 I wanted to join the Army and kind of didn't quite talk myself into it yet because I didn't know what I was doing with my life like I was 25 at the time. As a cook I worked with this woman her name was Regina and she had been in the Army and she was just a mentor to me. She was strong, she was independent and everything I wanted to be and she told me she got her culinary arts degree through the Army and I was like that's what I'm gonna do. And when I got to Hunter Army Airfield they started talking about the competition here at Fort Lee and how you would learn more about the culinary arts and you would get all these opportunities and I was like I want to do that I want to find out about this and when I got on the team they saw me working on my centerpiece first and that's when they picked me and said you're gonna do pastries and I was like oh okay I was making ginger spice cake with a salted caramel whip and a pineapple jam and a circle of dark chocolate on top. I learned a lot from being judged by them they would walk by and give me pointers as I was cooking they said it was very good and they were all very nice and gentle about it and I think when I come back next year I'll be way more prepared just from this experience alone.