Son of a Son
1,000+ Posts
First, here's a post from a BBQ forum I belong to:
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I have been asked to do A BBQ at Fort Hood, Texas. It is part of what they are calling A DAY OF HEALING
We will do the entire base and all family members. We plan on feeding around 60,000 people. We will set up on Dec 10th to serve on Dec 11th. I need all available smokers and personnel to let me know if you will be able to help in this large task. I also need donations to pull this off. I will be asking for Rubs, BBQ Sauce and volunteers. I know it is at the last minute but they didn’t expect someone to come a shooting on their base. Let me know if you will be able to help in any way contact me at del at bbqforourtroops dot com. Thank you in advance.
Del
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Next, what is BBQ for our Troops? Well, I can't say it any better than the website:
BBQ For Our Troops is a grass roots effort to show support for those Men and Women who serve in our Armed Forces.
What I have done is to try to get people involved from different regions of the United States. I try to get coemption BBQ teams to come together and cook together for this cause.
I know that BBQ is different to each person but we cook our meats low and slow. Like brisket that is cooked for 12 to 16 hours, Or Pork Butt cooked for 12 hours.
All the food is donated the Military doesn't pay a dime for it. It takes time and a lot of effort to get this done.
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Now, a little background. Del, the above poster, is a former Marine who lives in California. He has been doing these events for many years at the various posts in California. About 3-ish years ago, he was asked to put on a BBQ for the Family Day of the 3rd ACR at Ft. Hood a week before they deployed to Iraq for 15 months. This is when I got involved thanks to a neighbor who has his own BBQ team. This "first time" we fed about 10,000 troops and family. When the 3rd ACR was preparing to return home, we were contacted again, this time by the Regimental Commander who had been so pleased with the first event that he asked us to come to their homecoming so we travelled up to Hood for the Welcome Home day.
We have also done one other BBQ for a unit at Hood (and I feel like **** that I cannot remember the unit designator) and we have also done a cook at Ft. Sam Houston for the Wounded Warriors unit at BAMC.
What happens is we arrive the morning before, in this case the 10th, and setup. Then in the afternoon we fire up all the pits and start rubbing down all the briskets and pork butts, and for 60,000 I think there will probably be in the neighborhood of 10,000 to 15,000 lbs of meat to prep and smoke. There are pits the size of a travel trailer which can hold 500-600 lbs. of brisket down to my pit which can hold maybe 100 lbs. (One time southside market brought a 5th wheel cooker that did something like 1000 lbs!) We settle in for the night and tend the fires, and then the next day we wrap em and stick em in a giant warmer to make room for any burgers, sausage, chicken, etc. that may need to be cooked. We also start opening up and panning beans, slaw, potato salad, etc.
I know many of us have use a lot of vacation this time of year, and with the Holidays coming it may be very hard to get the time off to do this. Further, once the pits are fired up, it is a **** ton of ball-breaking work. However, I promise you one thing, you have never felt better in your life than when a soldier comes up to you, sometimes with his wife and small children in tow, a big smile on his face, and he/she says "Thank you!".
If you think you might be able to help, please let me know.
-------------------
I have been asked to do A BBQ at Fort Hood, Texas. It is part of what they are calling A DAY OF HEALING
We will do the entire base and all family members. We plan on feeding around 60,000 people. We will set up on Dec 10th to serve on Dec 11th. I need all available smokers and personnel to let me know if you will be able to help in this large task. I also need donations to pull this off. I will be asking for Rubs, BBQ Sauce and volunteers. I know it is at the last minute but they didn’t expect someone to come a shooting on their base. Let me know if you will be able to help in any way contact me at del at bbqforourtroops dot com. Thank you in advance.
Del
-------------------
Next, what is BBQ for our Troops? Well, I can't say it any better than the website:
BBQ For Our Troops is a grass roots effort to show support for those Men and Women who serve in our Armed Forces.
What I have done is to try to get people involved from different regions of the United States. I try to get coemption BBQ teams to come together and cook together for this cause.
I know that BBQ is different to each person but we cook our meats low and slow. Like brisket that is cooked for 12 to 16 hours, Or Pork Butt cooked for 12 hours.
All the food is donated the Military doesn't pay a dime for it. It takes time and a lot of effort to get this done.
-------------------
Now, a little background. Del, the above poster, is a former Marine who lives in California. He has been doing these events for many years at the various posts in California. About 3-ish years ago, he was asked to put on a BBQ for the Family Day of the 3rd ACR at Ft. Hood a week before they deployed to Iraq for 15 months. This is when I got involved thanks to a neighbor who has his own BBQ team. This "first time" we fed about 10,000 troops and family. When the 3rd ACR was preparing to return home, we were contacted again, this time by the Regimental Commander who had been so pleased with the first event that he asked us to come to their homecoming so we travelled up to Hood for the Welcome Home day.
We have also done one other BBQ for a unit at Hood (and I feel like **** that I cannot remember the unit designator) and we have also done a cook at Ft. Sam Houston for the Wounded Warriors unit at BAMC.
What happens is we arrive the morning before, in this case the 10th, and setup. Then in the afternoon we fire up all the pits and start rubbing down all the briskets and pork butts, and for 60,000 I think there will probably be in the neighborhood of 10,000 to 15,000 lbs of meat to prep and smoke. There are pits the size of a travel trailer which can hold 500-600 lbs. of brisket down to my pit which can hold maybe 100 lbs. (One time southside market brought a 5th wheel cooker that did something like 1000 lbs!) We settle in for the night and tend the fires, and then the next day we wrap em and stick em in a giant warmer to make room for any burgers, sausage, chicken, etc. that may need to be cooked. We also start opening up and panning beans, slaw, potato salad, etc.
I know many of us have use a lot of vacation this time of year, and with the Holidays coming it may be very hard to get the time off to do this. Further, once the pits are fired up, it is a **** ton of ball-breaking work. However, I promise you one thing, you have never felt better in your life than when a soldier comes up to you, sometimes with his wife and small children in tow, a big smile on his face, and he/she says "Thank you!".
If you think you might be able to help, please let me know.
