I'm 34 and a career soldier. I'm married to the most wonderful woman on earth and I am the proud father of 6 beautiful children. I've been a chef in the Military for almost 14 years and am currently working on my Executive Chef certification. I'm the captain of my installation's culinary team and also in charge of the culinary program, which a great honor and lots of fun (and hard work). I enjoy cooking, but love eating even more, lol. I love the outdoors and also training and teaching, so the military is perfect. I've done 2 tours in Iraq, both with Special Forces. I have been sent all over the world for different missions. Places like Turkey, Bosnia, Germany, and Azerbaijan, to name a few. I've fed Soldiers while scuba diving, mountain climbing, skiing, parachuting and just about every situation you could think of and I've had the time of my life. My long term goal is to open my own place, maybe a tavern, with some live music, good beer and great food! I would have to say BBQ and picnic food in general are my favorite things to prepare at home and at the dining facilities. For competition, I prefer pastries. The only tradition we had growing up, was that dinner was at 6pm sharp, every single night. I don't care if there was a nuclear war- my mom would have dinner ready at 6. Installation Chef of the Year, various gold and silver medals in different ACF culinary competitions. Army Field Feeding is always fun, outstanding food in the field is a great morale booster. Um, I can't really think of any big ones.