front&center Staff Sgt. Grant Beyers

Benton native feeds fellow soldier, decorated for service

By Philip Seaton

LITTLE ROCK — There is an old expression for any time someone cooks a lot of food, “I cooked enough to feed an army.”

Few people ever literally have to feed an army, but former Benton resident Grant Beyers does.

Staff Sgt. Beyers, 36, is a cook with the U.S. Army. Until recently he was stationed with the Fourth Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division at Fort Richardson, Alaska, but now he is on his way back to the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C.

“My primary job is basically I’m a cook,” he said during a recent visit to his parents’ home in Benton. “I manage the kitchen now, it is the same capacity of running a restaurant.”

Though Beyers is a cook, he is a solider first.

“I still have to qualify on my weapon, I still have to do the physical training, and I still have to do all of the training,” he said. “I do all the tasks that a soldier does.”

The McAllen, Texas, Memorial High School graduate has been on two tours of duty in Iraq.

He spent three months on his first tour in support working for the Commanding Gen. Ricardo Sanchez in 2003. His second tour of duty was longer, running from October 2006 until returning home on Thanksgiving Day, 2007.

“For me it wasn’t a big deal,” Beyers said of this second tour, “but I had soldiers that hadn’t been through it. Me having the experience of being there before helped them out tremendously.”

He received recognition on his second tour.

Beyers was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for exceptional meritorious service while serving as the battalion’s senior food operations sergeant and Class V noncommissioned officer in charge.

He also earned the Combat Action Badge for “actively being engaged by the enemy” for actions on Jan. 17, 2007, near Fallujah. Beyers was sent to a forward observation post where he said some of his soldiers were getting their satellite kitchen going.

“I was sent out there to figure out what was going on,” he said. “I was only going to be there for three days to get them going and set them up. The first morning I was there we were serving breakfeast and we were just getting done and cleaning up, when 25 feet from me about three RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) hit.”

Beyers said when he tells people that he his a cook, he gets a certain look.

“They’re like, ‘You’re a cook?’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah,’” he said. “No matter what job you have in the Army, E7s (his rank at sergeant) all get paid the same. Yeah, some of the jobs are more glorious than mine, but the old saying is, ‘without me they don’t eat.’

“They couldn’t go there job without us. ... A lot of the guys I supported in Iraq felt one way about us before we went, but when we came back, their demeanor about us changed.”

Beyers didn’t initially go into the military to be a cook. After flirting with college, he decided to enterthe military full time. He went into the Army Reserve in June 1991 and a year later was on active duty.

During his time in the Reserve he operated heavy construction equipment, but wanting to enter full time, the only job available was that of cook.

“I thought I could do that for a few years and then change jobs,” Beyers said, “but I excelled at it and enjoyed it, so I continued doing it.”

He was stationed in Panama for two years before getting out in 1994 and returning to Benton.

He worked various jobs, including being a Pulaski County Sheriff’s deputy, but he felt the tug of military duty pullingback at him.

“I was with the National Guard in Benton when my init ial eight-year dut y wa s up,” Beyers said. “I got my paperwork in the mail one day saying I was discharged from the military, so I called up a recruiter ... and asked him if I could come back in the Army. He said, ‘Yeah, when do you want to meet?’ I said, ‘I’ll be there in 15 minutes.’ Three months later I left for Fort Benning, Ga., and straight to my duty station.”

His reason is simple.

“I look back at what people gave me growing up,” Beyers said. “I want that for my kids, and as long as I can give that to them, then that satisfies me.”

He hit 10 years of active duty in January and has no plans to retire.

“I am going to stay until they kick me out,” Beyerssaid. “They are going to have to force me to retire. As long as I continue with my current rank, I can stay in another 16 years.”matter of fact

Birthday: December 30, 1971

Family: Three children, Jacquline (14), Katelynn (12) and

Garrett (7), all of Raleigh, N.C.; parents, George and Donna

Beyers of Benton

Job: Sergeant First Class United States Army, cook

Favorite meal to serve: It would have to be barbecue ribs,

chicken and fish. That goes over really well

Favorite thing to eat: Kind of hard to pick one because I like

everything I cook. If I had my choice it would be smoked

ribs

Could you cook before going into the military? I could

make grilled cheese and that was about it. Now I can make

just about anything

First car: A 1966 Ford Mustang when I was 15

If I could cook a meal for five famous people: Gordan

Ramsey, I love his show Hell’s Kitchen, I would love to go

on his show and try to do it; Jeff Gordon, because I like

NASCAR, and he’s my favorite driver; Adam Sandler and

Larry the Cable Guy, because I like their movies; and Nicole

Kidman, I like redheads

Another career in the military besides a cook: Maybe an

MP (military police), something I could use on the outside

My brush with greatness: While a food-preparation

instructor at Fort Lee, Va., I was selected to appear on the

Food Network, Roker on the Road (Beyers demonstrated

Army cooking to Al Roker on a show that aired on Aug. 26,

2005)

Last movie watched that I enjoyed: Ghostrider

Tri-Lakes, Pages 123, 126 on 05/04/2008