Navy Mess Management Specialist

As a Mess Management Specialist in the United Stated Navy, you may be tasked to work aboard s destroyer, preparing meals for three hundred and fifty sailors. Then several months later you might be serving guests as part of the Navy Mess for a special dinner at the White House. If you enjoy serving or preparing food, and have a flair for the culinary arts, then you might excel at this Navy job specialty.

The rule of thumb for members of the Navy Mess specialist job is that there is no rule of thumb.? Literally any situation in the Navy that involves serving food for different groups of people is a potential duty station that you may be involved in. You can have some of the most varied duty in the service because all different groups of people need to eat.

Other types of duty that you may participate in can include:
-Prepare food and menus for distinguished guests or dignitaries.
-Serve as a specialist in culinary affairs on an Admiral’s staff or Commanding Officer’s Mess.
-Prepare records and budgets for food affairs.
-Prepare a variety of meals and arrange food for all different groups
-Operate dining facilities and kitchens and various galleys.
-Manage and operate kitchen and living quarters on board ship, submarine or shore station.

You will have a lot of different on the job training experiences as a Navy Mess Specialist.? You will prepare food for groups ranging from less than five to groups of hundreds, or on board carrier literally thousands of Navy personnel.? You will be taught skills in nutrition, food preservation, dining, and even entertainment management in some cases.

The Navy always has an ongoing need for people oriented, detailed people who can roll with the punches, and work under stressful conditions to prepare and serve a meal.? It is a little like a three ring circus sometimes, but there is never as good a feeling as when you have successfully completed a meal service, no matter what the size group you are serving.

You will attend boot camp, then on to a formal Class A school where you will receive instructions in the basics of food preparation and feeding different groups of people. You will be taught basic cooking skills, as well as advanced food preparation methods.? Some of the instruction you receive can be documented and used to earn college credit for the vocational training that you receive.