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NEWS | May 23, 2017

Army Reserve military police unit receives national culinary award

By Maj. SAPHIRA OCASIO 200th Military Police Command

Soldiers from the 391st Military Police Battalion, under the 200th MP Command, received the 2017 Philip A. Connelly Award during a ceremonial dinner on Friday, May 19, in Chicago.

The Department of the Army’s Connelly Awards is an annual military competition, which uses military and civilian evaluators from the National Restaurant Association to recognize military units for excellence in Army food service.

“All the hard work that we put in, finally comes down to this, and to win everything is a big relief but also the most proud moment I’ve had in the Army,” said Sgt. Matthew Lewis, culinary noncommissioned officer from 391st MP Bn.

“At first we were thinking, ‘Do we have what it takes to win?’ So, we sat back and adjusted everything and realized we have talented Soldiers and kept saying we can take this all the way,” said Lewis.
The work began more than a year-and-a-half ago for the 391st culinary team, and took them through competition against all of the Army Reserve culinary teams, and into the Connelly awards. The team’s members varied from three to 40 years of culinary experience, but for the majority of them, this was their first time competing at the Army-wide level.

“I was talking to one of the Soldiers,” said Brig. Gen. Kelly Wakefield, U.S. Army Reserve deputy commanding general of the 200th Military Police Command, “He said this was one of the best days of his entire life except when he had his children. That’s how important it is for these Soldiers because they have put in all their effort into this, they are ecstatic, and I’m excited for them.”

This is the first time that one of the units under the 200th MP Command won the Philip A. Connelly Award.