A Cut Above: Butchery Course Offers Food Service Specialists Opportunity to Enhance Skills for Supporting Green Berets
By Major Aram Donigian
10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) Public Affairs Officer
Most people know that Special Forces Soldiers with Fort Carson’s 10th Special Forces Group
(Airborne) must be prepared to conduct operations quickly and safely, often in harsh, austere environments to successfully accomplish a multitude of unconventional missions in support of U.S. military objectives. What is often forgotten, however, is that support personnel must also be just as ready to provide appropriate and timely resources for those teams.
Recently, food service specialists from 10th Group completed a unique training course designed specifically to help them provide better support to Green Berets operating in Africa and elsewhere around the world.
“In January, Warrant Officer Erik Iwai and I first discussed the need for our cooks operating with team guys to provide better services in places where there are no grocery stores and buying from meat trucks is not sanitary,” said Sergeant First Class Myron Billingsley, Senior Culinary Management Noncommissioned Officer for 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne). “We initiated contact with the Rocky Mountain Institute of Meat in April to research the possibility of creating a Special Forces butchery course.”
Based in Colorado, the Rocky Mountain Instituted of Meat (RMIM) was founded by Chef Mark
DeNittis and features a professional butchery program, providing graduates with both American Culinary Federation accreditation and Colorado professional state certification. Jason Nauert, RMIM director, served as the lead instructor for this training.
“I was very excited to be contacted by 10th Group and worked to customize the six day course for what these Soldiers will need in the field,” said Nauert. “I tried to take our professional course and combine it with my hunting background to form a course that would enhance what these guys do in accomplishing their Army mission.”
Soldiers received hands-on practice in harvesting, field dressing, and processing a cow, hogs, goats, lambs, and chickens. The processing portion included not only separating primal and subprimal cuts from edible cuts, but also sausage making, curing meats, and storage.
The comprehensive course incorporated safety and sanitation training such as identifying sick animals by examining their liver and stomach, as well as critical control points involving the impact of temperature and time on processing. Soldiers were also introduced to concepts regarding animal acquisition.
“It was exciting to see Soldiers do something to not only enhance their Army mission but to also expand their horizons and do something they have never done before,” said Billingsley. “Many grew up in the inner city and have never seen much less get their hands-on in an experience like this. It was great for them and something they will take away for the rest of their lives.”
