Navy Culinary Specialists Serve Tasty Excellence

SILVERDALE, Wash. – “Reveille! Reveille! All hands heave out!”

Navy culinary specialist Petty Officer 2nd Class Roel Caballero, assigned to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor’s Trident Inn Galley, in Silverdale, Wash., seasons and mixes sliced potatoes for lunch, May 2, 2017. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Charles D. Gaddis IV

The announcement wakes shipboard sailors and Marines. After the routine wake-up motions and a clean shave, service members head toward the galley to partake in the “most important” meal of the day. While sailors are sleeping in their racks or at the barracks, culinary specialists had already been at work for hours.

The culinary specialist rate was established January 15, 2004. Prior to 1975 they were known as mess management specialists, commissary men and stewards.

‘The Meal Must Come Out Right’

“Even with all the different tasks I have set before me, the meal must come out right and on time,” said Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Roel Caballero, a culinary specialist assigned to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor’s Trident Inn Galley here.

Caballero has been a culinary specialist for more than seven years, and even though it was not his initial rate of choice he has grown very fond of the job.

"We’re up by 3 a.m. to start preparing breakfast to be served by 6 a.m.,” Caballero said. Culinary specialists receive extensive training in culinary arts, hotel management and other areas within the hospitality industry, according to Navy Personnel Command.

“Time management is very important in the galley,” Caballero said. “You have a kettle full of chicken that takes about 45 minutes to cook, but the potatoes have to be seasoned, too. So you look at your staff, and see that one third of your kitchen was sent to the lower-base galley and you realize you don’t have enough hands.”

Many Duties

The number of tasks usually outnumbers the culinary specialists at work, so many must handle multiple dishes in synchronization with their collateral duties and sailor’s obligations.

“Covering such a large base, sometimes we are low on manpower and the office staff will have to come assist with food preparation,” Caballero said. “Sometimes administration stays until 7 p.m., but it’s okay as long as the meal comes out correct and on time.”

It takes more than just manpower to successfully serve a base as large as Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor.

“Between breakfast, lunch, and dinner, we serve about 700 meals a day,” said Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Christopher Pausch, Trident Inn Galley’s leading petty officer. “That’s around 120 for breakfast, 400-500 for lunch, and about 150 meals for dinner.”

Navy culinary specialist Petty Officer 2nd Class Lawrence Jasper, assigned to Naval Base Kitsap's Trident Inn Galley in Silverdale, Wash., wraps potatoes in plastic-wrap for lunch, May 2, 2017. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Charles D. Gaddis IV

Typical food cost per day ranges from $8,000 – $10,000, according to Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class John Eppers, assigned to the Trident Inn Galley.

Mega Food

“On average we use about 540 eggs just for breakfast,” Eppers said. “Then, 120 pounds of chicken, 100 pounds of beef, 70 pounds of burgers, 48 pounds of vegetables and 30 pounds of bacon per-meal service.”

Even though Caballero is a culinary specialist, his primary job is in the office doing administrative work and taking care of his sailors.

“After helping in the galley, I head back to the office. I guess you would call this a break,” Caballero said. “I’m the command career counselor, training petty officer and do pretty much anything that ties to paperwork.”

On top of menu management and food ordering, operating kitchen and dining facilities, and serving personnel food, Caballero is also in charge of managing his sailors’ careers.

“On top of that,” he said, “all of the monthly publications from My Navy Portal -- formerly known as Navy Knowledge Online -- is a huge task, but when they need hands in the galley, you just drop it and make sure the meal is right.”

The golden rule of the galley is: “The meal must be right and on time,” according to Caballero.

Caballero and his team from Bangor are slated to compete May 6, when Olympic College holds its 24th Annual Armed Forces Culinary Arts Competition at the college’s Bremer Student Center in Bremerton, Washington.

Editor's note: The original story can be viewed on the Department of Defense website.