Page 9 - Flaming Cauldron – Issue 55

ACC ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER

Where were the Army Cooks? Lt Col Brian Kay reports

Many members will know Lt Col Brian Kay who was a young officer in the ACC, It will be business as usual as soon
(previously featured on page 4 of Edition 53) who became the Director of the Australian as the bean-counters can arrange it!
Army Catering Corps (AACC) and is now the President of his local Returned Services Hence my submission to the Bushfire
League branch (the equivalent of our RBL). Brian writes regularly and, like the UK, has Royal Commission.
been subject to social distancing and isolation just as we have in the UK. However, he I believe (wishful thinking?) the
remains a passionate advocate of the AACC and has written to the Australian Government additional societal stresses and economic
and newspapers regarding what he and many other consider to be the poor state of Army strains of the Coronavirus pandemic
Catering. I suppose the Australians are lucky still to have an Army Catering Corps but it is will force a re-appraisal of the abandon-
obviously, and not surprisingly, a shadow of its former self. Here you will get a flavour of ment of Australia’s manufacturing base
his frustration, written to me in an email dated 21st April 2020. Editor to overseas countries and the corpora-
Hi to my correspondents in the UK, Federal Government to support those tisation of our service industries to the
during this tumultuous Coronavirus fighting the fires. Based on my previ- lowest tender from multi-national, profit
pandemic, which seems to have no ous experiences with ‘Military Aid to orientated businesses. This includes
end! As you know, Australia suffered the Civil Power’ in Australia, which the sell-off of our in-barracks catering
catastrophic bushfires in January 2020, involved Army support to local com- service and the consequent degradation
and I did forward some details of an munities during floods and bushfires, of the AACC to no more than a “BBQ
Ex-AACC Sgt’s exploits in setting up and the lack of AACC manpower, field Company”, having been a once proud
a field kitchen to feed hot fresh meals cooking equipment and appropriate Corps which provided a career within
to Defence personnel and those volun- rationing systems on overseas deploy- the Regular Army. The submission is my
teers on the front line of the bushfires. ments (most recently Afghanistan) (last gasp?) effort to reverse, or at least
These commendable exploits, however, I am not confident about any mean- slow down, the steady abandonment of
highlight the absence (at least to the ingful review of the Army’s (and the the AACC. One can only hope!
public and any enquiries I tried to AACC’s) capacity to fully support a WE SUSTAIN,
make) of the Army Catering Service national emergency will be conducted. Lt Col (Retd) Brian Kay
during the emergency. Where were the
Army Cooks with their field kitch- PS, if you want an example of the difficulties of getting the Army to provide field cooking
ens? We even had the Army Reserve equipment for use on operations, you might like to obtain a copy of the story written by the
called up for the first time to assist the Founding Father of the AACC:- “Who Called the cook a bastard?” by Sir C. Stanton Hicks

Editor:
Member Don
Carless kindly
sent this
picture of the
1st Intake
(of which
he was a
member) Boy
Apprentices
visit to Dried
Milk Products
Ltd, Wincanton
on 10th June
1947, one of
many such
industry visits
undertaken by
the ‘Boys’.

SECRETARY@ACCASSOCIATION.ORG | WWW.ACCASSOCIATION.ORG PAGE 9