KUWAIT NAVAL BASE — Soldiers assigned to Camp Patriot, a small U.S. post located on the Kuwait Naval Base, enjoy a selection of Hawaiian "local food" thanks to the efforts of two award-winning chefs from Hawai'i who are assigned there.

With hundreds of soldiers from the Hawai'i Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 487th Field Artillery, and the 227th Combat Engineer Company stationed in Kuwait, dining on food they'd normally enjoy while in Hawai'i has helped the soldiers deal with their lengthy tour away from home.

Among its missions, the 1st Battalion of the 487th Field Artillery was assigned to oversee the dining facility on Camp Patriot upon its arrival there about eight months ago. Sgt. 1st Class Wayne Pacupac and Sgt. 1st Class Patrick Cambra took on the task of managing the mess hall, and they take a lot of pride in the dishes they prepare for the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who eat there.

One of the changes they've implemented is that every Friday has been designated "Aloha Friday" at the dining facility. The military men and women who dine there can select from a variety of menu items including fried rice, loco moco, shoyu chicken, pork gisantes, teriyaki steaks and chicken long rice.

Pacupac, a painting supervisor from Kapolei, and Cambra, a retired Honolulu city government worker from Makakilo, have 60 years of military food service experience between them.

"Between Sgt. 1st Class Cambra and myself, we've won eight Regional Connolly Awards," Pacupac said.

The West Coast Regional Connolly Award is a prestigious award presented by the Army to its best dining facility in the region. The competition is fierce as dozens of Army unit chefs vie for the annual award.

"We've each won four awards apiece," Pacupac said.

Many of the base's workers are from foreign countries. "We teach our cooks from India how to prepare local foods from Hawai'i," Cambra said. "They're fast learners."

According to Pacupac and Cambra, Hawai'i-based soldiers travel from as far away as Camp Doha, an hour's drive away, to pick up takeout plates of the special foods prepared at their facility.

"We serve an average of about 3,500 meals a day," Pacupac said.

When the Hawai'i-based soldiers return home in a few months, they will leave a tall order behind that the unit replacing them may have difficulty filling. The Aloha Friday menu has been very popular with the soldiers from Hawai'i as well as with the men and women of other services at the camp.

"It's been a hit," Cambra said proudly.