Actually, the best chow hall I ever partook in was at an Army-operated command post, while it was being operated by active-duty Army food services. In contrast, the worst chow hall I ever partook in was the exact same facility after its operation had been transferred to a civilian contractor.
“Lowest bidder” is not a phrase I want describing the food I put into my mouth. :eek:
(Inadvertently addressing anomalous1’s comment… yes, in my experience, outsourcing to contracting makes it something approximating school lunch, except with fewer effective constraints on reducing quality and service to increase profitability.)
In the Canadian Forces, we had a saying “You do not give cooks or the clerks a hard time.” (I think the actual saying had more swearing). Those are the two professions in the army who could make life really miserable.
My uncle was in the Army (Vietnam era, but he served entirely in Europe) and had some choice things to say about the cooking. He said that he occasionally had business to conduct with the Air Force, and that they got the exact same food shipments that the Army did, but that they made a lot more of an effort at turning it into good meals, as opposed to just dumping everything together and warming the lot of it. He very much appreciated getting sent over to the Air Force side, for that reason.
And if KP duty isn’t used as a punishment (for good reason), whence comes the popular notion that it is? I mean, we’ve all seen references to the angry sergeant yelling at the private “You’ll be peeling potatoes for a week!”.
I didn’t have good food in the military until I went TDY to an AFB in Japan. I’d been in for seven years by then. Prior to that, it was boot camp, then a Marine base in RVN, and a naval station on Adak. The Marine chow was by far the worst. The AFB had Japanese cooks working there who did a great job with American food.
Other way round. I always remembered it because the stripes worn by E-2 and E-3 personnel are called “group rate marks.”
I’ve even seen E-5 nukes crank. On a submarine it’s pretty much a given that if your service record doesn’t show that you’ve already done your time as a mess cook, you’re going to get your chance.* The norm is 90 days (total time, usually not all in one go), but if there’s a shortage of nubs you may get to do it again.
I actually missed out on the whole experience. My first boat was under construction; by the time the first mess cooks were assigned I was already a PO2, and by the time the first PO went cranking I was qualified SS.
Unlike on the tender, where getting a crow meant being sent straight back to your division, even if the guy who replaced you on the mess decks had already done well over 90.
There’s the old Marine tradition that Every Marine is a Fighting Marine.
Back in World War Two the cliche’ was that all US Army cooks had been truck drivers in civilian life, whereas any professional chefs were assigned to the motor pool. I don’t doubt it was true at one time, I hope they eventually learned better.
I am told that they do not have mess personnel anymore.
The army anyway, i have heard it from enough people that i suppose it is somewhat true.
In my time, mess people were armed, they needed to be, they followed everyone around
as close as was feasible, and took risks running food out to units.
And the risk of them getting caught up in a hasty retreat was real.
They used to haul an entire gasoline powered kitchen into a combat zone, but i guess not anymore.
I visited someone out at white sands, they had no active mess halls.
I did not know what to think, what kind of base has no functioning mess halls?
Here’s a weird anecdote… my father, whose culinary skills are mostly limited to making pasta (not sauce), fried eggs and ham sandwiches, has one idiot savant skill he picked up in the Air Force doing KP sometime in the late 1960s.
He can cook awesome French Toast. Like high-end restaurant good. Swears he learned in the Air Force during boot camp. I believe him because the rest of his cooking repertoire sucks. I wonder if he somehow found his niche as the designated French Toast maker for his platoon or something, and thus got a lot of practice at that and not much else.
So the Army Commendation Medal is the only real, tangible reward you have seen a cook earn?
Well no wonder they dont put much effort into their work. I really dont see how their work is less important than persons in supply or who work as mechanics or electricians.
Now I have heard that on board a ship is the only place a cook gets any type of reward since at sea, they cant be outsourced and sailors cant just go eat somewhere else. Plus 6 months at sea with bad food doesnt sound good.
A cook, who is food, is always edible throughout their entire term of service??
Ok
1st wtf? nazi zombie army? they eat the cooks?
2nd how the bloody hell is the man to remain edible for X years? Even if he survived a few minor feedings, he will become a diminishing supply, and eventually die before he is all eaten. Is his enlistment 1 week or less?
The norm is 90 days (total time, usually not all in one go), but if there’s a shortage of nubs you may get to do it again.