A taste of home - Airman's World - Afghanistan's Air Force Village

Airman, March, 2003 by Adam Johnston

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan -- It's Sunday in Afghanistan's Air Force Village, and once again, a huge, 15-gallon metal cooking pot will provide a little taste of home to deployed airmen. Harry Connick Jr. sings "A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down" from a CD player as folks line up for another Sunday helping of home cookin' by Senior Master Sgt. Timothy Treaster.

"There's a pot of soup right there. Get yourself a bowl," Treaster said with a slight southern drawl to Sunday brunch latecomers.

While the Air National Guardsman from McEntire Air National Guard Base, S.C., is clearly the catalyst for Sunday's homespun brand of brunch, he continually refuses to accept credit for the food as he spins off lists of contributors to the day's recipe--beef vegetable soup.

"I'm not really a cook," he said as he tilted his desert camouflage hat to the back of his head. "A lot of people come out to help--Sergeant Rayos, Marv the 'Brit'--we just put a bunch of stuff together and come up with some soup. We do whatever we can. Whatever we re able to scrounge up. It's a melting pot of sorts."

The atmosphere of these Sunday brunches is like a family reunion. They're part socializing, part gossiping and always chock-full of camaraderie in the middle of the picturesque views of Afghanistan's Hindu Kush mountain range.

These socials started in September when Treaster arrived from Pelion, S.C., where his wife and three kids--15, 8 and 6--live. Reflecting on his family back home, his eyes teared up as he commented, "I think of my kids a lot when I cook. It's a sanity break."

Treaster said the inspiration for starting the Sunday cookouts came from his wife. At home, she typically brings out a crock pot full of food to his co-workers.

Using that inspiration, Treaster said the original idea behind Sunday brunch was to bring a sense of home here.

"For a lot of people, this is 15 minutes out of the war to get a home-cooked meal," he said. "The atmosphere totally changes around here. It's nothing fancy. Just a big pot of soup."

But fans of Treaster's treats hardly agree with his simplistic explanation.

"Because of the various jobs here, people may have never come together," said Capt. Joni Pentifallo, 455th Expeditionary Operations Group executive officer, about "cliques" that can pop up in such a small, tight-knit community. "His cooking has changed that."

The group's commander coundn't agree more.

"His cooking is a great morale booster," said Col. Gregory Marston.

Turning back to soup, Treaster said, "You know, you can add an onion and some salt to what Brown and Root (the local contract dining facility) makes, and you can get a completely different taste."

While that may be possible, it's hard to believe that Treaster's treats are that simple. Particularly when the question. "Can I get another bowl?" is so routine.