Edward Plaisance Jr Feb 24, 2011:

more... http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/world/asia/07women.html
This will explain the "female engagement team" and how the cook happens to be part of that team. Basically, female Marines were usually cooks or engineers, but now they have a new role. So the "crew" here includes a female Marine who does two jobs.

Ryan Emami Feb 24, 2011:

It's now clear! Thank you very much again, Edward! The original sentence is completely correct; so, now we know that it was the asker who created all this confusion!

Edward Plaisance Jr Feb 24, 2011:

continued... Glad it is clear...I was wondering about the whole sentence...so I Googled it and found this...

Here is the original text from http://www.militaryavenue.com/Articles/Face of Defense- Form...

"Holloway and his crew consisting of infantrymen, a medic, and a cook who doubles as one of the company’s two female engagement team members rove and patrol the streets of the surrounding areas looking for insurgent activities and ensuring that the local people are safe throughout the night."

Now it is clear that the crew roves and patrols the streets.

Ryan Emami Feb 24, 2011:

Thanks! Hi Edward,

Thank you very much for clarifying this. Looks like I have no other choice than trusting your native understanding of the sentence!

Edward Plaisance Jr Feb 24, 2011:

doubles as This usage has caused a lot of misunderstanding...

use of "as" in this case:
preposition
16. in the role, function, or status of: to act as leader.

use of "double" in this case:
verb (without object)
43. to serve in two capacities or in an additional capacity: She doubles as producer and director.

So, in the sentence the cook has two roles: 1. cook 2. female engagement team member (whatever that is!)

It is not clear exactly who roves and patrols the street...the sentence is poorly constructed...or we are missing context...but I assume it is the crew that is mentioned.

However, it is clear that the cook has two roles, as mentioned. Hope this clarifies it.

Ryan Emami Feb 24, 2011:

The English sentence structure Hi Everyone,

If we take a look at all the translations so far submitted for this part of the sentence, we can see that we have all taken one of two general assumptions regarding "as" in "as one of the company's ...":

1. it refers to the cook's role as in "the lady works as a translator for this company";

2. it means "when", "while", etc. as in "as I was walking out of the room, I saw him.

I believe the first assumption is wrong because we have "rove and patrol the streets" at the end of the sentence. Who do these two verbs refer to? I argue that this is the correct meaning of the whole sentence:

His crew consists of infantrymen, a cook who becomes two cooks when one of the company's two female engagement team members rove and patrol the streets.

Please illuminate me if I'm wrong!