mess cooking

It was shortly after I became a qualified watch stander that I was selected for the next month of "mess cooking" at the station, a rotation amongst all the E-3s at the station. Being a mess cook meant assisting the unit's Food Services Specialist (FS) throughout the day by washing dishes, setting tables, refilling beverage dispensers, and so on. I worked from around 0600 to whenever we finished cleaning up after the evening meal, which was usually around 1800. This went on six days out of the week and I was allowed to choose whether I wanted Saturday or Sunday off. Although the rotation was for an entire month back then, we later adjusted it to two weeks to help junior people get qualified rather than wash dishes for an entire month.

I had no issues with mess cooking. In fact, I enjoyed it because it gave me some time to regroup after about a month of nightly sit downs where I was told how I was inadequate to make third class. On a few occasions, some of the BMs that were normally in charge of me came into the galley and started barking orders, but they were quickly taken to the side by the cook and reminded that I worked for the galley, not them.

On the other hand, I wasn't making any progress on my next qualification, which was crew member for the 41 foot Utility Boat. It hadn't been established whether my original deadline of three months would be extended since I was working in the galley.

I also discovered that the SNBM that reported before me had been told specifically that he didn't have to mess cook because he had already obtained his rating, unlike the other E-3s (known as non-rates). I was a little bitter that they went out of their way to treat me differently, and when I asked why the explanation was that I was younger than he was. Age was going to be a continuing issue throughout my career and this was the beginning of that prejudice.

It was a fairly easy month. I even managed to get underway with the 41' a few times to start learning my job as a crew member. The only real horror story I left there with was cleaning the grease trap. There's a three or four gallon reservoir under the deep sink that caught all of the grease and oil runoff and the only way to clean it is by transferring the grease to a bucket using a ladle. Even then, I was lucky enough to clean it in the winter as opposed to the summer, in which case I might have taken a trip outside to vomit.

The job of mess cooking varies unit to unit. Some stations leave it up to the crew to clean up after themselves and don't even have a messcook. Most Coasties agree that mess cooking on the bigger cutters is the worst, but on the bright side it motivates people to become petty officers so they don't have to do it anymore.

On another note, thanks to those that have posted comments (we have them from SIX different people now, or maybe one person under several names). This is the only way I can verify that this is being read so please keep 'em coming.