Female Food Specialist Assumes Dual Role

Staff Sgt. Mark Wojciechowski, 133rd MPAD

BAQUBAH, Iraq - Managing dining facility operations is just one of their many important jobs here at Forward Operating Base Gabe.

Pfc. Jennifer Eischens of Fox Company 1-68 Combined Arms Battalion is a food service specialist by trade. Eischens also goes on patrol to assist in communicating with Iraqi women. Photo by Staff Sgt. Mark Wojciechowski, 133rd MPAD

There are both male and female Soldiers serving as food service specialists in Fox Company, 4th Infantry Division's 1-68 Combined Arms Battalion, however, the female Soldiers' role is an important part in cultural awareness and communications with the Iraqi people.

The dining facilities here are operated mostly by contract employees and third country nationals, leaving the role of the traditional Army food service specialist out of the forward operating base and into the streets, assuming other roles essential to the fight against anti-Iraqi forces and the overall freedom of Iraq.

They are used when male Soldiers encounter an Iraqi female that needs to be searched or questioned. It is culturally unacceptable for males to speak directly to Iraqi women. These female Soldiers are attached with infantry and other tactical elements that take part in patrols outside of "the wire."

Pfc. Jennifer Eischens travels along with Alpha Company, 1-68 CAB, to assist with communicating with women encountered on patrols. She plays a crucial role in cultural sensitivities.

Eischens, a Sacramento, Calif., native has been in the Army as a Food Service Specialist for 20 months and this is here first deployment.

"It is a change of pace." I like to go out on patrol it makes the days go by faster."

Anthony D Buchanan
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