Reservists chow down before shipping out
For a unit of Army reservists shipping out to Afghanistan today, they found the right place to get a square last meal: Hungry? Restaurant in Rolling Meadows.
All this week, the military police unit from the nearby Army Reserve Training Center in Arlington Heights has stopped by for lunch and dinner, literally filling the place with soldiers several times over.
“It's such a great sight to see, every seat in the house filled with soldiers,” says Sam Syreggals, who co-owns Hungry? with his brother, George. “We're very excited. We get to serve them for a change.”
Administrators from the base worked out a government contract with the Syreggals brothers to feed the soldiers from the base — those getting ready to deploy and those who spend drill weekends in Arlington Heights.
This week, reservists from three different military police units are training, including the one mobilizing to ship out.
They arrived at Hungry? in shifts of 70 and could select any of the large sandwiches or half-pound burgers on the menu, as Army officials checked off their names.
“It's nice to be able to get out,” said Staff Sgt. Tom Greenwich. “We greatly appreciate it.”
Spc. Luis Pantoja ordered the Buffalo chicken sandwich — for the second straight day — while his friend Pfc. Hector Colon ordered the gyros.
“It's much better than back at the base, where it seems like school lunches,” Colon said. “Here they have big portions. I like that.”
George Syreggals said that when finalizing the government contract, they agreed to a discounted price, but they were happy to do their part.
“It's good to be able to give them a good meal before they ship out,” he said. “We're very proud to be able to feed our soldiers.”
So proud, in fact, that after the reservists placed orders at the counter, the restaurant staff delivered their plates to them at their tables and cleared them afterward.
“We're used to getting up and getting our own food,” said Spc. Latreece Nelson, who coordinated the lunch shift. “We're not used to getting served like this.”
Spc. Blair Warner, one of the few women in attendance, said she was not used to such big portions, and she could hardly eat any of the side orders. But eating good food and getting off the base for a meal is helping to calm her nerves before deploying.
“This will be my first time (going to Afghanistan),” Warner said. “We don't know yet what we'll be doing, but everything looks good. We're very confident.”