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A Home Economist and the Army
Kristina Basile, Food and Nutrition Consultant, Army Reserve.
Are their opportunities to work as a home economist other
than community work, an industry career or teaching? One opportunity
I have discovered which is a little different is in the Australian
Army; in my own case as a commissioned officer and a Food and
Nutrition Consultant in the Army Reserve.
While studying for my Consumer Science degree at RMIT, I was always after some extra income and willing to consider any options which arose. Being a fairly active person, I decided to join the Army as it offered what would be a very challenging job in an entirely different environment.
The Catering Corps
The Australian Army is made up of a variety of corps most of which function on a part-time (Reserve) basis as well as the normal full time operation. Of particular interest to me was the catering corps which trains all of the Army catering staff who are generally then attached to other corps (eg artillery, transport) to serve the catering needs of the particular units. So the catering corps offered me opportunities of training and practical experience as well as a welcome source of income.
The closest unit to me was Melbourne University Regiment (MUR), an infantry unit which is solely dedicated to training commissioned officers for the Reserves. Commissioned officers make up the management portion of the defence forces but their involvement extends to (and in the case of lower-ranked officers mainly consists of) day to day work with soldiers and their supervisors. Joining MUR as a trainee officer meant that I could, once having completed the two year officer training course, become involved in the management of cooks and catering services instead of just training as a cook myself. This provides a wide scope to provide the Army with relevant and up-to-date information on nutrition and food science, information which is vital to such a huge organisation responsible for feeding all of its employees.
Range of duties
In 1992 I successfully graduated as a second lieutenant and, upon posting to my elected corps, Australian Army Catering Corps (AACC) was given a position at the Army Reserve Catering Centre. My duties there, which drew directly on knowledge gained from my Home Economics training included:
- cater management and development of cooks; conducting classes for trainee cooks on food skills, nutrition and food science
- development of training programs for all levels of cooks from initial introductions for new staff to further training for qualified cooks.
My next move, two years later, was to another infantry unit to oversee its catering operations and staff. The cooks at this unit are required to be able to provide meals for up to three hundred in both standard and field kitchens. Field kitchens are those which are set up outdoors 'in the field' to service troops while they are on military exercises and while they are conducting operations during wartime. Additional services required of the catering staff of this unit are catering for formal functions, including silver service. My role is to supervise the work of these cooks and to ensure their further training within the unit.So taking a step to broaden my lifestyles as a student has resulted, after some time and much effort, in my being in a position to pass on to a large number of people the fundamentals of nutrition and food science. In the case of many individuals in the army, this information is quite new and different while, for the army as a whole, it is information and instruction of considerable and measurable benefit. It is resounding knowledge that the army has a positive approach to developing its food services and my own circumstances are just one example of how directly and effectively home economics, food, nutrition and science resources can be applied in such an organisation. I have also benefited immensely from this work, having gained further practical experience in program development, staff management and, in particular, training and educating.
Basile, K. (1995) A Home Economist and the Army, Kristina Basile, Food and Nutrition Consultant, Army Reserve. HEIA news, Quarterly newsletter of the Home Economics Institute of Australia Inc. 2, 4, 7.
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