Cooking

Almost twenty year ago I joined the Army. Those of you who know me now might think there is something wrong with that sentence. Because now I am in the Navy and still have three years to retirement. But it's true. Right after high school I left for the army. I went to basic training in fort Lenard Wood and then off to Monterey Ca to learn Arabic. Now this might be another point that those people that know me. But that is the point of this story. When I first picked my job in the navy I was going to be a linguist interrogator. As many of you know, that didn't work out. The bottom line on that story is I didn't study hard enough. I have a few excuses I like to tell myself but those are for a different day. After I failed out of the linguist school I was given a list of alpha-numeric codes that corresponded to a job in the Army (we called them MOS). The sheet did not have a discription of work or even a job title. I had to look that up in a separate book (that was at least 5 years out of date). I choose three jobs that I thought would be alright, considering I was no longer going to be interrogating terrorists and spies. One of those codes was 92G which according to my outdated book was a nurse of some kind. About a week later my Commanding Office congratulated me on being selected for Cook as my next job. 

"What?!?!" I said confused "I didn't even

pick cook as an option. How is that even possible"

He showed me my selection sheet and pointed to the 92G and said I had picked it right there. I was shaken. I tried everything over the course of the next two weeks to get it changed. I would not be a cook. That is not what I joined the Army to do. Eventually I accepted my fate and accepted that I was going to be a cook. I called my dad and told him what was going on and how I felt about it. 

Now, my dad did most of the cooking when I was growing up. And he did a great job of it. He taught me a lot of techniques and tricks as I was growing up. But it wasn't until I went to school that I realized how much I connected the art of cook to my dad. The more I learned the more I felt connected to him and the more in enjoyed my new profession. My dad did one other thing to help me with accepting my new job with a more open mind. That day when I called him and told him how I felt he impacted some wisdom that I have never forgotten and strive to live by to this day. The said, "Son, no matter where you go , there you are."

I know it sounds simple and not much to base a life long philosophy on, but to me it boiled down to the fact that it is up to you to make the best of any situation. So you can take what life gives you and dwell on the fat that it is not what you expected or you can make it what you expected. I went on to do really well in the Army's cook school and got selected to a prestigious spot on Washington Dc and went on to make some great friends and cook in some amazing kitchens for some unbelievable people. I would not have changed that experiences for anything and I believe it only happened because I went in with the right attitude. Thank you Dad.