FORT CAVAZOS, Texas — A new initiative, Army Community Service Life Skills Training-Foundation of Nutrition, Budgeting and Cooking Demonstration Class, is underway at Fort Cavazos designed to equip service members with life skills in healthy eating, budgeting and cooking, helping them save money while developing healthy eating habits.
“ACS is known for our life skills trainings, and so this is a new initiative where we are collaborating with other entities with the purpose of providing life skills for our Soldiers when it comes to understanding nutrition, understanding the finance, which comes behind purchasing food, buying food, how to save money and more importantly, tying all that in together to understanding the principles of cooking and how to cook,” said Donna Morrisey, director of ACS, People Directorate.
ACS and Phantom Centralized HUB worked with Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center Environmental Health and CRDAMC Nutrition Care Division to develop the program, and ensure a successful event.
The 13th Armored Corps Sustainment Command’s Green Company, who receives all incoming Soldiers into the command and sets them up for success before arriving to their units, helped ACS test out the new initiative. Sgt. 1st Class Johnathan Hall, operations noncommissioned officer of Green Co., 13th ACSC, noticed a consistent slew of food delivery services coming to the barracks and thought this was something that should be addressed.
“We work really well with ACS because they teach some of our other classes,” he said. “So, when they said they needed people for a new initiative for Lieutenant General (Kevin D.) Admiral (commanding general III Armored Corps and Fort Cavazos), we got it done no problem and rearranged our training schedule.
Hall also brought his son, Gabriel Hall, 16, to the class so ACS could hear an opinion from a dependent so the initiative can be extended in the future to families.
“I appreciate how concise and succinct it was,” Gabriel said. “I appreciated the interactivity, I think, to nonmilitary members.”
Gabriel added he liked not having to sit through several hours of presentations.
There were 30 participants for the first class consisting of Soldiers and one family member. During the first segment of the class, participants received their food handler’s card. The next segment covered the principles of balanced nutrition and making healthier food choices. Attendees were encouraged to apply the principles from the segment to buying foods on a budget and creating a habit of meal planning, which helps guide spending. Lastly, the Soldiers participated in a cooking demonstration, which encompassed what they learned throughout the day, preparing a southwest chicken salad and quesadillas.
The main goal of the initiative is to instill in these Soldiers basic life skills to carry with them throughout their Army career and beyond.
“The reason we’re pushing life skills is because, at times it comes to the attention of their leadership that there are some things that we assume that our Soldiers are aware of, but it’s not in their formalized training that they’re accustomed to receiving,” she explained. “Doing more and more life skills is important for them, because we’re preparing them for their futures.”
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Brown, food advisor for the Phantom Centralized HUB, who was essential in the development of the program through the Phantom Centralized HUB, has high hopes for the success of the initiative.
“I strongly believe in this program because teaching Soldiers essential life skills directly enhances the quality of our force,” he said. “Moving forward, I envision the HUB taking an even greater role in planning and executing this event on a regular basis. It will become a key component of our operational rhythm, further reinforcing our commitment to Soldier development.”
With this pilot event, the team is hoping to take feedback from Soldiers so they can bring this to more units. One Soldier’s feedback was received with much appreciation.
“Before I came here, I heard so much stigma about this installation,” said Staff Sgt. Muhammad Kafi, an in-processing Soldier with Green Co., 13th ACSC. “These ladies with ACS and all the other programs are proving me wrong, every single step of the way and just this program alone was amazing.
I was speaking with a PV2, and he said the only reason he never cooked is he thought it was so much work,” he continued. “These guys, what they did today is they broke that fear. So this is magnificent. I am excited to be here, and I am very enthusiastic to work with these ladies and ACS programs to help my Soldiers out when I get to a duty unit.”
For more information on this new initiative and how a unit can become involved, call ACS at 254-287-4227.
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