Im a Professional Chef and here is my story.

Hey fellow ATS members! let me first start by saying I was not really sure as to where I should put this thread so I dropped it here and as I tell my story you will see why.

My background: I am a professional chef and have been cooking for 20 years, my endevours have put me in places to rub shoulders with many of the most powerful if not the most powerful people on this planet. I have had the pleasure of cooking for the entire clinton family in the state room in Boston, MA. Barrack obama on two occasions, The trump family, Royalty from the United arab Emirates and saudi arabia.

Now to the good stuff

The Naval Warfare Symposium, now for some of you who dont know what this is, this is a gathering of the highest ranking Naval officers and very important people from countries all around the world. This took place in Newport rhode island and takes place every year from my understanding. Some of the countires that were present: US, Britan, China, france, India, Korea, Italy,Mexico, Canada, Spain, Russia, Norway, Sweeden and many many more.

I cannot even begin to describe the amount of security at this event. FIrst off this took place on an island( goat island , Newport RI) Two weeks before this event every person who worked on the island had to have lengthly back ground checks now im not sure how deep they went but two poeple who i worked with told me that goverment officials showed up at there neighbors doors asking questions... . I think it depended on what interaction that these people would be having with the VIP guests and how much interaction with the island they had.

A week before the event the Jersey barriers showed up ( around 100 or so) they were set up blocking roads, walk ways and part of the causeway bridge that allowed access to the island. Signs were placed in loactions stating photography is prohibited. Two mobile commad centers were placed in the various parking lots and they placed there own securtity cameras all over the damn island , and I mean everywhere! From on top of light posts to on top the facility I worked at and many on top of the Hyatt hotel on the island. They also used our cameras that my facility had for its own purposes( they has asked to tap our cameras lines). The Hayatt is the tallest building on the island and there were always at least 4 military soldiers on the roof looking around with binoculors and scopes. They were snipers with out a doubt because i seen a rifle siting back on the roof from the vantage point i was at, which was the third floor of my building. There were also many ropes haging from the roof to the ground. Im not sure if it was electronics or ropes used to repel down quickly if needed.

The water surrounding the island was patrolled by a US frigate ship about 1000 yards from the island. There were also smaller much faster partol boats with 50 caliber guns mounted on the front. They were metallic with a red roof, i would say there were four of them, but im not sure as they were always moving around.

They day of the event tons of more military personnel arrived with equipment and bomb sniffing dogs. They has everyone line up and the dogs were walked around us. The dogs were brought throughout the entire building i was in. When the dog was brought into the kitchen apparently it had some problems, it seems the over whelming smells of food cooking and all the chaos made the dog go alittle nuts! so they had to remove all the people and turn off all the food that was cooking so the dog could concentrate. lol

During the event I was able to walk about the crowds and see these Naval Officals and many of them had there own personal body guards. The Naval officals from one of the Middle eastern countries had 8 alone you can tell that they were body guards due to thier demenour...its like seeing the secret service with the president. There not there to shoot the # and have a good time, they are there to prevent harm to there boss.

There was also soldiers at most doors and we were told to not go off wandering in the parking lot or anywhere for that matter alone. As we were bring watched and it could be taken as we are being suspect. All in all it was a great event and something cool to be part of.

On a lighter notre about this event, that night i was told the Admiral of Belgium was could naked locked out of his room drunk like a skunk wandering the halls of the hyatt!!






Wargames at the Naval war college: Now this gets sketchy on so many levels!!

My company was contracted to cater this event, Once again it was a gathering of Naval Officals (NATO) that were playing out war senerios etc etc. We would do there breakfest and lunch then call it a day nice and easy.
.....well not so fast! On my first day there we were not permitted to enter the building because it was a classified building and we did not have clearence or badges.....WT#! Badges ? Clearence?.. come to find out this building apparently holds some sensitive areas. So it took the bases commanding officer to get us in the damn building and we had 30 min left to set up.. what a mess. I eventually got my bagde later that day that had my picture on it with my basic information on it. I never was asked to give them my licence so im aliitle curious as to how they got my info ....but its the goverment so anythimg is possible!

Getting through the entrance door was kinda funny, only one person could ride this revolving door at a time and it could only be that person who had the correct card to allow the mobile like door to revolve. We found this out the hard way as we were rushing in to the building with our food and equipment, two of us tried getting in one part of the door and it stopped and an alarm sounded. Which in turn got the attention of the MPs who were hiding behind a glass window , who told us how to get in...go figure.

Now we had to run down the hall to where the cafeteria was so we could set up and cook. This took up past many blur doors with punch number key pads on the door handle.And some had security clearence tags on the mall label window that each door had. some where red labels some were yellow and some were white. While we were moving back and forth up the hall there were of course naval personel walking around but the odd thing was they never opened a door if we werr near. They would wait for us to pass then enter the room. The hallways was very wide and our equipment was rather small so I know they were not trying to be polite and get out of our way.

On my last day there lunch was served then they requested more food , which we didnt have because it was not ordered. So I had to head back to the shop make up what i could then run back there and serve them. Now telling you that let me tell you what there routine was. The Naval officers would eat breakfest at 7am go to there war game rooms for 3 hours then return for lunch at 11 then head back into there rooms 45 minutes later. This was on time to the minute every day. And if they were late they would be yelled at to return to there rooms.

During this time when they were in there war rooms, we would be kept company by two naval police who were very nice and talkitive very down to earth people. We held light conversation about the weather, were there from and stuff like that. Then i said the hell with it ill ask. So I said to him " who is the adversary of the week?" he laughed shook his head and said " cant tell ya that". I laughed as well and let it be.

Ok so back to me returning with the food, I get back there and go through security, down the hall to the cafeteria and no one is there....im like oh man what the heck! I have no clue what to do with this food and no one is around. I start waling back to the entrance when one of the officers that i had come accustom to seeing during the week asked me what I needed. I told him and he kinda looked around the area and was like " follow me!" we walked down the hall to one of the rooms with the key pad buttons on the door knob with a yellow lable on it. He said " i dont think they started yet'. He opened the door and within the room was 4 naval officers sitting around a large rectangular table that had computer stations at each seat. The computer was within the table and a glass window was there so they could see the moniter. A very large and elaborate computer station was also in the back of the room agaist the wall with one naval personel sitting in that computer station. Let me tell you im very comuter adept , I have built my own computer time and time again know the ins and outs of the equipment and this station that i seen was a dream to me. I could not see this stations monitor from my vantage point but i could see the cooling towers for the processors each stood off the ground by 6 feet or so. Slightly taller than me im 5' 11". The table also had something very interesting in its center, it reminded me of a LED light but faceted in the center of a table??.

By this time one of the officers had noticed I was kinda at awe looking around this room, as turned in a 360 fasion the big screen was eventually in view. My back was to it and as i panned the room it was the last thing i seen. This screen was maybe 6' x8' thin like plasma but kinda transparent, i was like oh projection but it was not as it had a boarder that was white. Really cool kinda like those transparent monitors from CSI. The screen was of an arab looking individual with his "stat card" best way i can describe it lol. As soon as i looked in this direction the officer yelled "put the food down and GET OUT!!!" I was kinda shoved out of the room as maybe i had seen to much lol.

These are two of my most interesting endevours involving goverment contracts. I hope you guys enjoy my story and get a laugh out of it, I know I did. On a side note I was supposed to cook for obama again when he came to RI but my security clearence was not comleted i was told...go figure.

Feel free to ask me any questions and ill answer to the best of my memory.
TheMur

way toooo much writing.

What kind of food was there,cmon get to the good stuff.Was it open bar?Any women of the night?

reply to post by GreenFurnNW


Sorry, it is a story lol

reply to post by brindle


which party? symposium or NWC

So why didn't the military use military chefs? The guys who cook for the top brass? Why go to civilians? I do feel suspicious about the security vetting timeline.

Interesting post thoug. What do you infer beyond interesting looking technology but what advantages would it offer over hardware running say mac OS or even some hardcore linux that has been tweaked. I am not a computer expert so please do not respond to the facts (Re OS) but more the concepts.

Thanks

Unique experience to say the least.

I would certainly question why bodyguards were deemed necessary with so much security already in place?

I also feel the security presence was more for show... a manipulation/scare tactic if you will.

If you do end up catering for the prez again, you should ask him to raise your debt ceiling.

waste of time wish i never read it movealong

reply to post by Tiger5


I can only guess as to why they would want to out source the culinary operations. One reason is they had a budget to work with and the quality of food my companies produce is far beyond any military culinary capabilites.( im not saying that they cant cook, alot of the food they produce is quite good) You always want to show off to your friends. The company that i worked for the venue was one of a kind over looking narragansette bay, and the newport bridge. Its all about eligance.

As for the wargames...they dont have a full culinary operation on base , lol kinda funny. They had job postings on craigs list last year, as they were considering a full scale operation.

reply to post by forall2see


I agree it may have been just for show. cool nonetheless

reply to post by objectivist


what were you expecting there were aliens at the party...come on lol. I thought it was just cool bit of truthful insight.

reply to post by TheMur


So the four guys sitting at the table with the computers, were they all from different countries and about what ages did they look? Also did you see there ranks at all?

They were all American navy, all around early 40s maybe late 30's, as for rankings I seen a few birds witch are captains, and alot of commander was thrown around. I know my contact was a commander.

Thanks for sharing. It was an interesting lead and sounds like it was an experience for you.

Can you tell me what the admiral of belgium was drinking?It must have been quality liquor if he was streaking the halls naked screaming check out my package .

reply to post by brindle


lol sorry I havent got a clue, but totally agree he must have been drinking some quality booze. I would have given him Makers Mark

When you were told to put the food down and leave,you should have said---Listen here skippy,Ill have you thrown out of here immediately if you ever talk to me,the best chef in the world quite possibly,like that again.Now try rephrasing that sentence and we will judge your progress in learning manners.

They were quite aggressive

You should have walked into one of the meetings and said, Listen up biatches,I know you are hiding alien craft and have alien bodies.Now I want to know the truth right now,or you biatches can go get fast food because I will close the kitchen if I dont hear some alien information pronto.

reply to post by brindle


I doubt any of them have that type of knowlege, but ya never know.