1-1.4.
Throughout that process, we were
graded high enough to be eligible
to be a Ney contender.”
For Culinary Specialist 1st Class Shameka D. Hooker, in the victory for the members of her team.
America’s food service leading petty officer, that high “This win is for my guys; it’s a win for USS America,”
standard was instilled in her and her team through both said Hooker. “I just feel like this is a standing testament
leadership past and present, and was a contributing factor of all the hard work that we put in for. We’ve had some
great leadership, and they instilled so many things in
SMALL GENERAL MESS CATEGORY us that we carry on with us even after they are gone. To
me, it’s a testament that hard work really does pay off.”
***WINNER*** After hearing America had earned the Ney Award,
Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story Cmdr. Ernan Obellos, the ship’s supply officer, thanked
the sailors who make up the food service division for their
Commanding Officer: Capt. Daniel J. Senesky hard work and congratulated them on the achievement.
Executive Officer: Capt. Quinn D. Skinner “This means the whole world,” said Obellos. “Food
Supply Officer/Food Service Officer: CWO3 Jeffery L. Walker, SC, USN service is morale, and morale is food service. The crew
Leading Culinary Specialist: CSC(SW) Andrea D. Tuttle deserves it. The crew has a specific tasking of their own,
and the best that we can do is when they come to nour-
Total Number Culinary Specialists: 26 ish themselves it can be something that can get them to
Total Number of Civilians: 32 relax a little bit and they can go back and do their jobs.”
Total Number of Meals Served Per Day: 700
America is an aviation-centric
amphibious assault ship that pro-
vides forward presence and power
projection as an integral part of joint
interagency and multinational mari-
time expeditionary forces. It will sup-
port Marine aviation requirements,
from small-scale contingency op-
erations of an expeditionary strike
group, to forcible-entry missions in
major theaters of war. America is
currently underway preparing for its
maiden deployment later this year.
—Continued
24 GOVERNMENT FOOD SERVICE • MAY 2017