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Poland, EX BRILLIANT JUMP
Catering Department
Ex BRILLIANT JUMP in Poland was a testing time not only for the troops on the ground but for my band of chefs that were sent to feed the battalion. Leading the motley crew of high quality chefs were WO2 Swinney and Sgt Holmes.
The chefs were trawled from far and wide, some had no major exercise experience in which this would be their first real catering exercise. The initial set up was in Zagan, a large clearing in a polish forest but it soon became apparent we were not the only occupants in this area. On closer inspection we noticed that the 2 MERCIAN cookhouse was dominated by ants. These ants were not the small red ones we are accustomed to in the UK but rather more the angry huge ones that would not hesitate to bite your leg.
With an ant daily distraction, we began our daily routine by providing three meals a day as the exercise progressed. During the early stages of the exercise the heat in the kitchen reached a steady 65˚C during peak times of cooking. The seasoned chefs took this in their stride, drinking brews and hot chocolate and the not so experienced were starting to wilt like a wallflower. After a quick
The chefs were trawled from far and wide, some had no major exercise experience...
Making footprints on a Apache Poland 2016
The Motley Crew Poland 2016
stint in the refrigerated ISO this soon had them back to the job in hand.
Taking a short break from the turmoil of the field kitchen and continually fighting
off the Polish ants we were then invited to visit the American Apache Longbow Attack Helicopters. After a quick introduction, we were allowed to sit in the front seat of the Apache and push a few buttons! This for some of the junior chefs, mentioning no names (Pte Wilson), was like giving a can of coke to a hyperactive child, his smile lasted for many days.
Later on in the exercise the weather changed from very humid to torrential thunder storms, this resulted in having our own Suez Canal running through the
kitchen. After many hours spent battening down the hatches and rearranging the kitchen workspace food preparation area, eventually work progressed as normal with the odd ‘ant raft’ floating by.
The food as always on exercise is well received by the troops, with comments such as “it’s better than the food we have in camp’’ or ‘’what a selection of choice’’. All of this is clearly down to my chefs on the ground using their imagination and flare to produce remarkable results in usually difficult austere conditions.
Like all good things they come to an end and our time at Zagan had now come to an end. B Echelon were relocated to Wedryzn for the final stages of the exercise. Wedryzn
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