Topic: AIF - Lighthorse
Australian Light Horse
Roles within the Regiment
Troop Cooks
The following entries dealing with the roles and duties within the hierarchy of a light horse regiment are extracted from a very informative handbook called The Bushman’s Military Guide, 1898. While written in 1898, the information contained in the entries held true for the next twenty years with only minor modifications with the principles remaining as current then as now.
Troop Cooks
(1.) The cooks are entirely under the orders of the Quartermaster.
(2.) They are each responsible for the cleanliness of the field kitchen, and all cooks should be clean in their dress and person.
(3.) They will lay out the cooking utensils daily for the inspection of the orderly officer.
(4.) They will receive the rations for their respective troops, and cut up the meat, and divide it into messes, according to ration indent.
(5.) They will be responsible that no dogs are kept in the vicinity of the cooling places.
(6.) They will be responsible that the messes are properly cooked, and ready for distribution at the appointed hours laid down in orders, that the cooking is varied, that no food or fuel is taken away from the field kitchens for improper purposes, and that there is no waste of them or water.
(7.) They are responsible that all refuse from the field kitchen, stale bread, bones, etc., are collected from the tents and disposed of as directed by the Quartermaster.
(8.) When the regiment is likely to return late from a field day they will ascertain from the Quartermaster-Sergeant before the regiment leaves when dinners are to be ready.
(9.) They will require to have coffee ready for the guard at night.
(10.) Every field cook should be a good manager, and equal to every emergency and weather.
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Further Reading:
Citation: Australian Light Horse, Roles within the Regiment, Troop Cooks
