JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — There are seemingly countless jobs in the military and many of them don't involve holding a gun. In fact, in this week's Stories of Service we profile a sailor at Mayport who feeds his fellow sailors at an award-winning level.
"Usually this is a good 3 to 4 weeks worth of food, because one meal we can use 6 cans of veggies," said Emmanuel Taylor.
That's a lot of food to keep tabs on, but it's all in a day's work for Petty Officer 2nd Class Emmanuel Taylor. A day that often starts in the ship storeroom at 4:30 in the morning.
He's stationed aboard the USS Carney and works in the galley to feed more than 200 sailors every day. But Taylor said there's still a little room for creativity.
"Every CS is talented in their own way," said Taylor, "we add a little spice and there's a lot of diversity in the galley too, so the way I cook my Spanish rice will come out differently, so everybody has their own spin to it."
This month marks 4 years since Taylor joined the Navy. He's originally from Ghana, but says his service to the United States provides him with endless possibilities.
"The Navy has a lot of opportunities, I'm looking into one right now, which is the MESA program, which is in the medical field, that's always been a dream," said Taylor, "so far, so good, I'll see where the Navy takes me from here."
Back in the summer, Taylor and his team from the USS Carney won the base-wide chili contest...they zigged while others zagged and used chicken in their chili, but that's not all.
"We came together and decided to fry some tortillas, everyone was serving chili but we did a chili dip that blew the minds of the judges," said Taylor, who credits his success in the chili contest to the creativity he gets to explore in the kitchen from the support he receives from his CO.
"It always drives the ship as a whole to do their best," said Taylor, "if you have leadership behind your back you know you have someone who supports you, I'm going to go the extra mile to make the next product good."
If you have a Story of Service that you would like us to profile, send an email to storiesofservice@firstcoastnews.com