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ALL AMERICAN BEEF BATTALION
A
By Barbara Oringderff
s we stepped out of the car into the still-green
grass at McCormick Park on the historic Fort
Riley (Kansas) military post, the mouth-water ing smell of steaks (about 1,200 of them) siz zling on the grill filled the air.
As you’ve already guessed, this was no ordinary
cookout in the park! The 16- and 18-ounce ribeye
steaks, plus corn, cheesy potatoes, rolls and cookies,
were all part of a special, free steak dinner being prepared for servicemen and women and their families
by volunteer members of the All American Beef Battalion (AABB) during a September 5th and 6th (2014)
Wounded Warriors weekend at Fort Riley.
My daughter Carol and I already knew about and
(Above) Bill Broadie, founder and chairman of AABB, kicked off the festivities with a prayer
and a ‘thank you’ to Sergeant Aaron, who was in charge of coordinating the steak dinner
along with other Wounded Warrior Weekend events, and to all the great AABB volunteers.
(The photographer in our picture is filming for RFD TV.)
(Middle) Volunteer Jon Fort stoked the hickory wood fire in his Southern Pride cooking
trailer. (photos by Carol Schuetze.)
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had admired this patriotic volunteer
organization, and we had been invited to Fort Riley to see just how this
“spectacular culinary experience,” as
it has been called, was accomplished.
Started in 2008 by Ashland, KS,
cattleman Bill Broadie, a decorated
Vietnam veteran, the non-profit allvolunteer chartered organization has
put on free steak dinners and entertainment on military bases all over
the country.
Broadie, who lost a leg and re-
ceived two Purple Hearts while fighting in Vietnam, was appalled at the
negative press and at how poorly veterans of the Vietnam War were treated when they returned home from
fighting for their country.
Out of that traumatic experience,
Broadie developed a deep commitment to seeing that this never happened to veterans again, and one of
the stated purposes of the AABB is:
“Helping to foster among the people
of the U.S. an appreciation, respect
A special toast to our troops! That’s Bill Broadie, Jon Fort, and
the author.
and honor for our Armed Forces service members whose sacrifices have
and will continue to make our freedom possible.”
“I had been thinking about how
we were living in the heart of beef
cattle country, and how we have the
best beef in the world here in the
U.S.,” said Broadie, “and I had an idea
about how we could share this with
our returning servicemen and wom-
Ken
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Nov ember , December & January 2015
en. I got hold of my friend Jim Odle
in Brush, CO to see what he thought
of my idea, and he loved it!” Bill exclaimed.
Odle, the owner of Superior Livestock, a pioneering Video Cattle Auction company, was in total agreement
with Bill that they could get civilian
volunteers willing to do the cooking
and serving. “We both thought that
when you threw a 16-ounce ribeye
steak on their plate, it would be special because most of our servicemen
had probably never seen a steak that
big!” chuckled the always exuberant
Broadie. Jim Odle is presently an
AABB board member.
“Our first event was on April 26,
2008” recalled Jon Fort, a Garden
City, KS real estate broker who also
was a friend of Bill’s. Fort is presently vice president of the All American
Beef Battalion, and the organization’s
“chief cook.”
“There were probably 15 of us,
and 450 National Guard members re-
Nov ember , December & January 2015
Volunteer “Lucky” Luckett has the steaks ready to serve. All
the AABB volunteers wear red.
turning to Olathe, KS and we had no
idea in the world how we were going
to feed them!” laughed Fort, who had
done a lot of steak tailgate parties and
cookouts for community projects like
the Beef Empire Days PRCA rodeo.
They learned quickly, however,
and by their second event at Fort
Carson, CO the team started preparations at 7 a.m., and at noon it took
them only one hour and 20 minutes
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(above) Garden City volunteer Larry Bilberry checked the oven
for more potatoes. (right) Jim Odle, an AABB board member
from Brush, CO was there for the weekend. Odle is the owner
of Superior Livestock.
to serve 5,047 service men and women. Surely a record.
“At Fort Carson we had 30 volunteers, many in the beef industryas cooks and servers, and we had
several special cook trailers for the
steaks,” continued Fort. “Bill Harmon (also an Ag industry volunteer
from Garden City) and I own all the
equipment, and between us we now
have nine trailers. We’ve cooked
steak dinners for our troops in 23
states and we’re having a wonderful
time!”
To date, the Beef Battalion has
prepared and served free steak bar-
becue and provided a thank you
and a handshake to those who have
served our country at Fort Campbell,
Fort Sill, Kansas National Guard,
Oklahoma National Guard, Illinois
National Guard, Louisiana National Guard, Fort Hood, Walter Reed
Hospital, Fort Lee, Whiteman AFB,
Colorado Marine Reserves, Wyoming National Guard, Iowa National
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T E R R I TOR I A L M AGA Z IN E
Nov ember , December & January 2015
Guard, Seabees at Biloxi Mississippi,
Fort Bliss, Fort Benning, Fort Lewis,
Camp Pendleton, Montana Marine
Reserves, Colorado National Guard,
Arkansas National Guard and Cannon Air Force Base.
“When we did the steak cookout
for the Seabees,” said Fort, “we pulled
the trailers and drove 22 hours (each
way). We set up in Gulf Port, Mississippi and fed 3,000 Seabees in 57
minutes. Then we turned around
and drove back to Garden City! It
was pretty crazy, but we loved it.”
Beef battalion volunteers come
from all over the country, and what
they all have in common is a passionate desire to support American
servicemen and women. Many volunteers, like Broadie, have served in
the military, but others simply understand the meaning of the sacrifices
that have been made by our troops,
and want to show their support.
McCormick Park was already full
of people when we arrived about 4
Nov ember , December & January 2015
(Left) AABB Volunteers Tim and Carol Hervey from Lake of the
Ozarks were at Fort Riley on their 32nd steak cookout with the
Beef Battalion.”I heard from someone that they were having
a cookout, or maybe read about it, and I just picked up the
phone and called Bill Broadie. I asked how we could help, and
he said, ‘Get on up here!’ So we did, “ said the enthusiastic Missourian, who, like Broadie is a former Marine. AABB now has
about 30 active volunteers. (Photo by the author) )(above)
Kansas rodeo queens were there to help serve the meal.
o’clock in the afternoon. Jon Fort
was busy stoking the hickory wood
fire in his Southern Pride cooker
trailer (there were four cook trailers there and each holds about 500
steaks) when we found him, and he
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(left) The author visited with actor Dwier Brown, who was a guest at the ballgame. Brown has written a
well-received book, “If You Build It,” about the making of the baseball movie “Field of Dreams,” in which
he played Kevin Costner’s father. (left bottom) After BBQ in the park, the Fort Riley Historical Mounted
Color Guard entertained the crowd with a horsemanship demonstration.
told us that the tents, tables and chairs had all been already
set up by the military personnel, and the Beef Battalion volunteers would start serving around 5:30. (Fort also has four
convection ovens and a refrigerated trailer, and is a licensed
food handler.)
After a few minutes of hard rain, the volunteers picked up
the pace and were ready to serve their 1,200 guests about 6
p.m. Each person seemed to know their job and the steak
dinner went smoothly, taking less than an hour. The next day
by noon the Beef Battalion would be back in action, serving
about 900 people participating in Wounded Warrior weekend
at Kansas State University in nearby Manhattan, KS.
During and after dinner that evening there was music and
visiting, and then the Historical Fort Riley Color Guard in
all their finery entertained everyone with a demonstration of
horsemanship on a nearby parade ground.
All in all, it was a delightful evening and we were very
moved by the passion and dedication of the volunteers who
had come from all over the country – and by the reception
they received from the service men and women and their
families.
Carol and I were already looking forward to Saturday, when
we planned to attend the afternoon softball game between
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(right) After the softball game, Bill Broadie was surprised and very touched to
receive his Purple Heart medal from Major General Funk. It had been 47 years,
almost to the day, since he earned it in Vietnam.There wasn’t a dry eye in the
stands. (Photos by Carol Schuetze.)
the Wounded Warrior amputee softball team that
plays exhibition games all over the country, and
the Celebrity All Stars composed of former professional athletes such as Jeff Bostic, three time Super Bowl champ, Mark Collins and Anthony Davis, former Kansas City Chiefs players, and others.
And we knew a secret! After the softball game,
AABB chairman Bill Broadie was to be honored
at a special ceremony where he would receive a
Purple Heart (medal) to replace his second Purple
Heart that was lost or stolen after he was wounded in Vietnam. His friend, Jon Fort had arranged
for this surprise presentation by the Fort Riley
commander, Major General Funk, and all of Bill’s
family would be there to congratulate him.
What a way to end a perfect weekend!
(If you would like to be an All American Beef
Battalion volunteer in any capacity, please
contact Bill Broadie, P.O. Box 458, Ashland,
KS 67831, phone 620-635-0544, www.steaksfortroops.com, or Jon Fort at 620-275-8200, or
[email protected].)
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