New dining facility opens in Iraq

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Jeffrey Williams
  • 506th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs
KIRKUK AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) --  After several months of planning and construction, the new dining facility here officially opened for business Jan. 27. The facility broke ground in early December and served its first meal Jan. 22.

With a full-sized kitchen, serving lines and a highly trained professional staff, Maj. Robert Marasco, 506th Expeditionary Services Squadron commander, believes the contractor, Kellogg, Brown and Root, will take the service to a new level.

“The … dining facility will assume all feeding operations for Kirkuk Air Base,” Major Marasco said. “David Ray Cullins (dining facility manager) and his crew did an outstanding job in bringing this facility together.”

According to Mr. Cullins, the dining facility can handle 1,500 people at a time, and is able to serve up to 18,000 meals each day.

While chicken, steak, lobster, shrimp and fish seem to be the main staples at the facility, Mr. Cullins, a 25-year food service veteran, said they follow a 21-day menu to provide a good variety of choices.

The facility consists of a staff of nearly 200 people, primarily from Jordan, Pakistan, India and the Philippines, each trained in food handling and preparation. Their certifications were reviewed by the 506th Expeditionary Medical Squadron’s public health office to ensure safety.

“I’m very impressed with the layout and the multinational workforce,” said Lt. Col. Dwayne Knott, public health officer. “Just like we are a coalition fighting, there is a coalition cooking for us. They are very well-educated in food preparation and handling, and I’m very impressed by that.”

Colonel Knott said the employees were given food handler and preparation training in five different languages, Hindi, Thai, Urdu, English and Farsi.

Meanwhile, the 506th Expeditionary Services Squadron, which handled the feeding responsibilities since the base opened early last year, will take their time to clean up and pack up the old facility. They will keep two people at the new facility through the rest of the rotation.