16th Sust. Bde. holds ribbon-cutting ceremony for new dining facility

Capt. George Nisson, the commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 16th Special Troops Battalion, 16th Sustainment Brigade, cuts the ribbon for the grand opening of the Nieves Webb Dining Facility on Warner Barracks, Bamberg, Germany, March 1. The 16th Sust. Bde. command team, Col. Keith Sledd and Command Sgt. Maj. Ismael Rodriguez, were in attendance for the event along with other brigade leadership. (Photo by Spc. Kevin Alex, 16th Sust. Bde. Public Affairs)

By Spc. Kevin Alex
16th Sust. Bde. Public Affairs

BAMBERG, Germany — The 16th Sustainment Brigade held a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the grand reopening of the newly restructured Nieves Webb Dining Facility here during lunch March 1.

Soldiers from the brigade spent the entire month of February working on not only restructuring the DFAC, but also handing off Ray's Diner to the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team.

"During the timeframe we had from February 1st to the 28th, the Soldiers had more than just Nieves Webb going on," said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Ruth Caraway, food service advisor for the 16th Sust. Bde. "They also had to close out accounts at Ray's Diner and transfer the accounts from one facility to another, all the while sustaining the mission at Ray's Diner and doing a battle handoff with the 173rd cooks."

"Our mission in this new dining facility has completely changed due to the fact that we are only open for breakfast and lunch during the workweek," said Caraway.

Since the new DFAC is only open for breakfast and lunch, the Soldiers who work there will have more free time.

"This will give the cooks an opportunity to take advantage of classes or give the cooks time to get more food service training in the afternoon when they get off," said Sgt. 1st Class Don Blakely, senior food services noncommissioned officer in charge for the 16th Sust. Bde.

With the opening of the Nieves Webb DFAC, the cooks are not the only Soldiers getting a break. This will also benefit the Soldiers who are on the opposite side of post from Ray's Diner.

"It makes it more accessible and convenient for the Soldiers who live and work on this side of post," said Blakely. "This way they don't spend their entire lunch break waiting on a bus just to get back and forth from Ray's Diner."

The time spent waiting in line at the DFAC will be cut in half now as well as the amount of work for the cooks.

"Today we only fed 174 Soldiers for lunch," said Caraway. "A good head count would be between 200 and 250 Soldiers. If we can get more Soldiers in the dining facility and more Soldiers out supporting it then there is a good possibility that we can do more things for the Soldiers."

For now the Nieves Webb DFAC is only open as a trial. If it does well with its head count it could begin serving dinner meals, but that is up to the garrison.

"It is just astounding to me that during this period of time our cooks have been doing three different missions and still somehow were able to not just open Nieves Webb, but do it in grand style," Caraway added.