University Of Utah Pre-Task Plan: Fill & Download for Free

I am a cook in the U.S. Army (Or, Culinary Specialist, as the Army now wants to call us)What is it like to be a Golf?It’s an MOS that demands long hours (16–20 hour days, while those days are few and far between, they happen) The work, while not inherently stressful, can become as stressful as you make it, or in my case, as others make it. I’ll explain later.When you graduate Basic Combat Training, Advanced Individual Training (AIT), and then report to your first duty station, you will work in what is known as a DFAC (shorthand for ‘dining facility’). It’s a fancy name for what amounts to a high school or hospital cafeteria. It’s not impressive, by any stretch of the imagination.Army update #2,757: To keep this response as current with the times as possible, I am making an editorial note here to inform viewers and the asker that DFAC’s are now, officially, known as ‘Warrior Restaurants.” I disagree with that new name, but obviously it’s above my pay grade. Perhaps ‘Warrior Cafeteria’ is a better suited name. Polishing a turd does make it any less of a turd.You will have NCO’s, guaranteed, where this MOS is all they know (more like all they could qualify for) and take it a step beyond ‘way too seriously.’Some of the laziest shitbags you’ll ever meet will be cooks, too. If you’re a hard worker, be prepared to often pick up their slack and be reprimanded by NCO’s who don’t think you’re picking up enough of lazy’s slack. Yes, instead of them reprimanding the lazy people, the hard workers get the third degree for the meal not getting out in time, and if you try and explain why, you get put at parade rest by that NCO and are, essentially, shut up.You will meet cooks who can’t hack the Army, but have been in too long to go crying for their failure to adapt chapter, so they get fat and chase body comp chapters, or purposely fail their physical fitness test to get chaptered for PT, or, less commonly, chase behavioral health chapters…. “I’m crazy”, when you know it’s not true because those people weren’t crazy when they joined the Army seven months ago (because most of these people have been in less than a year). A few ‘pop’ piss tests, but that’s not the way to get an Honorable Discharge. So, most don’t take that route.You’ll come to learn most cooks can’t cook. Are they ill prepared from AIT? Definitely. Are we making five star meals, though? No. We’re putting vegetables in steamers, cooking off thawed meat in a tilt grill, or in an oven. Anyone with a brain stem should, theoretically, be able to do this job. Many cannot, and it honestly surprises me. They’re either incapable, or capable but lazy/complacent. Either way, they’re no good.You’ll have the top shitbag that NCO’s love, and will accommodate to no end, who don’t do any work, constantly disappear, or are on appointment all day, who show their face only every now and then, are on profile for two out of three APFT events, get in UCMJ trouble all of the time yet somehow retain their rank, and somehow are about to go to the promotion board, to top it all off they LOVE telling you how to do your job. You really wonder how the hell they’ve made it this far, oh… and you didn’t hear? That shitbag is re-enlisting next week, are you going to their ceremony? *Eye roll*Now back to the part I said I would explain later:“It’s as stressful as you make it or as stressful as other’s make it.”My DFAC has to take the cake as the worst in the entire Army. It’s terrible because of terrible leadership, terrible soldiers, and in general its terrible reputation precedes it. The terrible reputation tarnishes the motivated attitude of new soldiers, and NCOs, and perpetuates generation after generation of dislike and complacency for the DFAC’s mission. Add the out of touch senior leadership calling the shots from their desk nowhere near the facility, who know nothing of the environment we work in, and you have a big bowl of ‘fuck this place’ soup among your workers.How do we solve this problem, leadership asks?Well leadership answers their own question:“We solve the problem by making soldiers work more than they already do as punishment, we micromanage them more, we blame them for failed health inspections and tell them that one grain of rice in the corner they missed is the reason we fail health inspections, even though the reality is we sit on our asses while shift cooks the meal, responding to Facebook messages and looking at Snapchats, instead of doing our jobs to ensure kitchen ops run smoothly and as they should. Then, get up just in time from our hiding place to pretend like we’re working during serving time to look good for customers.Nothing about the 92G mission is difficult. Nothing is hard. Incompetent people, like anywhere in life, make the job difficult. Incompetent people always seem to be in charge, and act like they know everything, and stand in your way. Welcome to life, welcome to the U.S. Army, where no matter which job or MOS you pick, will always be an issue.Now, don’t quit reading here. I’m not done! I wanted you to read the negatives first and save the positives for last, and there are many!Just like every Army unit, every Army DFAC is not the same. Some of them are the same, but not all. The best DFAC experience I had was when I wasn’t in my own. But down the street at a different one, helping another unit support a mission. The NCO’s worked, and there was no micromanagement. Instead, the focus was on completing the mission. Yes, the NCO’s were still NCO’s and made corrections, it is the Army after all. However, it was a different environment. One where we had more free reign and flexibility to do our jobs. My first two weeks at my assigned DFAC made me hate it, but those two weeks at another DFAC changed my perceptions. I actually had fun doing my job, like I did cooking in my civilian jobs. I felt challenged again.In 2019, I even participated in the Army’s version of ‘Chopped’, or ‘MasterChef’, or whatever would fitting to be a Food Network show. It was a competition to determine the Culinarian of the Quarter. You took an APFT, if you passed, you went on to a Culinarian of the Quarter Board before the Chief Culinary Management NCO (A Sgt Major, but in my case an acting 92G Master Sgt) Once that board was done, the next day you cooked. You have Senior NCO judges, like you would on a cooking show, rate what they thought was the best dish.This is me, during the competition, working on my dish. I made sesame chicken with pilaf rice (w/ mushroom) and sliced summer squash as the garnish for the chicken. I didn’t win by the way, but I was given about four day’s notice for this board so sympathize with me a little. I had, if I recall right, about an hour and 15 minutes to make this dish… Almost all from scratch, meaning I had to gather my ingredients, cook my chicken, make and cook my reduced sauce, etc.I mentioned you’ll deal with, and meet, shitbags as a cook. I assure you that you’ll meet some of the best and brightest cooks, too. Some really amazing human beings who make you wonder how and why they chose this MOS. I chose this MOS, even with many other options, and even I question my sanity now and again! Some of my most best friends and worst enemies are/were 92 Golfs. It’s funny, isn’t it?Well, I hate to leave novel length answers. So here goes it:Summarized, this MOS is what you make of it and it will suck a lot as far as hours and working conditions go. You won’t always be in a DFAC, you’ll cook in the field with equipment that doesn’t always want to work, you’ll cook downrange in good, or bad, conditions. Trust me when I say, you CAN do better MOS-wise. You either pick it because you want to do it (like I did) or you pick it because that’s all you qualify for. If the latter is true for you, please don’t join. We have enough people like that who are stuck in a job they hate AND didn’t choose. They think those two facts alone give them carte blanche to do whatever the fuck they want. Like not show up to work, or pull their weight.Whatever MOS you pick, if not this one, the Army will still work you hard. Even if your job is 9–5, you still get 24 hour duty, gate guard, etc. They’ll get those weekends worked out of you, they’ll get those long days out of you. Your MOS doesn’t matter. And guess what perk we have as cooks? We don’t get duty or gate guard!And the best part for me? This MOS, regardless of how bad it got, paid for my GI bill that i’m using this fall at Utah State University and a lifetime of VA benefits!Best of luck to you. Please reach out if you have further questions.**Edited to address inquiry into how field rotations are for 92G’s**As every DFAC and unit is different in the Army, so will be your field training experiences. If your unit is heavily tasked to train in the field, you’ll spend a lot of time out there. Vice versa, I know cooks who told me their last units would only go to the field once a year, for about a week at the longest. AND THEY WOULD KNOW ABOUT THE FIELD PROBLEM SEVERAL MONTHS IN ADVANCE. I’d like to know where I can hop on those cherry assignments, because I’m damn sure burnt out where I’m at.I come from a unit that would not think twice about sending you to the field even if it meant missing the birth of your first born.I digress.Field ops are field ops. You are playing ‘Soldier’ and in my case, cook. It all depends what your unit’s mission is. Their mission will dictate how much you execute your MOS, and how much you play Soldier.In my experience, I spent a lot of time cooking and, every now and then, responding to OPFOR IDF or their attacks. Being a 249 gunner, I am always needed to lay down the heavy firepower to assist in maintaining the line. God forbid the BSA crumble.In the typical field setup, you are setup much like a remote forward operating base (FOB). There is a TOC (tactical operations center) that houses all company commanders, and a battalion commander (if you’re operating at brigade level, then all company commanders, all BN commanders, and the BDE commander) All S-2 assets (intelligence), S-3 assets (Ops), S-6 assets (basically, your IT department) work in the TOC.Cooks are apart of the unit’s field feeding team, or ‘FFT’. All unit structures vary, but the typical FFT is composed of one E-7 (Sergeant First Class) who acts as the Platoon Sergeant and is the Senior NCO within the team, one E-6 (Staff Sgt) who is the squad leader, and (usually) two to three E-5’s (Sergeant) act as the team leaders, and on occasion Army E-4’s who are Corporals. (Not Specialists, but they can act in that capacity unofficially, to prepare to become a Cpl/Sgt) can be team leaders as well.The equipment we use in the modern day are the:1.) Assault Kitchen2.) Containerized Kitchen3.) MKT/ KCLFF (exceedingly rare, but there are those units who are so poor they’re forced to live in the 1980s/1990s)4.) Field Sanitation Center5.) Modern Burner Units (These days, MBU V3)We utilize pre-packaged/boxed food known as a Unitized Group Ration. There a few types of these rations. UGR-A, UGR HS (Heat and Serve), and UGR-S (Short Order)The menus vary and change, but essentially mimic food we serve in a garrison DFAC. There is a starch, a vegetable, and a protein (meat).If you’re curious about the eggs, because for some reason people always seem to be, we use Mountain House freeze dried eggs from Oregon Freeze Dry. Obviously, they are reconstituted in water (duh) and then boiled in the bag they come in, in what is known as a tray pack heater. Viola, you have eggs when they’re done. Cut the bib open and pour the eggs into a pan and put the pan on the hot serving line. They’re ready to eat.How are meals structured?Army regulation says in the field Soldiers are entitled to two hot meals and one cold meal. Now, Soldiers don’t always get two hot meals. Sometimes they live on MRE’s for days. It’s not a perfect world we live in. But we do our best to make sure we meet mission and get them two hot meals, but sometimes command decisions are made above our heads we can’t control, or the there was a breakdown in the logistics chain somewhere.If everything runs as it should, we’ll wake up around 0330 or 0345 and begin cooking at 0400 to have the meal ready to serve by 0630 or 0700. All of the breakfast modules will have been broken down and set up the night prior. The serving period in the field lasts two hours on average, but can be extended by Commander approval.We will finish up the breakfast meal, clean up, and, if we’ve planned ahead, we can catch some shut eye in the tent because we’ll have had dinner’s meal broken down the night before, too. Sometimes a few days worth of meals ahead of time so we have a lot of downtime. If not, we break down the dinner meal.Around 1500, we get back to work and start cooking the dinner meal. By 1700, we’re serving food and it runs until about 1900. Then, we break the dinner service down, make sure our KP’s are done cleaning everything, then we go to bed. It’s usually 2100–2130, sometimes 2200 by that time. Ah, finally sleep!GUARD DUTY?Oh yes. If you have an asshole unit like I had at the end of my tenure and an E-7 that doesn’t mind throwing you under the bus and scheduling you every night as long as that E-7 got their 8 hours of sleep (and if somehow you are reading this, you know damn well who you are) then you get to wake up at 0145 so you can pull guard from 0200 to 0600. Just in time to help with breakfast meal!No sleep!Welcome to the suck. Work alot, sleep little.

There are a lot of cultural and geographical differences you’ll observe when you arrive in USA for the first time:No visa, no entryBefore you start your planning your trip to the US, you will need to check if you require a visa. If you are the proud owner of a South African passport, the answer is most certainly yes. You can apply at your nearest U.S Embassy or Consulate, but don’t book a non-refundable flight until you have all your documents in order and your visa has been issued.Breakfast wastageA lot of chain hotels (aka Motels) also tend to provide a perfunctory breakfast – usually cereals in a scratched Perspex container, bagels, cream cheese and grape jelly. They're also served on paper plates, with plastic cups and cutlery – all of which are simply thrown away afterwards. It is jaw-droppingly wasteful.Tasteless cheeseFinding a meal that doesn't have cheese in it can be quite the task in the less cosmopolitan parts of the US. And while the country does have some great cheeses, anywhere offering a choice will usually have American, Swiss, provolone or Monterey Jack. They all share a nigh-on identical, nothing-y taste.No international transitIf you arrive at an airport in the USA and are in transit to a secondary destination, you will have to clear customs in that airport before being allowed to board your next flight. This is even if your bags are tagged for their final destination so ensure you have enough time in transit to clear customs, collect your bags, re-check them in and get to your gate.Suddenly-ending lanesMiddle lane hogging quickly becomes a sanity preservation measure on freeways. Stick to the right or left lane, and it suddenly insists anyone in it has to turn into an unexpected exit ramp. If you can't get out in time, this can lead to an absurdly time-consuming diversion.Discourteous drivingChanging lanes, alas, is easier said than done. American driving, on the whole, is admirably safe and un-hoonish. But the levels of alertness and courteousness are dismal. Most drivers are on internal autopilot, usually with cruise control switched on, and finding someone who'll let you out when trapped in the wrong lane is a frustrating rarity.Turn right on redThe US has a pathological fear of roundabouts, leading to an endless stream of four way junctions. In a bid to stop traffic grinding to a halt, you're allowed to turn right on a red light if it's safe to do so, unless signs state otherwise. New York City is the one notable exception to this turn right on red rule.Drug advertising…Every other TV ad is for some sort of drug that will cure your arthritis/ incontinence/ bone disease/ weird cheesy toe condition, and they all finish with someone rattling off a list of terrifying-sounding side effects as quickly as possible.…And lawyer advertisingWhile the drug ads monopolise TV, the enormous roadside billboard ads are filled with grinning, creepy faces of lawyers. Each one is weirdly specialist – whether it's motorbike accidents or terrifying side effects from the drugs advertised on TV – and has a phone number along the lines of 0800 PAY OUT 4U.Ubiquitous valet parkingMany hotels and restaurants insist on cars being parked by valets – who will often change your seat settings, take 15 minutes to bring your car back when you need it and charge you handsomely for the dubious privilege.Coins panicAlmost everything in the US is paid for by credit card. Laundry machines and parking meters are the panic-inducing exception. They need feeding quarters. Lots and lots of quarters. Which you probably won't have, because you've paid for everything by card.Zip code obstacleMost petrol stations have pay at pump facilities, but as you'll need to enter a zip code for security reasons, they're useless to anyone with a non-US credit card. Expect to have to go in and pre-pay.There's a similar obstacle when buying New York Subway tickets – but few foreign visitors know that tapping in 99999 as a zipcode will work when using an overseas card.A new profile pic with the hoodoosNo, this is not a famous American band. Also known as “tent rocks” “goblins” and “fairy chimneys”, these uniquely shaped rocks are a typical feature of the Northern Great Plains. These can be best admired throughout Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah.Not including taxPrices in the US are almost always quoted excluding tax (petrol stations being a notable exception). Annoyingly, price tags also won't state what percentage taxes are going to be added. Unless you've memorised the city, state and federal taxes on each type of product, expect to never know how much you're going to pay until it has been rung through the till.Resort feesNothing short of a legalised swindle, resort fees are automatically added to the bill in some hotels, rather than included in the advertised price while booking. These allegedly cover pool use, phone calls, WiFi etc, but it's basically a way of extracting an extra $15 - $40 a day. Florida, Las Vegas and Hawaii are notorious for it.PickleAt least 70% of the time, whatever food you have ordered will come with a pickled gherkin on the side. This is irrespective of whether you asked for it or the menu states you'll get one.College sport obsessionElsewhere in the world, university sport is regarded as a low tier irrelevance. In the US, it's multi-million dollar stuff, with university stadiums regularly filled with 80,000 fans and support more fervent than major league teams attract. No, it doesn't make any sense; just run with it.