MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- The Station Commissary hosted a mouth-shoveling, pizza-throwing and pie-in-face smearing FoodFactor event in recognition of the Single Marine Program's 10th anniversary, Sept. 25.
The event, sponsored by the Defense Commissary Agency, was specifically honed to get single and unaccompanied members into the commissary to better familiarize themselves with the stores benefits and win prizes. This was the commissary's way of encouraging the single and unaccompanied Marines to utilize what it has to offer them.
"Since most of the E-6's and below have a meal card, they really are paying out of their pocket for groceries, so these programs are to help them learn how to get the most out of their shopping dollar," said Tech Sgt. Christopher A. Valgardson, 374th Communications Squadron, Operating Location B, site chief and Portland, Ore., native. "Because they live in the barracks, they really can't take advantage of the savings from the case lot sales or prepare their own food. The vendors look for other ways to encourage commissary use, so they sponsor programs like our FoodFactor event."
The spaghetti covering, egg-splattering event started with four, food-fun outdoor games. The Spill or Spell had contestants empty a cup of pudding into their mouth (without the use of utensils) sprint 20 yards to an opposite table and spit the pudding out to spell the initials S-M-P on a pallet. Each letter required one cup of pudding.
"The hardest part was trying to open the pudding cups really fast before the others came back to the table," said Seaman Elizabeth L. Voegtlin, Navy Mobile Construction Battalion 74 utilities and Biloxi, Miss. native. "I liked the challenge a lot. I was really close to winning, but it took some time to get my last pudding cup open. Oh well, maybe next time."
The Grapefruit Shot Put had contestants gagging, as they had to bite off the skin of a grapefruit then toss it "Olympic shot put" style. The Discus Pizza Toss consisted of contestants tossing a frozen pizza. The catch, both hands and the pizza were covered with spaghetti sauce. The last outdoor event was the Egg Scramble. Teams of two contestants would start out three feet apart and begin tossing an egg. Whoever broke the egg would be disqualified until only one contestant remained.
"The biggest thing is to try to catch it with your fingers and not so much with the palm of your hand," said Chief Petty Officer David Harfmann, NMCB-74, assistant officer in charge and winner of the Egg Scramble. "Your arms should be fading away from the egg as you catch it."
After the last spray of an egg, the contestants headed indoors to continue on the FoodFactor challenges. The indoor events consisted of skill games such as the String Cheese Pull, the Commissary Scrabble and the Scavenger Hunt.
Obviously the most amusing indoor events were the Melon Munch and the Treasure Pie. In the Melon Munch event, four participants were given a small melon. Contestants could only use their teeth to take off the outer layer of the melon. The first to finish eating it wins.
The Treasure Pie event had contestants smashing their face in a whipped cream pie for five "treasures," a lime, prune, radish, onion and hot pepper. The first to get all five treasures and eat them, won.
"The treasure pie event was a 'piece of cake,' or should I say pie?" said Lance Cpl. Jonathan W. Haley, Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron air traffic controller, winner of the Treasure Pie event and Dallas native. "I knew I would win because I love to eat. It's like my favorite thing to do. All I did was bury my face in and sucked as much of the whipped cream as I could, like a vacuum cleaner."
The prizes of the event consisted of two JVC MP3 players, gift certificates, concert tickets, t-shirts and hats.
Overall the event was a hit. Contestants were racing around with shopping carts, smashing their faces in pies, meticulously pulling apart string cheese and laughing the whole time.
"The turn-out far exceeded anyone's expectation, with great support from family members to cheer on the competitors," said Valgardson.