Do army chefs have to fight during a war battle?
When you join the Army, first and foremost you join as a soldier. Whether you are a driver, a mechanic, medic, or even a Chef you will first be trained as a Soldier. In a worst-case scenario, you will have to fight to defend yourself and others around you. But don’t panic, these are only in very rare extreme cases during war battles. All will be explained.
This may seem a bit daunting but don’t panic. Unless you join up as a rifleman or tank driver the chances are you will not be fighting on the frontline. Your job is making sure the frontline is supplied.
The main reason for your military training is to understand the environment you will be working in and worst-case scenario you will be able to defend yourself and others around you.
How long does it take to become a professional Army chef?
The time it takes to Gaining your first experience and basic qualifications to becoming a professional chef will vary. There are many options when it comes to training to be a chef. The army is certainly an excellent option. It offers so many different cooking options all under one roof and depending on what path you choose to follow in your career as a chef, joining the army should be one of your top choices on your list.
Where do you train to become an army chef?
Training to become an Army chef, first, you must train to be a soldier, I will save you the gory details of 4 months of hardcore military training.
Step 1
The Army catering corps (ACC) has since despanded and is now known as Royal Logistics corps. Training to become an army chef (you can apply online) initialy begins in Harrogate by joining as a regular soldier (over 17 years and 1 month old) you will begin with a 14 week, Adult basic training course learning how to be a military soldier, from basic survival skills, self defence, to learning how to use a rifle and other military weapons.
Step 2
The defence School of Transport in Leconfield is where you will be taken next to carry out a 15-week training course on Combat Logistician. You will also be trained to drive & you will earn your Category C+E Driving Licence.
Step 3
This is where the fun begins. The next port of call. Defence Food Service Wing at Worthy Down. Here you will begin work in a kitchen learning the fundamentals of cooking and will receive your level 2 health and safety certificate. This course will end with 4 weeks of outdoor field cooking including 5 days learning basic combat skills.
What qualifications do you get as a chef in the army?
After training you will recieve your first posting and this could be anywhere in the world where there is a military presence. So be prepared to travel. Listed below are some of the qualifications you can expect to gain after training.
- Levels 1 & 2 – Functional Skills
- Level 2 – Production Chef
- Level 3 – Senior Production Chef Cooking
- Levels 2 & 3 – Health & Safety
- Levels 2,3 & 4 – Nutrition
- Level 3 – Education & Training
- Levels 3 & 4 – Facilities Management
As you become more experienced you will gain rank in the kitchen. Although this rank will only be warranted within the army and not in any civilian Kitchen, It will have an effect on your pay.
As an army Chef your career can progress through the following ranks: Commis Chef (Private), Demi Chef de Partie (Lance Corporal), Chef de Partie (Corporal), Sous-Chef de cuisine (Sergeant), Executive-Chef de cuisine (Warrant Officer Class 2) and Strategic Planner (Warrant Officer Class 1)
Is being a chef in the army a good career choice?
My experience (No regrets)
July 1980, I’m 17 years old, (I looked 18) it’s a glorious summers day as I sit in the beer garden with a few friends, the beer is going down well, the specials “too much too young” blasting out of the duke box and the conversation is flowing. This is all very nice I thought to myself, but I need to get myself a career. Things weren’t too good at home and I got the feeling it was time to leave the nest. No job and nowhere to go, I’m f—ed. I want to travel the world, meet loads of lovely girls, get paid whilst I’m doing it and, Bingo, that’s when the penny dropped. I’m going to join the Army.
becoming a chef. Where do i begin? No rich parents to pay for college and no experience to get a job in a restaurant. so that’s it, I can join the Army, get paid, travel the world and get trained to be a chef. If only I knew then what was ahead of me. I WOULD DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN.
The next day I headed straight to the Army recruitment office and filled out a form with my details, they booked me in for my medical & physical training test that consisted of a few press-ups, pull-ups and a short run. A multiple-choice general knowledge test and hasten to add, I passed all three. My next appointment was with a senior officer, this is going great I thought to myself, I even told my mum, and she was so proud of me.
The day arrived for my final interview with the senior officer. when told to go in, I casually walked into his office, up to his desk and sat down on the chair in front of him. He looked at me with a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp, and with a voice that made Gordon Ramsey sound tame, he shouted, now get back up again, walk back out that door, knock on it and wait till I say come in, then come in and don’t sit down until I f—ing tell you too. This was the point where I wished my dad had come with me.
Bring only your essentials, don’t be late and failed to turn up will result in military court action against you punishable by military law after which you will still be expected to carry out your duties for the time you signed up for. Dismissed.
With the formalities out the way, he broke things down into simple layman terms for me. It’s a s–t job, you work all the unsociable hour’s god sends you, whilst everyone else is out enjoying themselves, you don’t get weekends off, the grease fat and sweat make you stink and you will be shouted at all day by the head chef, are you sure this is what you are looking for?
I’ve come this far, I’m not going to look like a failure to my mates and I certainly don’t want to disappoint my mum, so I only had one choice, and besides, I know he’s only trying to scare me. Yes, I replied in a somewhat shaky voice. Yes, SIR, he shouted back, sign the dotted line he said, and as soon as I signed it I saw a cheeky grin appear on his face as if to say you stupid fool.
With that, he put a 5 pence piece in the palm of my hand and said the mortal words. This is the Queen’s shilling as your first payment, you are now officially a member of her majesties armed forces, you are at her service 24 hours a day every day and failure to abide by the rules will be punishable by military law. You will be picked up from this office in two weeks at 9.00 am.
I walked out with my head held high and a proud smile on my face, it was time to go and give my mum the good news then meet up with my friends and get thoroughly smashed.
Training to become an Army chef, first, you must train to be a soldier, I will save you the gory details of 4 months of hardcore military training.
From learning how to breakdown and rebuild your rifle that jammed more times than Stevie wonder, to being locked in a gas chamber and having your gas-masked removed just as the C.S gas tablet came into full effect, then having to recite the alphabet backwards before being let out.
I was starting to realise why the recruitment officer had a smirk on his face as I signed the dotted line. Fortunately, I passed all my training & now it was time to do what I came here for. Learn how to cook.
This was the moment I had been waiting for. We handed in our weapons in exchange for a set of chefs knives, a cookbook the size of a Karaoke choose a songbook and of course our chefs whites. They already knew our sizes as our measurements had been taken at an earlier stage for obvious reasons.
Trivial as it may seem, trying on the chef’s whites for the first time was an amazing feeling. We suddenly felt professional and could not wait for our first day in the training Kitchen. After 6 months of learning the fundamental basics of how a kitchen works to cooking some trad food like cottage pie, the day finally arrived. all my training passed and city & guilds 706/1 in hand, It was time to find out where each one of us was going to be posted to.
We all wanted a foreign posting as part of joining the army was to travel. Well, just my bad luck, I got London. The nurses training centre in Mill Hill. We were allowed to swap our posting if two people agreed. One of my colleagues got Germany and as he did not want to leave England due to family commitments he asked me if I would like to swap. I accepted gratefully. I still kick myself to this day as to why. NURSES TRAINING COLLEGE. OMG.
How does a professional industrial army kitchen work?
Time to find out how a real, professional army kitchen works.
After two weeks leave its time to head for Germany (My first posting) I see my family and friends for probably the last time for a while. Plenty of partying followed by sad goodbyes as my first travelling experience begins. I’m off to Germany.
Picked up at Dusseldorf airport by an army Land Rover and taken to a camp where I was shown my digs and settled in for the night ready to start work the next day. My first time in an industrial kitchen feeding 2000 Hungry Jocks. Yes, my first posting was with a Scottish battalion, The Royal Highland Fusiliers.
Woke up early the next morning with a mixture of fear and excitement running through my veins simultaneously.
Enter the Kitchen, I do feel a bit of a plonker as I’m not used to wearing chefs whites, then to add insult to injury someone called me chef which was a bit Bizarre as I had never actually cooked a proper meal by this stage.
Head straight for the Kitchen office where I introduce myself to the high ranking chef in charge (Kitchen CO2 ) My Kitchen, My Rules. He introduced me to another chef and told him to show me around the kitchen and restaurant and then show me the veg room, explains what needed doing as I would be in there for the next 2 weeks.
After 2 weeks of peeling spuds and chopping veg, I had started to settle in and although still at the bottom of the food chain, I was now part of a team and they decided it was time to break me in, this meant a night on the town
Why do chefs quit the army?
Good chefs don’t standstill. Training to be a chef in the army was great, I went in a boy and came out a man, But Army life and cooking for 2000 hungry jocks was not for me, I had bigger fish to fry. I did my time and returned to the civi street in the search for my perfect restaurant. Not many chefs stay in the same place for too long. Variety is the spice of life and moving around gains you experience as no two restaurants are the same. Running your restaurant is in my eyes the finest challenge and separates the boys from the men. You become more of a perfectionist with a finer eye for detail. I eventually found mine and loved every moment of it.
Who was the drunk chef?
My first night out in Germany with my newfound colleagues, Wow, this is what I’m talking about. Start the evening with amaretto shots, in a small typical German bar.
Then a taxi further into town and head for the local night club, stopping off at every small bar on the way. Hasten to add, yes I got hammered and those gorgeous Friulians had a thing for young soldiers, some groups of them even tried to go through the whole Battalion but as this is a family channel we won’t go into detail on that subject.
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Kevin Harrington is a keen photographer, blogger, and professional chef for over 40 years. With a passion for cooking and travel, Chefstravels was born. Thank you for visiting my site and I wish you every success in what you do.
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