Too bad I'm a pacifist ...

I remember hearing somewhere that opera used to be used as a punishment -- maybe in the military? I could be making that up. But certainly, as this article mentions, Kitchen Police ("K.P."), was "a dreaded punishment."

Now, the Army's offering culinary classes for its chefs, who sculpt lobsters out of sugar, and live in exotic locales?

Sgt. Karen Glanzer, leader of Team Hawaii's field cooking squad, said she had planned to become a chef from the age of 13, and free culinary training was one of the main reasons she joined the military. "They wanted me, so I asked for two things: cooking and Hawaii," she said.

...

The resources the Army is willing to expend on culinary education were evident in the well-equipped classrooms and in the piles of fresh chanterelles, baby beets, pickled tarragon leaves, lemon grass stalks and other exotic ingredients available for competitors' use.

Sweet; sign me up! (Uhh ... too bad I'm a pacifist, eh?)

Then again, it might not be the best option for a vegan who loves her kitchen:

The program's leaders are advocates - among the last in America - for the rigors of classical French culinary training. Little of that repertory is seen by soldiers in mess tents, but the training is intended to set a standard of quality for all military cooks.

"These are not established chefs with a base of knowledge to draw on," Professor Jones said. "So we try to give them that base." Curiously, few American chefs are as proficient in the French culinary canon as are these top-level [military cooks], who can produce roast pheasant, ice sculptures and rote-perfect pâtisseries like éclairs and financiers. "We are always evaluating the program, but no one yet has come to replace Escoffier," Professor Jones said, referring to the French chef who delineated the modern culinary canon in his Guide Culinaire, last revised in 1921. In one event of the competition, the chef is simply assigned a number from Escoffier's book and required to research and reproduce the recipe.

Also, the quarters are cramped:

In the field cooking event, all teams start with the same ingredients and tools, and spend three hours in a kitchen trailer with about 15 square feet of floor space, cooking dinner for 50 soldiers.

I'd guess I'd just prefer to cook for myself and a lover.