20 December 2024
Army chefs typically cater for exercises and operations, so a medical downgrade making a soldier non-deployable also meant losing the chance to cook up a storm.
This posed a challenge for chefs who still wanted to get in the kitchen.
But things changed in June, when a memorandum of understanding took effect between Army’s 9th Force Support Battalion (9FSB) and RAAF’s 23 Squadron.
Catering officer at 23 Squadron, Flying Officer Dale Shepherd, said the agreement allowed non-deployable Army chefs to work on a month-by-month basis at the RAAF Base Amberley mess.
“We didn’t have enough military chefs to comfortably feed the number of people we needed on base,” Flying Officer Shepherd said.
He reached out to the catering chain-of-command at 9FSB, also based at Amberley, for a solution.
“The chefs at 9FSB are constantly deployed in field kitchens supporting exercises and operations, so the medically downgraded ones are often unable to perform all their trade duties,” Flying Officer Shepherd said.
This created an opportunity for medically recovering Army chefs to maintain their skills and for the RAAF mess to address its staffing needs.
Army chef Private Pieter Jongkryg, of 9FSB, was the first to work under the agreement after suggesting the idea of cooking for the RAAF to his supervisor.
“Knowing that you’re actually doing something while waiting for your medical upgrade was important,” he said.
“Instead, I was getting up, going to work and getting the day done.”
Private Jongkryg said a major benefit was maintaining competency and knife skills, while building relationships with the RAAF.
Army chefs typically work with barbecues and Heatlie Roasters out field, while the RAAF mess provided an opportunity to return to a commercial kitchen.
Apart from the different working environments, Private Jongkryg said the job was essentially the same.
“We have menus out field, and we have timings to get the meals ready so the soldiers can be fed. It’s basically the same at the RAAF mess,” he said.
Beyond the agreement, Air Force also employed a Navy chef and deployed two chefs to a Navy ship, while 9FSB brought along an Air Force chef on a field exercise.
Private Jongkryg is now fully deployable.
“My time in the RAAF mess has been really enjoyable,” he said.
