We Salute You-2010

PRIDE, HONOR and whole lotta fun! 

The amazing loyal and dedicated BBQing community has done it once again. Now think about this, you are asked to cook for the Marines, the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twenty-nine Palms, Ca. What an honor to be able to cook for such an extraordinary group of American Soldiers. “Oh yeah did I mention that there are 14,000 Marines we need to cook for”

“That’s a lot of food Uncle Ed”. Just the logistics to put this together is quite an accomplishment. Thanks to Tony McDowell, Randy Gille and the “Godfather” of all military cooking Del King it was all pulled off without a hitch, Failure not an option.

In California we have been doing these kind of cooks for about nine years I believe and no matter the weather or the numbers The members of the CBBQA (California Barbeque Association) and now the Arizonians have joined forces to get it done! I really feel proud to be a part of this group.

We met up with Dan Cannon (BBQ by Dan) Thursday night to catch up on old times. Friday I had the honor of towing one of Dan’s beautiful Ole Hickory Pits down to the Twenty-nine Palms event and if you know Dan, you know what an honor it is to tow his pit. I was successful at this endeavor! We caravanned with Dan, Rick & Karen Streiff and Kim & I with pits in tow. Then in Victorville we joined up with Todd Eves (OTW BBQ) and his group and added three more pits and a commissary trailer “by God we had us a convoy”. It was a beautiful sight, all of us crossing the desert with all the BBQ hardware.

We arrived Friday afternoon, set up began immediately as we needed to start cooking by 7:00pm to keep our anticipated schedule and be ready to serve the people at 4:00pm to 8:00pm Saturday evening. Tony, Randy and Del already had the pork butts being processed and readied for the pits. Like I said this is quite a task just getting all the stuff together and at the sight on time. Having cold storage and power, all the meats, plates, napkins, beans and such you can see what I mean all the co-ordination with the base to pull off an event like this. I forgot to mention there is also a concert along with this feeding frenzy; they always have a big name act for the Marines. Millions of little details and a thousand people to depend on to carry through can be trying at times; I know I’ve been there. 

 Another amazing thing to me that happened was the Commanding General “General Clardy” came to personally thank each and everyone of us for participating in this endeavor and gave us each his personal coin, which is quite an honor, to receive for his appreciation for our dedication to his troops. I have shown everyone my coin and it’s in my pocket right now. I thought” now that showed a lot of class and respect for what we do”. Like I said before cooking for the military is the best and it is a priority for me because no prize is greater than the satisfaction and good feelings it gives me to be able to give thanks back to them. I heard once that only 2 people will die for you, one for your soul- Jesus and one for your freedom –The American soldier!   It is true and I will never forget it!

Thank You every one who participated, thanks for letting Kim and I be a part of your amazing BBQ community. We truly admire your dedication to this and a

Brent/QN4U