For the second consecutive year, the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s field cuisine reigns supreme.

The 132nd Brigade Support Battalion’s food service section, based in Portage, Wisconsin, was named the Army National Guard’s best food service section in the 2014 Phillip A. Connelly Awards Program. Sgt. 1st Class Jassen Hinchley, senior food operations sergeant, and Staff Sgt. Aleksandr Simonov, food operations manager and first-line cook, accepted the first-place award May 15 at the National Restaurant Association’s Armed Forces Food Service Banquet in Chicago.

Brig. Gen. Mark Anderson, deputy adjutant general for Army and the highest-ranking officer in the Wisconsin Army National Guard, said the organization is extremely proud of the 132nd Brigadde Support Battalion’s food service section.

“Their selection as the Army National Guard winner of the Connelly Award is a reflection of their commitment to their profession, not only as Soldiers but in food service. To be singled out from all of the food service personnel across the entire Army National Guard is really a statement of the caliber of men and women we have in our organization.”

Sgt. Kyle Edwards, the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s food program manager, said National Guard Bureau has issued challenge coins and certificates for each member of the food service section.

The award presentation ends a journey that began July 12, 2014 at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, when the 132nd Brigade Support Battalion’s food service section prepared a meal for 100 Soldiers in a field environment as part of the regional competition. After winning the regional, the table was set for competing at the national level March 21, also at Fort McCoy.

The 32nd Brigade has not competed in the Connelly Awards Program in two decades. Last year’s Army National Guard winner, the 257th Brigade Support Battalion food service section, was the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s first foray back into the Connelly Awards Program competition in many years.