Why honoring excellence through the PAC program matters now more than ever

The U.S. Army’s annual Philip A. Connelly Program is again putting military food service teams through a rigorous test of skill, logistics and field readiness, with this year’s iteration underscoring how feeding troops under austere conditions has become central to modern operations.

Created in 1968 and named for Master Sgt. Philip A. Connelly, the program is jointly sponsored by the National Restaurant Association and the Army’s deputy chief of staff and administered by the Joint Culinary Center of Excellence. Its mission statement — “the personification of food service excellence executed by field feeding teams resulting in the presentation of extremely gratifying dining experiences across all Army field environments” — reflects a focus on professionalism, technical mastery and soldier support.

Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support backed the 58th Connelly Awards by coordinating required unitized group rations and other resources so teams could demonstrate expeditionary feeding, according to agency materials. During planning, Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 George Davis, Chief Warrant Officer 4 Shemika Harris, and DLA civilians Darryl Thomas and Stephen Whalen helped ensure rations would be available to competing units.

Competition evaluations span two phases. In Phase I, units submit a virtual packet detailing mission priorities, accomplishments, team biographies, operational approaches and field imagery, followed by a board-style review that probes doctrine and practical application. Phase II brings trained evaluators to each unit’s home station for an on-the-ground assessment of convoy operations, security, setup, sanitation, nutrition, speed, adaptability and the full spectrum of field preparation and service. This year, evaluators focused on 92G Culinary Specialists operating with mission-oriented feeding systems.

DLA Troop Support’s Subsistence Supply Chain, which supplies food to service members worldwide from individual meals to full-scale dining facilities, provided the competition’s required menus, including Unitized Group Rations — Heat and Serve for breakfast (BF4: dehydrated eggs, turkey sausage, corned beef hash), UGR-A for lunch (Menu 7: steak) and a UGR-Short Order option (Menu 3: smoked chicken wings). The agency says it feeds about 1.5 million warfighters daily and provides meals ready to eat — including kosher and halal options — and unitized group rations for field operations. It also offers equipment ranging from galley appliances to field kitchen trailers and sanitization systems, and stages large-scale holiday deliveries; for the 2025 season, it shipped more than 150,000 pounds of turkey and 124,000 pounds of beef to bring traditional meals to deployed and stateside troops.

Army officials view the program as a driver of readiness. According to the Quartermaster Corps, objectives include elevating the professionalism of culinary specialists, recognizing excellence, improving operations and ensuring safe, nutritious meals in garrison and expeditionary settings. The Army has emphasized field feeding as a morale and endurance multiplier, especially as planning for large-scale combat operations prioritizes agility under contested logistics.

Modernization figures heavily in that vision. The long-serving containerized kitchen remains a workhorse capable of producing hundreds of meals quickly, but newer expeditionary kitchen trailers are being adopted to reduce vehicles and personnel, shrink fuel use, and increase tactical mobility, according to Army and DLA materials. Early testing suggests the systems align with demands anticipated in future, fast-moving operations.

One unit frequently cited as a standard-bearer is the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne). Its dining facility team competes annually while sustaining a demanding training calendar — including cold-weather and mountain warfare support — and managing a subsistence budget exceeding $1 million, officials said. Despite manning just 13 soldiers against an authorization of 37, the team has maintained reliable meal service and executed complex field feeding, including serving nearly 500 people at the 2025 Thanksgiving meal. The group has also partnered with U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, Army Food Advisors and industry to train on expeditionary kitchen trailers, experimental sanitation systems and emerging tools such as advanced tracking and drone-enabled supply management.

Program advocates argue the impact reaches well beyond awards. They point to improved operational endurance, higher morale, a culture of innovation, and career development for culinary specialists who increasingly influence mission outcomes. DLA Troop Support says closer alignment between logistics planning and culinary execution is strengthening day-to-day readiness across the force.

As the Army prepares for potential conflicts in which supply lines may be disrupted and speed is paramount, the Connelly Program’s emphasis on doctrine, execution and modernization is intended to ensure field feeding teams can deliver hot, safe, nutritional meals — and with them, resilience — wherever operations demand.