Rhode Island Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class and Food Program Manager Michael P. Heroux has served in the military for three decades. He previously worked as the sous chef at the Providence Marriott Downtown, as restaurant manager at the Blue Heron in Indianapolis and as executive chef at the Holiday Inn Hotel and Conference Center in Big Rapids, Mich.
Heroux also serves as scoutmaster for Boy Scouts Troop 2 Woonsocket and as a board member of Hearts with Hope Inc. Heroux will serve as a judge for Visiting Nurse Home & Hospice’s 2019 Chocolate Brunch Culinary Cook-off on Sunday at The Hotel Viking in Newport.
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PBN: Was it your initial goal to become a chef or to serve in the military? Or both?
HEROUX: It wasn’t planned to become a chef. When I was in high school, I took a job as a dishwasher because it paid more than minimum wage, and then I was promoted and became a cook. Upon graduation, I knew I wanted to attend college but did not have the means to do so. That is where the U.S. Army came in; they offered me college benefits and a chance to become a soldier, which is something that I had always wanted to do. As I built my career as a chef, I have remained in the National Guard and, five years ago, I began working full time as the food program manager for the Rhode Island National Guard. You can say my career has come full circle and the two have become one.
PBN: How many tours of duty have you done with the National Guard, and where did you serve?
HEROUX: I have been in the Army and National Guard for 30 years. My first combat tour was during Desert Storm in 1991 when I was a young man feeding soldiers in the desert. I returned to Iraq in 2004 for Operation Iraqi Freedom. This time, I was a squad leader performing military police duties and served on the Personal Security Detail for the president of Iraq. I was deployed again to Kuwait and Iraq in 2010, serving as a platoon sergeant supporting our company’s convoy security mission. Three times, three different jobs and certainly three different stages of my life.
PBN: Last year, you were recognized with an award for providing food-service training to a counterpart in the Mississippi Army National Guard. Does that speak well to not only your culinary knowledge but also your leadership qualities?
HEROUX: As the food program manager for the Rhode Island National Guard, I am part of a small community of food-service professionals that manage the food programs throughout the United States and its territories. We help each other whenever we can. There is a food-management course that is run by the National Guard several times a year and most people new to the job will attend the class.
But, in the case of Mississippi, they needed to get their new guy trained quickly. So, it was decided he would visit Rhode Island and I would show him the ins and outs of the job for an intense week of training. He got great training and tons of snow, which was new to him. I like what I do and if I can share the knowledge to my peers, I am glad to do so.
PBN: What would you say is your favorite dish to cook?
HEROUX: Buffalo macaroni and cheese. I don’t know if it is my favorite to cook but [it’s] definitely my most requested dish. If that’s what you want, I will gladly make it. I would have to say that I really enjoy making soups from scratch. So many flavors and so many options all on the end of a spoon.
PBN: You also serve as chef for Operation Stand Down. How gratifying is it to offer help to veterans in need in addition to being a leader to current military personnel?
HEROUX: There are many reasons I like volunteering at Operation Stand Down. The biggest one is to give back to my fellow veterans, giving them help and seeing them again down the road and seeing positive change in their lives.
Another blessing of Operation Stand Down is working with the chefs and students from Johnson & Wales University, especially my daughter Hayley, who is graduating from Johnson & Wales in May. She has been volunteering with me since high school.
James Bessette is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Research@PBN.com.
