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When you have a group of good people, everything is possible // Humans of NATO Days

Private First Class Natálie Plachá and Corporal Michal Blecha from the 216th Squadron of the 21st Tactical Air Force Base in Čáslav may not be the most prominent and well-known personalities of NATO Days, but their work is a very important part of the event. Both of them are junior chefs at the Čáslav AFB and at the last year's event they cooked for a huge number of people. We asked what their working day looks like or what they still have to master as military cooks. You can read the answers to these and other questions below.

How do you rate the current edition of NATO Days?
Private First Class Plachá: This year was very successful and our army has undoubtedly shown that it has a lot to offer.

Corporal Blecha: Compared to last year, the weather was more favourable, the sun came out, so the experience is all the better. A different bunch of people gathered here, and it's great.

What does your typical working day look like?
Private First Class Plachá: Here at the NATO Days, our working hours start at 6:30 a.m., when my colleagues and I have to be ready and prepared. In the morning, we sort out the work, who will do what, and then we get down to it. We prepare various meals for about 400 people.

Corporal Blecha: At the base in Chotusice, our working hours are from 5:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and we cook approximately 700 portions - three types of food and soup. 3-5 soldiers participate in the preparation of each meal, where one of them is responsible for the quantity, quality and time, i.e. that it will be cooked on time. I would like to honestly appreciate that we always cook here from fresh food, I consider that a big plus.

Why did you become military chefs?
Corporal Blecha: I have been a trained chef for 25 years now, I worked in my field for 7 years, then in a car factory, and after 10 years I wanted to return to the trade. However, I didn't want to go to a restaurant where working hours, pay, and work in general could be uncertain, so I signed up for the army, where I only wanted to be a cook. I got an offer to Chotusice, and I am extremely satisfied here. I work with professionals, no one limits us in how we cook, the main task is to make the food as it should be and in sufficient quantity.

Private First Class Plachá: I joined the army thanks to the family tradition that I followed. In addition, my dad has taken me to the airport since I was little, so being at NATO Days and seeing, for example, the F-35 is even more important to me.

What does your kitchen look like on NATO Days?
Private First Class Plachá: We have five mobile kitchens here, and you can find everything you can think of in them. We have a convection oven, which is a kind of multifunctional oven, and an electric slicer, which was used to cut, for example, salami. Each mobile kitchen also has its own air conditioner, so we can heat it up here or, when it's hot again, cool it down. As a result, we have here a fully functional boiler that is delivered, electricity and water are connected and we can operate normally.

Corporal Blecha: Those boiling houses can produce a lot of wholesome food, not only here, but mainly for the soldiers who are somewhere in the woods where they are cold. So, the first thing they get in the morning is hot tea. The guys from Rakovník who brought the boiling houses are so skilful that we didn't even have to help them put it together. Everyone knew what they were doing. And they did it quickly, they did it precisely. It takes an estimated four to five hours to assemble such a kitchen.

Private First Class Plachá: When you have a group of good people, you can manage absolutely everything. And that's really important in the military.

Corporal Blecha: One of the things we like about the exercises is that we meet familiar people, so we have something to talk about, something to remember. Or, on the contrary, you will meet new people, share new experiences and knowledge, and laugh together. And most importantly, you are able to work together.

Private First Class Plachá: Actually, it is also about those new experiences that we will remember in two years, how nice we had it in Mošnov, what a good group of people gathered there. For me, as a young person, it's great that I can always "travel" somewhere within the army, that I'm not sitting at home and working somewhere in a factory.

Have you participated in previous NATO Days or are you here for the first time?
Corporal Blecha: I was twice in Hranice, where the preparation takes place. It works a little differently there, because there are no mobile kitchens, there is a fixed kitchen and a lot of cooks. Different dishes are cooked than here. But then they are imported here. They have to be cooled in the so-called thermo kings, which are huge refrigerators and freezers, where the food has to be cooled to about four degrees in order to be able to be transported from Hranice na Moravě here to Mošnov. It's a lot of work, because when the food in Hranice is cooked and transferred to thermokings, it has to be stirred, stirred, stirred every few minutes. This is followed by transport to Mošnov. Here, the cooks take it apart, start heating the food or preparing it for serving, and the empty thermo kings go back to Hranice. In my opinion, it is excellently divided and organized. Everyone knows what they are doing.

Private First Class Plachá: I've only been serving for a year and a few months, so it is my first time here. But I'm excited about it because, as I mentioned, family tradition led me to join the army, and now I can brag to my dad about the planes I've seen here in my free time.

Do you, as a military cook, have to master other military skills?
Corporal Blecha: Of course, a military cook is not in the army just to cook. In the army, a soldier is first and foremost a gunman, which means that we too must be able to handle a primary and secondary weapon, i.e. a pistol and an assault rifle. We have the basics of topography, chemical preparation, sequential preparation, and all other necessary knowledge. For us, it is first and foremost to be a shooter, and only then a cook.

Do you have anything to say in closing?
Private First Class Plachá: Thank you for the opportunity to be here and we greet the people of Chotusice.