Junior cook's passion, drive earns top chef honors
Lance Cpl. David Rogers

CAMP KINSER, Okinawa (January 18, 2008) -- At age 5, Pfc. Gabrielle Urias, a native of Grand Prairie, Texas, saw a Marine in dress blues for the first time during a Toys for Tots drive. He was standing next to a large bundle of wrapped toys in a department store.

"I didn't know Santa wore blue," Urias recalled saying to her father.

He explained who the "Santa" really was, and then he showed his daughter his own dress blue uniform. From then on, Urias was in love.

"When I was little, my dad would ask me what I wanted to be when I grow up. I always said 'a Marine.'"

Urias always dreamt of being a Marine. What she didn't plan on, however, was becoming a chef. Nonetheless, she is excelling at the new job and recently earned the title of Marine Corps Bases Japan Chef of the Quarter for the first quarter of 2008.

"It's my nature," she said. "I have to stand out. I won't settle for the minimum."

The best Marine Corps chefs from every MCBJ chow hall competed for the title. Typically, Marines are selected to compete for the award several times before winning. But Urias won on her first try after a couple of months at Camp Kinser's mess hall, her first duty station.

"The fact that she did it her first time shows she's got a little talent. She's got drive," said Staff Sgt. Jose Moran, the chief chef of Kinser's mess hall.

Urias says she is constantly driven by an undeniable need to be the best.

"My biggest fear in life is failing," she said. "I want people to be able to depend on me, because I know one day in life I'm going to need to depend on someone else."

Thoughts of Urias' family keep her head level as she strives to be the best. Cooking causes constant flashbacks of times with her family. The flashbacks remind her of cooking tips from her mother and father. Combined with her more recent military studies of the art, she runs through lists of techniques in her head that help improve her food. At the same time, she is very hands on with her job.

"This is my favorite part," she said. "This is where I get to be messy. I'm like a little kid when I cook. It reminds me of being at home in the kitchen with my mom and dad."

Leaders and co-workers immediately noticed her attention to detail and enthusiasm.

"She may not have picked this job, but she's one of those Marines that no matter where you put her, she'll excel," Moran said. "It's not about the job. It's just the way she is."

Urias says she plans to make the Marine Corps her career. To her, life in the Marine Corps is the fulfillment of a childhood dream.

"I want to give the Marine Corps as much as I can," she said. "I love it. I love being a Marine."

Ellie