Master Sgt. (P) Mark Morgan, the senior enlisted aide to Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal at the Feb. 25 morning session of the Association of the United States Army’s Winter Symposium and Exposition in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.Dempsey, the commanding general of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, and the Army chief of staff-designate, cited Morgan for his singular accomplishment in winning a Gold Medal at the international Culinary World Cup in Luxembourg.Morgan competed as a member of the American Culinary Federation’s Culinary National Team as a pastry chef.Serving on the U.S. Army Culinary Arts Team since 1997, he is this team’s pastry chef and is the first member of the U.S. Armed Forces ever to be selected to be on the national team.An airborne ranger, jumpmaster, pathfinder and infantryman who has been deployed eight times to Afghanistan and twice to Iraq since October 2001, Morgan has served with various units of the 75th Ranger Regiment, the 75th Ranger Regimental Special Troops Battalion and the XVIII Airborne Corps.He was selected as the 2000 Army Chef of the Year, and has been awarded eight Culinary Olympic Gold Medals.After the medal was presented, Dempsey commented that Morgan was carrying on a family tradition. His father was a member of the U.S. Army Culinary Arts Team in 1977.