August 1993. Recruit Company E-143. Coast Guard Training Center Cape May.
It was the sixth week of bootcamp when Echo Company was due for a locker inspection.
Towards the back of the squad bay, Seaman Recruit Justin Reed stood at attention by his locker as the company commander made his rounds.
Then, the unthinkable happened. Suddenly, a packet of Tums rolled out of Reed’s locker, falling at the company commander’s feet. As punishment for having “contraband” in his locker, Reed was sent down, or reverted, to another company in week five of boot camp.
Reed bought the antacids to stave off heartburn from the food in boot camp. He knew a thing or two about food; he grew up cooking in restaurants and worked in the family business, a restaurant supply company.
When Reed joined the Coast Guard at age 20, he was set on charting a new course, outside the kitchen. It didn’t take long to realize that his passion for cooking was inescapable. He’s never looked back.
Reed has since served as a culinary specialist (CS) in multiple roles, including aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Tampa and as a special command aide in Hawaii. Reed beamed as he reflected on a turning point in his career.
After just over a decade in the Service, Reed was sent to the military’s Joint Culinary Center of Excellence in Fort Lee, Va. and entered the world of competitive military cooking. He won the 2008 Military Chef of the Year Award and captained the U.S. Armed Forces Joint Culinary Team in the World Culinary Olympics and World Cup in Europe.
That period, he says, was when things changed for the CS rating. A series of big wins on the national and international stages for Reed and his shipmates brought renewed attention to Coast Guard members’ culinary talent in the kitchen.
Reed eventually became Rating Force Master Chief for food service specialists in the Service. He dedicated his energy to elevating the rating and Coast Guard cooking to the status it had earned. That began with changing the name of the rating from Food Service Specialist (FS) to Culinary Specialist (CS) and included creating more advanced training at CS A-Schools to ensure rising Coast Guard members would graduate with the strongest cooking skills.
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Chief Warrant Officer 4 Mike Popelars stood at the front of the squad bay during that company commander’s inspection in August 1993. His Coast Guard career took him underway on various ships.
Today, Popelars is the Service’s 76th Master Cutterman — the Coast Guard’s special distinction for members who’ve served more than 20 years at sea. Time hasn’t diminished his passion for boats and being on the water; he still enjoys “the peacefulness [and] the beautiful sunsets” and “smelling bacon and eggs cooking when you’re on watch at six in the morning.”
The three-time commanding officer (CO) afloat has received seven commendations and other awards over his career. He’s particularly proud of a medal he received during his tour as CO of Coast Guard Cutter Vise in St. Petersburg, Fl. While returning to port during a storm, Popelars and his shipmate spotted a capsized jet ski underneath a bridge with a couple clinging to the bridge for safety. The Coast Guard members navigated the boat over. Popelars dove in and rescued the couple. “That was special,” he beamed, “because it involved saving lives.”
Beyond specific moments in his 32 years of service, Popelars is proud of a theme that’s underpinned his time in the Service. “The biggest accomplishment,” he reflected, “is watching your junior people blossom. Watching them have families, get married, rise in the ranks in leadership roles — that’s what I do it for. I do it to see other people become successful.”
Popelars is still mentoring the next generation of Coast Guard members. Not long ago, he was invited to an Army Field Kitchen Competition featuring the Coast Guard Culinary Team. As part of the event, the Coast Guard members would serve a five-course meal to 50 guests. Popelars immediately thought of a rising CS aboard his ship, Coast Guard Cutter Frank Drew, and brought him along.
Popelars found himself at a table with a close friend from his time in the Coast Guard, Chad Adams, the Coast Guard Culinary Services Program manager, and Adams’ friend, Master Chief Petty Officer Justin Reed.
As soon as the topic of boot camp came up, Reed recognized Popelars’ face. The memories came flooding back. The reminisced about the push-ups and marching their company commander ordered when they laughed or couldn’t hold a straight face.
This happy coincidence and their respective careers are a testament to the Coast Guard experience, Reed said. “The successes of two old guys who have spent 32 years in the Guard and still love it says a lot about the Service.”
Those 32 years, Popelars added, will come full circle: “Master Chief and I both have retirement letters in, and we’ll retire at the same time next year. We started together, and we’re both going out [of the Service] together.”
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