At the last minute, the Headquarters and Service Battalion’s chili cook-off was snatched from the jaws of the shutdown.

“The government shutdown almost made it go away, but the spouses made sure I didn’t screw up,” said Col. Robin Gallant, the battalion’s commanding officer.

As word got out that the Oct. 4 cook-off, which had been planned for about three weeks, would be cancelled, the command team advisors for the unit’s family readiness program petitioned Gallant for permission to go ahead with the event, said Katie Clark, who is one of those advisors. The day before the cook-off, she said, it was determined that, as volunteers, they could go ahead with it.

“We just discussed it with the CO and said the families still wanted to support the event, and she supported it,” Clark said.

Marissa Garnett, another of the organizers, said the idea came from discussions among the spouses about activities they’d seen in past units. “We thought it would be good to get more wives involved and boost morale,” she said.

“We’re trying to grow a more active family readiness program,” Clark explained.

Dozens of Marines milled about the battalion classroom in Yale Hall that afternoon, sampling the contest’s 12 entries, while others ladled foam cups full of chili to take back to their duty stations.

A panel of three judges—Gallant, the battalion’s executive officer Lt. Col. Michael Webb and Single Marine Program representative Cpl. Juan Voyles—decided on the winners.

In first place was Cpl. Micah Patrick, financial resource analyst for Training and Education Command. Second place went to Capt. Jarvis Conic, executive officer of Combat Development Company. And 1st Sgt. Raymond Clark, the Headquarters Company first sergeant, and Gunnery Sgt. Evans Janvier, staff noncommissioned officer in charge of Ceremonial Platoon, tied for third place.

Patrick said this was only the third time he’d tried making chili, and he didn’t follow any particular recipe. “I just kind of went with it and how it tasted,” he said, noting that his prize-winning chili was a last-minute project, made the night before the cook-off after he heard the event wasn’t cancelled.

He speculated that seasoning and cooking the pork steak before adding it to the ground-beef chili may have been the key to success.

Although he has no professional cooking experience, he said he took culinary arts classes during all four years of high school and had considered cooking as a profession. “I was actually going to go to culinary arts school before I joined the Marine Corps my senior year.”

Organizers said the winners would retroactively receive their prizes upon the battalion family readiness officer’s return from furlough.

— Writer: mdicicco@quanticosentryonline.com