Marine cooks feed the frontlines

by Lance Cpl. Bryan Eberly

There are a couple of simple rules to keep Marines in combat happy. Don't mess with free time, and make sure the chow is good.

Marines with I Battery, 3rd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment serve each other afternoon chow at the gunlines. Artillery Marines rarely get the chance to leave the gunlines for chow, so food service Marines with Headquarters Company, Regimental Combat Team 5, bring chow to them. Food service Marines prepare three balanced meals everyday to ensure other Marines can do their job. (Story by Lance Cpl. Bryan Eberly)

Food service Marines with Headquarters Company, Regimental Combat Team 5 know that second rule well. They've got the chore of keeping Marines' bellies full and making it taste good at the same time.

These Marines prepare and deliver warm, nourishing meals three times each day to Marines who cannot reach a dining facility. The meals are freshly prepared at makeshift kitchens near the units, and delivered hot directly to the hungry Marines.

"Our mission is to make life as good as possible for the Marines fighting this war," said Master Sgt. Christopher R. Baird, regimental mess manager, from Mount Enterprise, Texas.

Marines, no matter what they're doing, look forward to meal times. Food service Marines make sure the Marines' morale is kept at 100 percent, Baird said.

"Marines can't do their job if they are hungry," said Cpl. Anthony L. Cole, a 23 year-old chief cook from Rosemount, Minn. "We make sure meals are on time, taste good and the Marines we serve are being fed."

"Our primary concern here on Fallujah is the artillery Marines," said Cpl. James Chun, a 20-year-old field mess noncommissioned officer-in-charge, from Coshohocken, Penn.

Artillery Marines with I Battery, 3rd Battalion, 12th Regiment, are on call for missions around-the-clock so they cannot leave the gun lines to go to a dining facility. Chun brings the dining facility to them.

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