They really do know waffles in the Navy

It’s Sunday morning, so I’m pretty sure Petty Officer Stacie Lopez is eating waffles.

Lopez is a culinary specialist, third class. She’s onboard the USS George Washington. When I talked to her Wednesday, she and 5,500 shipmates were on patrol in the Sea of Japan.

Lopez grew up in Galveston and graduated from La Marque High School in 2008. Her mother, Cindie Herrera, lives in Texas City.

Lopez joined the Navy and learned something about herself: She’s good at customer service.

Every day the carrier is at sea, Lopez and the others who work in the galley prepare 18,000 meals.

Sailors at sea are under pressure. They work 12-hour shifts. The long days and cramped quarters make people cranky. Sailors tend to be serious about their food.

Lopez likes the challenge of keeping the customers happy.

She says she and her shipmates in the galley are at their best when they’re cooking from scratch. Her favorite dish to cook is fried rice with shrimp. But her favorite dish to eat is a plate of waffles.

She said “waffles” as if she were already dreaming of Sunday. Anyone who has had real Navy waffles knows what she’s talking about. Some readers will take comfort that the Navy still serves them on Sunday mornings.

Of course, some of the readers served back in the days when the Navy had cooks, rather than culinary specialists.

Times have changed.

Back in the old days, sailors would rush down the gangway after a long cruise, find the nearest bar and get into trouble.

These days, the Navy is big on community service.

When she was in the Philippines, Lopez and some shipmates spent time at an orphanage.

She tells of a 9-year-old girl named Emily who ended up in the orphanage with her older sister, who has Down syndrome and cannot walk. Their parents abandoned them.

Lopez said she went to the orphanage, not really expecting to have fun. But she found the experience moving. She still talks about that brave little girl named Emily.

At 21, Lopez has seen things most Americans haven’t. She has been to Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore. The George Washington recently put in at Busan, South Korea. Lopez found herself wandering down a long street with a million shops selling just about everything in the world.

We Americans often ask a lot of our military men and women without really knowing what we’re asking. We often don’t even know the people we’re asking so much from.

This Sunday, I’m thinking about a young petty officer from Galveston County and her 5,500 shipmates on the George Washington.

I might have waffles for breakfast. How about you?

Heber Taylor is editor of The Daily News.