Operation BBQ For Our Troops

By Bill Wight,
Photos by Dan Cannon and Bill Wight
June 7, 2003

CAMP PENDLETON, California -- Volunteer barbecue cooks and helpers gathered under overcast skies to put on a barbecue picnic for over 250 Marines (and their families) of the 1st Recon Battalion just returned from Iraq. The setting was within beautiful Camp Pendleton in North San Diego County, near the city of Oceanside and right next to the Pacific Ocean. The weather was typical June near the Southern California coast--cool and overcast--but was most welcome to the returning Marines after the scorching weather in Iraq. The picnic was held in Camp Margarita, known to the locals as "Margaritaville." Camp Margarita is a pleasant little village made up of a mixture of military construction styles spanning sixty years--from WWII type barracks to the newest living quarters that look like dorms at a modern university.

Camp Pendleton is a pretty large base and I'm sure more than a few of us cooks and volunteers made a wrong turn or missed a turn on our way from the main gate. As Don Grissom and I arrived, we found a work party of Marines setting up for the picnic and they directed us to put our trailers and rigs on the concrete basketball court. Major Todd Eckloff came over to greet us and ask if there was anything we needed. Captain Schwetje also came by and offered help. The men and officers of the 1st Recon Battalion were really accommodating and gave us all the support we could ask for.

About 5 PM Gene Goycochea and Todd Eves pulled in with their big barbecue rigs and we got going on setting up for the night's work. Stephanie Schwetje (wife of the Captain) requested that we smoke a whole hog. So Gene brought one along in his big trailer and we proceeded to thaw out what became know as "Miss Piggy". Don Grissom, being without a whole hog cooking citation to pin on his chest volunteered to do the honors on Miss Piggy. We must say that Don mastered the art of whole hog smoking on his first try.

Don Grissom with his new girlfriend, "Miss Piggy"
They really make a striking couple, don't they?

We of the cbbqa are known for preparing a pretty good dinner for the cooks and helpers that do these all-night cook-outs, but in the rush to get things ready for this event on less than a week's notice, we neglected to provide for Friday night's dinner. [Please, keep the fact that all these experienced barbecue cooks ate sandwiches from the nearby Submarine Sandwich Shop a secret.]

After dinner, we began to prepare the meats, pork Boston butts and briskets--meats that take from 10 to 18 hours to cook, the 'low and slow' way of great American barbecue. As the meats slowly cooked and white smoke poured out of the stacks and filled the courtyard with the unmistakable smell of real wood-smoked barbecue, our Marine 'guards' played 2 on 2 basketball far into the night.

The next morning, several groups of volunteers showed up and they were promptly put to work on the various tasks required to prepare the meats for serving and to get the serving line set up and functioning. For within a few hours, we would have a lot of very hungry Marines dropping by. One thing I did not want to do, was to disappoint a bunch of Recon Marines who's motto is, "Swift, Silent, Deadly".

The Pulled Pork Crew. L to R, the ROTC guys from the Long Beach
area, Carl Kaun, Dan Drogichen and Ann Hoeppner.

Speaking of side dishes, in the absence of John Burke or Joe Miles, the cbbqa's resident Bbq bean experts, I did a big batch of beans and Dan Cannon brought along a large batch of his 5-Star dirty rice.

The barbecue beans operation. Two of the ROTC helpers assist Bill Wight and John Richardson.
The 1st Recon Bn's motto could also be used to describe Bill's barbecue beans, but we think
he needs to remove the 'Silent' part.

About noon, everything was coming together and we began to serve the 1st Recon Bn Marines and their families and friends. I guess the most important thing about this event was I don't think we disappointed any Marines, as no M-16's, shoulder-launched rockets or Light Armored Vehicles were in sight.

Here, Bill Wight, Ann Hoeppner, & Dan Drogichen, and Carl Kaun put trays of meat and sides on one of the serving line tables.

Wearing her Smart & Final apron, Lynda Richardson forks over barbecue to a Marine who's
been eating MRE's for months. Carl Kaun waits while a Marine helps his daughter decide,
"Bbq beans, dirty rice or potato salad?" "Can't I have all three?" "Sure you can", says Carl.

Randall Oliver, Smart & Final, VP, shows he's no amateur
when it comes to operating in a military field hospital.

From the front lines (Bbq serving line that is)--

John and Lynda Richardson--

I'd like to report another successful barbecue for the troops. Many marines showed up expecting hot dogs and hamburgers. It was jaw-drop time when they saw four BBQ trailer rigs taking up their entire basketball court and some of California's best barbecuers waiting for them with brisket, pulled pork, tri-tip, sausage and a whole pig.

Many thank-you's are in order:

Gene Goycochea whose persistence made this event possible.

Stephanie Schwetje, the Major's wife and delightful dynamo of 1st Recon Battalion, who bent all the right ears to bring this event to fruition.

Bill Wight who did everything. Never saw him stop or sit down all day.

Don Grissom who cooked a whole pig in his Good One rig. He was performing as Solo Bubba this time.

Todd Eves brought his new hot rod, candy-apple red smoker. Besides looking good, it cooks-up some dyn-O-mite barbecue. Todd's new smoker is show below.

Dan Cannon who brought Big Red, his Ole Hickory mobile rig, to handle most of the side dishes and provided his famous dirty rice.

Carl Kaun was there and was able to make order out of mayhem. Carl has a special talent for setting up the flow of the buffet line.

Dan Drogichen and Ann Hoeppner handled the serving line and all the chores in Gene's rig.

Del King, who was the Lead Man at the May 17th 29 Palms event, was brought the ROTC guys and helped out wherever needed.

A special thank you to the young men from the ROTC program. They were informed of this event at the last minute, but showed up and worked tirelessly to make this event a success.

And thank you especially to the Marines of 1st Recon Battalion and their family members. We were there to welcome you home and thank you for your courage and commitment. Meeting these young people sure makes you proud.

Funny moment of the day: A young boy is in the buffet line and sees the whole pig. He says "I want the eyes." Todd Eves is walking by and hears him. Todd performs battlefield eye surgery on Mr. Pig and plops the eyes on the kid's plate. Todd and the kid are laughing their Boston's off while the boy's mom is getting jelly-leg and about to faint. Definitely a twisted Norman Rockwell moment.

Gene Goycochea sets up the Smart & Final banner on the top of his barbecue rig.

Gene's amazing barbecue rig--55 feet long and towed by a Freightliner.

Gene Goycochea--

I have to say that we had an excellent group at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside this past weekend. The cookers arrived before 6:00 pm on Friday and they cooked all night. We had everything ready early, our other volunteers arrived around 8:00 am on Saturday. Our helpers and the ROTC guys really pitched in, they shredded, they cleaned, they served, etc.

We were treated so well by the 1st Recon men and by the brass. They gave us Recon caps as a thanks at their little ceremony.

At the end of the event, they came over to get our names and addresses so they could make us a very special paddle and have it engraved to thank us again.

What a rewarding experience for our group.

Glad that we could all be a part of it.

Dan Cannon's barbecue rig, "Big Red".

Dan Cannon--

Arrived at Camp Pendleton about 08:00 and entered through the Los Puglas gate geographically located off the 5 freeway between the north and south entry gates (17 miles apart). Took about 20 minutes to arrive at the BBQ picnic location, area 33 (near Margaretville and the Subway sandwich shop). All the pit masters, Todd Eves, Don Grissom, and Gene Goycochea, were busy cooking meats that had been put on the night before.

Turns out that Todd was cooking the tri-tips and there was no chicken to cook. So, since that is what I was going to cook I had it easy, I had nothing to cook. Instead, I used Big Red for another important function. I heated up my contribution of 3 full pans of Dirty Rice pans (made the night before) and used the cookers remaining space for keeping the completed pans of meats and sides from the other pits warm. That pretty much filled up my pit.

Lunch was being served at noon so I assisted as requested by others that were finalizing the preparation of the meats and sides for serving. About 11:45 I brought the sides and meats to the serving tables where Dan Drogichen, Ann Hoeppner, and Carl Kaun were setting up the serving line and equipment. Don Grissom and Gene were taking "Miss Piggy" out of Don's cooker and bringing it to the serving table.

When the serving lines were complete there were two entry points. Each entry point had servers providing pulled pork, brisket, sausages, BBQ beans, dirty rice, potato salad, rolls, and condiments. It was an excellent meal and everybody did a great job prepping, cooking, preparing, and serving the troops. All the folks were definitely excited about the food.

I assisted in keeping the servers pans full of product and trying to keep the food line cleaned up and moving. The serving window was open from noon through 14:15. Dan Drogichen, and Ann Hoeppner never left the serving line!

I was on stand-by for work and had work responsibilities to respond to at 19:00 that evening so took the opportunity to pack up and leave early. I was on the road by 14:30 for home. Got lost on the base for about 10 minutes, then finally found my way home by 17:30.

I must say that everybody was working extra hard. Bill Wight, Dan Drogichen, Ann Hoeppner, and the ROTC volunteers never stopped once in that they had the difficult job of the sides, immediate clean-up issues, and coordinating the serving. Gene, Todd, I, and Don Grissom were working at our pits pits keeping them loaded, cooking correctly, and unloading for preparation and serving.

Overall it was a rewarding and exciting event for me. I must however state up front my efforts were minimal compared to the guys and gals that helped with the planning, got there the night before, and left after me. Everybody worked very hard and provided the Marines with a great experience they will remember for a long time.

More photos, click on the small image to enlarge.