Another successful "Operation BBQ for Our Troops" event was held June 18, 2004, at the 29 Palms Marine Base.  Approximately 30 CBBQA members and supporters rallied to feed over 300 Marines and their families some Texas-style brisket, pulled pork, chicken, hamburgers, and hot dogs. 

Several teams, including Del King’s Taste of Texas BBQ, Don Grissom’s Duelin’ Bubbas with Dr. Don Iverson, Tom Chilton’s Mojave Hot Stuff BBQ, Randy Gille and Don Carpenter’s Burbank Bad Boys, and Bentley Meredith spent the night cooking the briskets and butts.  A film crew from the Food Network show "BBQ with Bobby Flay" was on hand to record the events. 
 

Friday morning dawned with a rumble and a roar as an M1A1 Abrams tank and a tank recovery vehicle pulled into the area.  Manning the tank recovery vehicle was the Marine who pulled down the statue of Saddam Hussein using a similar vehicle. 

Several more CBBQA members arrived to help with slicing and preparing the meats, including Todd Eves, Rick Streiff, Dan Cannon, Brent Walton, and the ROTC students from Long Beach.  Also, Smokin’ John and Flaming Linda arrived with a beautiful whole pig which was presented to the battalion commander. 

Of course, no BBQ event is complete without some drama, so Tom Chilton had a pit fire in his FE-100.  Dr. Don accused him of operating a crematorium without a license.  Todd Eves asked him if he was really so desperate to get on television that he’d burn up his pit.  Although a load of chicken was lost, there were no injuries and no permanent damage to the pit.

The Marines and their families arrived, and the real pay-off to all the hard work was seeing them enjoying the BBQ.  The Battalion Commander presented Del King with a plaque and made a heart-felt speech expressing his gratitude for this and the other BBQ’s we’ve done for them.  This was another great event and we can be proud that the CBBQA was part of it.

Other sponsors of the event were BBQ’n Fools, who contributed their BBQ sauce and Signature Rub, and Out of This World BBQ Products, who also contributed rubs and seasonings.

 
Article by Del King - After action report

Photos by Tom Chilton

Operation BBQ For Our Troops:

I arrived at 29 Palms Main Gate with my friend and helper Scott Norton (aka Squid) and checked in. First action taken was to make sure the MP's at the Gate had all the information needed to get the BBQ'ers on base later.

Went to the Community Center and secured the cooking space area. Checked in with the Manager of the Center to make sure everything was in place for us to cook there all night. Everything was good to go. (A special note is that I was told that this would be a first--they had never given anyone access to the Center for use over night. That the word came down from the Commanding General of the base if Tanks needed it then Tanks was going to get it.)

At this time I made contact with Tanks and advised them I was on base and starting to set up my pit. They sent over a couple of Marines just to make sure we had everything.

As the time for the other cooks got closer the wind picked up and started to blow at 15 miles per hour right through our cook area.

Don Grissom and Dr Don arrived and started to set up in their assigned area with his Good One. The next to arrive was Tom Chilton with his FE. Bentley next arrived with his Trager and started to set up.

My cell phone rang and I was advised by Randy Gille's wife they were running late. He had gotten off work later than he had hoped to and had hit the rush hour traffic.

Around 6 that night Todd and Brent showed up from their staging place at the airport to help prep the meats.

About 6:30 the Director from the Food Network arrived and we started to go to work making the segment for the show.

The first thing they saw was the different type of pits that we had out to cook. At that time we had 4 with the 5th sitting in rush hour traffic not yet arrived. He was impressed that he would be able to show so many different types of pits. The 6th pit was at Smoking John and Flaming Linda's house where they were cooking the whole pig.

The next thing they wanted for the show was to see how we trimmed and prepped our meats before we cooked them. For this honor I advised Todd he would be the man in front of the camera. The wind was still blowing really bad so we set up on the side of the building and hung the CBBQA Banner right behind Todd. Todd went to work explaining how to trim and the different types of donated rubs that we use. After the was filmed we set up a line and went to work prepping the rest of the brisket and port butts. As I took them out of the cryovac Todd and Dr Don was trimming. Brent went to work applying the rub. Tom C and Bentley were placing them in the foil pans and transporting to the pits that were warm and waiting.

As each pit was being filled the camera was there getting every detail from opening the pit to putting each piece of meat in the pits. After the pits were filmed each cook was advised don't do anything unless you call the camera over first they wanted to get film of everything being done. They got to film 2 different type of pellet cookers, Don G using his Kamado charcoal and combination of wood. The he saw the Klose that I brought out burning just wood. It was great to see some many different type of cookers.

After the meats were on Bentley fired up his Trager cranked up the heat and cooked some great hamburgers for that nights dinner. I was impressed at the job he did and how well they came out from a pellet pusher.

About this time Todd and Brent left the base for the other staging area to get their needed sleep and rest.

about 2 hours later Randy and his partner Don (note too many Dons at this event) and Randy's son arrived. Randy set up got his fire going and we transferred meats from Don G and myself to his Longhorn pit to finish cooking. We had a surprise from Walt of the Palms Springs BBQ Team he drove over to see if he could lend a hand and to visit with us during the night. He couldn't stay be he came out to lend his support.

The Marines had brought over cots for use to use. Instead of setting them up inside the building everyone grabbed one and placed it next to their pit to sleep and watch their fires. Great news the winds stopped and it was calm for the rest of the night.

Some time between 530 and 6 AM just as the sun was about to come up over the mountain range many BBQ'er were awaken by a loud rumbling noise. As they woke and looked towards the area of this sound they saw 2 large vehicles coming down the street and turning onto the dirt field next to our cooking site. Yes it was an M1A1 Abrams Tank and a Tank Recover Vehicle (the same kind used to pull the statue down).

After the Vehicle were parked into their places Randy and Tom C sons both went over to the Tank to look at it. And to their surprise they were invited to sit in the drivers seat and then tour the rest of the Tank. All of a sudden with both boys inside the Tank the 50 cal machine gun started moving with no one at it's control. They boys were operating it remote control from inside the Tank. I thought I hear some young voice calling out from the Tank had dad I want a raise in my allowance as the 50 cal moved back and forth.

The film crew showed up and started filming the Marines and their equipment. About this time the reinforcements showed up. Todd and Brent arrived with more help Dan Cannon and partner Rick and right behind them Joe a teacher from Long Beach Poly high school with 6 JROTC students.

We set up tables to slice the brisket. I wanted to give the Marines a different style of BBQ this time and serve sliced instead of chopped brisket. They filed each pit taking off their meats and taking them to Dan Cannon and Brent for slicing. As the slicing went on we prepped the legs and thighs to put onto the smokers.

Smoking John arrived with the whole pig. We moved some vehicles around and park his rig at the side of the building and plugged in his pellet cooked to finish the pig and keep it warm until time to present it to the Commanding Officer.

After parking John I walked back to the cooking area and to my surprise Tom C was making a burnt offering sacrifice to the BBQ Gods offering up our chicken and his pit. It worked he was able to please the Gods everything came out great. We might have lost about a 3rd of the chicken but I just hope his cooker will be ok. The chicken was just to supplement the main meat of brisket.
The film crew went from pit to pit and interviewed each cook as to why they were there to support the Marines. I do not know what was said I finally got away from the film crew and was busy setting things in motion with the mess Gunny getting ready to serve.

I am tired of typing but you have the jest of what happened. When the Change of Command ceremony was over the Marines started to arrive to our area. We waited for the Commanding Officer and presented him with the whole pig as a gift from his men and their families. This man was so touched it brought a tear to his eye. He said he didn't deserve such a gift it was he how should be presenting something to his great men. Smoking John sliced off a piece of pig gave it to him and he declared this pig fit for eating.

The ROTC student took their places behind the serving lines and the serving started.

I must note that during the course of the night I stressed on the fact that we were going to serve sliced brisket and that I knew how easy it is for brisket to dry out. With 4 different pits cooking I kept on the cooks about it must be moist and tender. Every cook there would have been proud to have turn their product in at a contest it was moist and tender.
Perfect.

A special note for Randy and his team. We have a great set of cooker there. These guys drove rush hour traffic from Burbank cooked all night. Randy had to get back to Burbank before 330 PM on Friday. So after what they went through to get to 29 Palms and cooking all night they had to load up and drive back home that day. They didn't get to stay and enjoy the thanks and well wishes of the Marines. 30 minutes after they left I stressed out counting the number of pans of brisket. One was missing. The only thing I could think of is Randy has it in his warmed. Calls were made all over Southern California trying to get the cell number to contact Randy. He was contacted and he checked his pit it was empty. The missing pan of brisket was found one of the mess cooks had placed it in the Centers kitchen so it would be close when he needed a new pan for the line. (I have to check and see if I got any grey hairs on that one) As it turned out this time we barely had enough meat to go around. There was just a few plate full left for to go containers.

1st Tanks Battalion commander presents Del King with plaque in appreciation

All in All the members of the CBBQA that showed up to support this event did a great job and deserve a pat on the back. I hope that when the Bobby Flay show does air that it presents a positive image of the Marines and the CBBQA and all the donors.

FROM THE MARINES OF 1ST TANKS "THANK YOU FOR A JOB WELL
DONE."

Del

 

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