The United States Army Operational Test Command Family Readiness Group held its annual “I Love Chili” cook-off at OTC’s Training Conference Room on Valentine’s Day to raise money for the Easter Party they’re throwing for OTC children in the spring.

OTC FRG has held a chili cook-off in the beginning of every year for the past 10 years as a way to enhance camaraderie and have a little fun with the community.

With 14 different chilis in the running this year, taste-testers had their fair share of chili.

Three awards were being competed for: the commander’s choice, where Col. Jeff Harris, OTC Chief of Staff, did a blind-tasting of each of the chilis and chose his favorite; the people’s choice for best chili, where everyone attending the chili cook-off chose their favorite and the majority ruled in voting; and finally, the people’s choice hottest chili award, where chili-tasters voted on which chili was the hottest and majority ruled in voting.

Each chili winner received a trophy presented by Harris at the end of the event, and then everyone stuck around to have more chili.

All of the chili cookers brought their own fixings to go along with their masterpieces, such as cheese, sour cream, jalapenos, tortilla chips and even heart-shaped corn bread in honor of Valentine’s Day.

Jimmie Smith, Test Technology Directorate officer, has been to the OTC chili cook-off in the past and said it was fun to see how the people he works with everyday are actually excellent chili cooks.

“This is always a great event,” Smith said. “It’s a great camaraderie.”

Harris, who was a first-timer at the cook-off and still recovering from blind-tasting each of the chilis without warning on which ones were rated the hottest, agreed with Smith’s thoughts on camaraderie.

“Things like this are so important, because it brings us together,” Harris said. “It shows how much we care, and on top of that, it’s fun. Fun is an important part of the day that we don’t always make time for.”

For Bill Fesler, Deputy G4, OTC, and winner of the hottest chili award, this was his 10th year competing.

“I’ve been making chili for more than 20 years,” Fesler said, “I love making it, but this cook-off is great, because it’s about fellowship and getting together; plus, everyone gets chili.”

Fesler’s winning hottest chili was named “Texas Armadillo Chili,” and as a warning to how hot it is, he had a bottle of Tums sitting next to his slow cooker for laughs.

The most popular chili among the crowd was called “Mild Bytes,” made by Gayle Shull, TTD director, OTC, who also took home the trophy for the commander’s vote.

When the competition ended, competitors and chili-tasters stuck around to talk about the differences in their chilis – some thick, some thin, some very meaty and some with more beans, some extremely spicy and some that were even organic.

Along with the trophies, the cook-off winners were also granted bragging rights until next year’s OTC chili cook-off.

If interested in participating in 2014’s chili cook-off, make sure to stay up to date with OTC about registering and entering the contest.

“Everybody is so busy all the time here,” said Cpt. Romelo Delossantos when talking about the benefits of the chili cook-off. “This is a great time to let loose and just enjoy where you are.”