Army chow...SOS in particular.

[Michael Tompkins]

I've been out now for 30 some years, but I still miss the stuff. I don't care what other people have said about it...that stuff was GOOD! We had 3 cooks in our Mess Hall. Depending on which one made it, it varied in colour. It was either grey, yellowish-grey or green-grey. I ate it every day and had them pour it over everything on my plate at break-fast. I've never had anything in civilian life that has come close in comparison. Anybody else out there a closet SOS lover?

Mike

[Griff Murphey]

SOS is good stuff. Frequently made here in Texas as cream gravy with bits of sausage for buffet lines; church breakfasts etc., usually over biscuits now. But it's not the stuff the mess sergeants or mom made (My mom used creamed chipped beef which was really very thin jerky in a bottle). As an "ossifer" I rarely ate in mess halls after ROTC but I well remember the mess hall at the MAU camp in Subic Bay. We officers gladly anted up the $2 to eat as many lobsters as we could get down when the word was passed! Also, Breakfasts were great. I can remember some of those Marine staff sergeants and gunnies eating breakfast; they must have eaten 8 eggs and I remember seeing piles of bacon must have been 5" tall. And none of them (unlike me) were fat. The only bad thing I ever had was Kool Aid made with that rodramm overchlorinated water at Fort Sill in 1970.

[Donb in Fl]

I still love the stuff,wife makes it ofton.

[dave]

My mother made the chipped beef stuff, hated it! When I had it for the first time in service I was NOT looking forward to it! But with the ground beef chunks I really liked it! Always plenty cause many ate little. Visted brother in law this summer (29 years army, retired CSM) and his wife made it. Brought back memories and even the wife liked it! Don't know why it gets such a bad rap!

[Nick Riviezzo]

Originally it wasmade[in the Army] with dried salted chipped beef because the meat required no refrigeration.[This, all according to one of my mess sergeants]About the mid '50s the Army standard receipe changed to using chopped beef[hamburger]because we weren't cooking in a mess truck in the field anymore and much of the field chow was prepared in the "rear" and brought out to the field in Mermite cans.MSgt. Casey ,my mess NCO in my Armored Cav. Troop, did make me some with dried chipped beef and he was right when he said it was O.K. but the troops wouldn't like it as well a ground beef.It was my fortune to Command 4 Company sized units and even more fortunately, to have fine "old time" Mess Sergeants in all but one. I never saw too many troops turn their nose up at"SOS". New soldiers had pre-concieved notions until the tried "SOS". After that "Cookie" made it by the tub full and darned little was wasted!My wife makes it and I make it [her's is always better]I love the stuff but like most of us "oldsters" I can't eat it all the time. Nick

[steelwarrior26]

it was a very common meal in our home growing up. my dad loved it from his days in korea. my mom made it with chppied beef,hamburger,sausage whatever she had on hand. miss those days Tim

[Rick]

Someone posted the Army recipe card on the old forum for SOS. If I can find I'll post it.

[mike24d20]

While at Ft. Bliss in the early 70's, we had a bunch of nubies in the field with us. The mess sgt. had a great sence of humor, he placed a sock into the mix an the first nebie got the horored sock. Man I sure do miss it.

[Griff Murphey]

Have an old WW2 Navy man in my practice. He said his first day on mess detail he accidentally tossed out the coffee maker filter/strainer. The Mess Chief gave him the FMJ chewing out, then without missing a beat stripped off his sweaty T-shirt and improvised a new filter/strainer for the machine with it.

Also remember the WW2 guys often said toward the end of a deployment all the bakers served up was cinnamon bread. They used that to camoflage the weevils.

[UUURah]

Like Mikey, I LIKED it. A couple times it seemed to be overly salted but mostly very good if not too runny.

Also recall one Sunday morning at Camp Pulgas we were led into an Officer's Mess Hall, lined up and sent back into where they were frying the bacon and eggs. Was a sight to see maybe 25 eggs frying on a huge griddle, we were given as many as we wanted. I think I took 4-5.

Ahhh, the good OLD days.

[Art]

It's one of those things folks professed to dislike just because it was military chow. Overall I thought the chow I had in the army was pretty good institutional food and in some chow halls was very good. I liked the stuff (S.O.S.) and still make it sometimes. it's a great, quick and easy way to use some leftover beef and I find leftover roast, chopped up, to make outstanding S.O.S. My lovely wife isn't wild about it though :-(

I read an article about it and it seems an awful lot of militaries have a variation of it. The Brit Royal Navy has a version using, I believe, kidney instead of beef that they refer to as S&!# on the Raft.

[Michaelp]

I did 4 years, 66-70 in the army.
20 months overseas on local rations.

I don't ever recall having SOS in a chowhall. We had it at home-ok as I recall.
I did a lot of KP-backsink man all the way!

My recollection is the messhall chow of those days was abysmal.
Makes me sick thinking about it.
CIDG "PIR" indigenous rations were the worst thing I ever ate, including the can of fish parts.

Best was from a Chinese cook they had at at a B Team I was at.

At a unit reunion I attended at Ft Bragg 20 years ago, they gave us lunch at a new messhall.
The food was great-like a big buffet.
Also civilian KPs-shame.
I thought KP sucked, but it was good training.

[Griff Murphey]

Good training for marriage!

[cwartyman]

Never ate in an Army chow hall but if i had to rank them the first were the Air Force bases I was at. The second would be the Naval Air stations and lastly would be the Marine Corps Air Stations. The Air Force chow halls were like going to huge restaurant quality buffets. The Navy were slightly less in quality but if you were hungry they never questioned your amounts. The chow halls in El Toro and Iwakuni were certainly edible but nothing near the quality of the Air Force and Navy and they were very stingy about quantities everything was either weighed or measured and that was all you got unless you wanted salad, you get all you wanted there. Now the chow while in the desert served by MWSS-373 was abysmal, I actually preferred to eat in the mess of CB7 which was housed next to us or eat MRE's. CB7 didn't care about us jarheads eating in their mess as long as the CB7 guys got to eat first. Those guys took great care of us. As far as S.O.S. my first experience with it was at NAS Memphis and it was good. After that when ever it was served I would eat it and still do when i can get it. There is a place in Ocean City Maryland that make s the best S.O.S I have ever had its a place called the Generals Kitchen right on the strip.
Mack
USMC
1988-1995

[John Sukey]

EGGS.Watched the cooks open a No10 can and pour the contents onto the grill, First time I had ever seen liquid eggs.
Coffee, one day the guys were pouring it out into the garbage cans. You REALLY have to WORK to make coffee so bad a G.I. won't drink it!

[Art]

The first thing I learned in the Army was to not eat the scrambled (dehydrated) eggs :eek:

[RED]

I remember one time when we didn't have any ice cream for nearly 2 days! It was tough on those Carriers.

[Shooter5]

They still serve it! I see it most every morning in chow halls. Toast isn't so common nowadays, they usually have regular biscuits but you can get the toast over by the coffee.

[BEAR]

Up all night, raining buckets, cold, shivering ... Top arrives in the jeep with the mermites full of breakfast. Nothing more satisfying than a mess tin full of steaming SOS and a canteen cup full of joe.
Thanks for the memories.
BEAR

[Redleg13a]

I always hated the stuff and can't stand it to this day. Same with my dad. He told me one time not long after he and mom got married, mom fixed SOS and he told her never to fix it again. She never did either. I think my first exposure to it was Ft Benning and I tried it once. That's it. That and lima beans were the only thing I wouldn't eat while in Basic. We had to eat everything else because we didn't get snacks! Still, I couldn't bring myself to eat those two items.

Now, sausage gravy is a mighty fine meal. Just leave the beef out of it.....

[Sarge]

I did 4 years, 66-70 in the army.
I don't ever recall having SOS in a chowhall. We had it at home-ok as I recall.
My recollection is the messhall chow of those days was abysmal. Makes me sick thinking about it.
CIDG "PIR" indigenous rations were the worst thing I ever ate, including the can of fish parts.

I've always liked SOS. Had it as a kid, we called it dried beef gravy.
I don't know where you ate, but I can remember SOS at every Army mess hall I was ever at. I also got it sometime at Naval Air Stations.
I found some chow halls much better than others, but most were very good.
Can't believe you didn't like the PIRs. There were about half of the varieties I wouldn't eat, but the other half were good! Thus I made sure I had the ones I liked when we went to the boonies.
Sarge

[Nick Riviezzo]

Maybe the PIRs weren't that great but at least in the boonies you smelled like the rest of the gooks if you ate them regularly. Nick

[Rodd Knox]

What I don't understand is folks who eat sausage gravy but won't touch a good SOS.

More for me I guess.

[Michaelp]

I never served with, or met a "gook."

I spent 20 months in country and 16 month in a border A Camp with Cambodians, Montagnards, and even some good Vietnamese LLDB.

I'm no "PC" guy, but that term and a few others some guys continue to use are offensive.

[JP11B20]

I did not care for SOS as a kid. I did like it in Army boot camp, as I was real hungry. Okay here the offical recipe.

MEAT, FISH, AND POULTRY
No.
L 052 00
CREAMED CHIPPED BEEF
Yield 100 6 ounces portion

Ingredients
BEEF,CHIPPED,DRIED,CHOPPED
WATER,WARM
MILK,NONFAT,DRY
WATER,WARM
MARGARINE,SOFTENED
FLOUR,WHEAT,GENERAL PURPOSE
PEPPER,BLACK,GROUND
Issue
Measure
Weight
7 lbs
8-1/3 lbs
1-3/4 lbs
31-1/3 lbs
1-1/2 lbs
2-1/4 lbs
1/2 oz
1 gal
3 qts
3 gal 3 qts
3-1/8 cup
2 qts
2 tbsp
Method
Separate dried beef slices, cut into 1-inch slices.
Place beef in 190 F. water. Soak 5 minutes. Drain thoroughly.
Reconstitute milk. Heat to just below boiling. DO NOT BOIL.
Combine butter or margarine with flour and pepper; add to milk, stirring constantly. Cook 5 minutes until thickened.
Add beef to sauce; blend well. CCP: Internal temperature must reach 145 F. or higher for 15 seconds. Hold for service at 140 F. or higher.

[mike24d20]

GOOK was slang for Nathinal Victor Charlie. An JAP an NAZI are polite terms used to talk about two worthless socities durning WW2. An the way our politicians treated our Allies after Nam is unforgivable.

[phil441]

Thanks for the recipe. I remember my dad telling the story of him returning from the Navy after WWII. The first meal my mom served him was "creamed chipped beef on toast". His response was to say, oh great! SH** ON A SHINGLE. I guess that's why she never made it again. At least that I remember.....
My first experience with it was stepping off a bus at Lackland AFB (for basic training) at oh-dark-thirty and being herded to the chow hall for a serving of SOS. I decided that if military life was all going to be that good then all was OK. Turned out the SOS was the best part.

[Nick Riviezzo]

Michaelp, I'm sorry the term "gook" offended you .I had no such intent.I too,spent a little time in RVN and had some close aquaintences on"our side".My comment was made to point out something I learned in the USAF's Jungle Survival Course at Clark AFB.It was obvious that you shouldn't shower with Life Bouy soap, deoderant, etc. and go in the boonies but the Negritos employed by the USAF as aggressors could literally smell your B.O. from 10- 20 feet!Unless you assumed the life style AND DIET of the enemy[NVA, VC. or whatever ] your B.O. in the bonnies could give you away.BTW, my first tour I spent 9 months in an A team on the Cambodian border[I was med-evacced out].My other two tours were flying but after 33 months fighting and bleeding for the South Viets while their two faced civilian populace would lie, cheat, beg, borrow, or steal us blind they, as a people, did little to earn my respect. I did have a lot of professional respect for the NVA. They were enemy but they were dedicated,trained, and well equipped soldiers.Again, sorry to upset your apple cart but that's is about all the sympathy I can muster for the Viets. Nick

[Michael Tompkins]

It's funny the direction some of these threads can take, isn't it? Make me chuckle sometimes... Mike

[El Paso Mark]

This is making me hungry. Loved Army SOS. Navy SOS (Chipped beef) not bad, but certainly not as good as the real thing. Man, nothing like two shingles topped with 2 over medium eggs and smothered with SOS! The Ft. Bliss Rod & Gun Club serves SOS on the weekends. It's listed on the menu as- SOS.

Best messhall I ever ate in? Pax River Naval Air Station, Pax River, Md.

Cheers,

Mark

[Bill D]

You can buy SOS from Schwan's Foods - and have it delivered to your door. I get some every once in a while just for old times.
Schwan's is good but a bit pricey.

[Rick]

Nick you described my Vietnamese x sister-in law perfectly. Brother married a I will love you forever girl. Lasted until her old boy friend made it to the United States. She abandoned her three children and he abandoned his wife and six children. They married and had two more of their own. I can't speak for all Vietnamese but but this gal was the nastiest thing that ever took a breath of air.

Every time I think of her it goes through my mind. If they were all like her it wasn't worth one American life let alone 50,000.

[Art]

"Gook" goes back to the Korean war. As I recall it is a corruption of the Korean word for person. Han guk = Korean, Mi guk=American etc. It quickly became a perjoritive for Koreans first and then all Asians.

On the Viet Namese wife thing. I was never in 'Nam as I said, but when I was in Korea just about the only women who would have anything to to with the G.I. were the prostitutes. Korean women back then, at least, were almost always prohibited by their families from marrying outside their race. Respectable women who would have anything to do with a G.I. were few and far between. Respectable women who did so with their families blessing were fewer and further between. Two Korean ladies, real cute gals, who worked in the mess hall regularly had guys make runs at them always unsuccessfully. Now there were a few exceptions, There was an American civilian contractor who worked at our base occassionally who had married a Korean lady, and I use the term advisedly who was just a regular girl, and the mother of a friend of our daughter also was just a regular girl who married an Army Officer, so it did happen. Most of the time the American was just some poor 20 year old who had become infatuated with one of the local "business girls." For obvious reasons many, perhaps most of those marriages didn't survive return to "The World." When the woman in question arrived at the big PX in the sky and knew she couldn't be sent back she very often boogied out of there.

One thing that didn't help with the marriage thing was that the Army facilitated access to the local ladies of the night at least through the time I was in Korea in the mid 60s in the name of disease prevention. They did this by providing medical check ups and issuing cards that allowed the gals on base if they were disease free. One of the CQ jobs at the little base I was stationed at was to check the V.D. cards of women at the door of the N.C.O./EM club which had an entrance to the villiage street. No card you couldn't get in. The N.C.O. club was the "honey hole" for Korean hookers trolling for business.

Of course it dosen't help in developing an opinion of the people of a country when the only people one deals with personally on a regular basis are bartenders and whores.

[Rick]

That describes my brothers situation exactly. That's what can happen when you let your little head do the thinking for your big head.

[Nick Riviezzo]

Thanks for the support guys, I meant no offense to MichaelP or any one else. A quick "war story" a new Warrant Offficer[pilot] assigned to my platoon wanted to take the 3/4 ton ammo carrier truck to go to the big PX over at Da Nang main to get a little refrigerator and fan, etc. for his "hootch",when stopped at a stop light a Viet kid snuck up from behind and reached in and snatched his aviator sunglasses off of his face!When he reflexively reached out to grab the miscreant another kid snatched his watch. Makes a new guy really want to go out and fight for your sorry a$$ doesn't it? Bottom line , if loving them comes in shares you are welcome to mine! Just my not So Humble Opinion,Nick

[Sean P Gilday]

Love the stuff. First had it at Ft. Sill in Winter 81. Only time I hated it was in 93-94 one of the Battalion cooks used to load it with Onion(Chunks of Onion). Last time I had it was at Ft. Indiantown Gap during the BoB reenactment.

[Art]

Michaelp, I'm sorry the term "gook" offended you .I had no such intent.I too,spent a little time in RVN and had some close aquaintences on"our side".My comment was made to point out something I learned in the USAF's Jungle Survival Course at Clark AFB.It was obvious that you shouldn't shower with Life Bouy soap, deoderant, etc. and go in the boonies but the Negritos employed by the USAF as aggressors could literally smell your B.O. from 10- 20 feet!Unless you assumed the life style AND DIET of the enemy[NVA, VC. or whatever ] your B.O. in the bonnies could give you away.BTW, my first tour I spent 9 months in an A team on the Cambodian border[I was med-evacced out].My other two tours were flying but after 33 months fighting and bleeding for the South Viets while their two faced civilian populace would lie, cheat, beg, borrow, or steal us blind they, as a people, did little to earn my respect. I did have a lot of professional respect for the NVA. They were enemy but they were dedicated,trained, and well equipped soldiers.Again, sorry to upset your apple cart but that's is about all the sympathy I can muster for the Viets. Nick

Nick,

I did not go to Korea to fight for the Koreans. I went because the United States sent me and the other 60 odd thousand U.S. military personnel there as a deterrent to world communism which is why you went to Viet Nam. You fought for The United States, not for the Viet Namese. The interest you were there to defend was the interest of this country. Whether it was misguided or not is another issue.

[DarylBruce]

All I know is that I was a 170 lb when I in and 195 when I got out 3 years latter. Hmmmmmm maybe it was the beer.

[Sean P Gilday]

All I know is that I was a 170 lb when I in and 195 when I got out 3 years latter. Hmmmmmm maybe it was the beer.Not Possible. You cant keep beer, only rent it........

[Griff Murphey]

At age 61 I now weigh 4 pounds LESS than my 1976 discharge weight. Both my leather shooting jacket from my shooting days and my Dress Navy blue jacket from 34 years ago lack about 7" closing in front. Gravity? Beer? - No, wait, you just RENT that! Thanks for that valuable info! Must be the frickin' gravity/

[phil441]

I think gravity is probably working on a bunch of us here. That's why the top buttons still work but the lower ones are useless!

[Michaelp]

I'd appreciate it if you did not tell me why I went to RVN.

I was aprofessional soldier.

I trained as a military advisor.

I served with Special Forces and that is our mission.

SF teams are utilized for this role all over the world.

Often in places you never know about.

I happened to be sent to RVN, there were other places at the time I might have gone to.

Absolutely, I was a member of the US Army, but with a bit different role and atitude than conventional guys.

I was simply fortunate enough to be selected for that training in 1967 and given the opportunity to use some of it. I met some truly amazing people. A guy on my 1st team had been a flak gunner in the Luftwaffe.

At no time did I ever fear that a NVA was a thrteat to my grandmother at home.

I did feel the Red Tide was a threat to humanity, and took my opportunity to fight it where I could.

I can only speak for the indigenous people I worked with directly and they were fine people.

They did send us a company of Saigon Cowboys as replacements once and a lot of them deserted.

Few, if any of them of them made it across the Song Be.

I know all about the Korean history of "Meguk," etc.

In VNit it was used as a derogatory phrase as were several others.

I think some guys do not realize this and also some don't care.

It's a free country.

[Nick Riviezzo]

Michaelp, I've been "cogitating" on this line of thought for several days and I would like to end it on this line of thinking. Again, I'm sorry you were offended.Much of what you say above applies to me also. My first tour started with the feeling that we were there for a noble cause to help a threatened and oppressed people.Unfortunately the "troops" we were stuck with were CIDG's who could care less, didn't want to be there,or were VC. It is hard to develope respect for people you can't trust. I wish I could have had a fine group to work with like you did but that was not in the cards.My second and third tours I was the Viet Labor Service Officer.I hired and fired all the hootch maids, day laborers,and some "technical" help.They were smiley,happy to our face but would steal you blind,sabotage our equipment and provide great intell to the "bads guys"about our day to day goings on.I wish I could have had an enlightening experience like yours so I wasn't such a bitter person. But bitter experiences make for bad feelings like I have. Good experiences, like yours,made for your feeling of satisfaction.I'm proud for you, having shared the same training and ideals you did, and I am sorry my experience went sour.I would rather have your good out look but, I'm sorry, I don't. Nick

[Griff Murphey]

Technically I am a Vietnam Veteran but as a practical matter I had a very easy time. I was there for the evacuation in 1975 at Phan Rhang (in Cam Ranh Bay). The worst things I saw were light wounds and one baby who had been burned, ashore, in a cooking accident. I did see artillery and flares on the horizon as the NVA was pushing the ARVN toward us but that was the closest I ever got. It is a mark of how bad the war was that so many men have so many deep emotions about it. I can promise you that I felt very frightened about being sent to VN and since, after all, we had already pretty much cut them loose after the '72 peace talks; I was not at all crazy about being sent there. My biggest fear would be that we would get ashore to secure airfields, then we'd get surrounded and captured. Thank God that did not happen.

I remember being on the foc'sle of the USS DUBUQUE LPD-8 and getting an impromptu Vietnamese lesson, with the 1-4 Corpsmen and my dental tech, from a USMC gunny, and flashing back to the Vietnam Village at Fort Sill 5 years before, and marveling at the weird succession of MY decisions that led me there. I just salute all you guys who were there and were actually in combat. I don't think ANY of the guys posting on this forum ever mean to hurt any of the other guys' feelings.

[old marine]

Campbells has Sausage & gravy for just over a buck...Heat it and eat it....served best over hot biscuits.........Mike

[blackhawknj]

Never cared for SOS myself. My experience with Army mess halls was-like so many things army-that they varied widely. Some would have put top flight restaraunts to shame, others-the people running them should have been flogged.

[Big_Al]

i was a 94B20 in the Army. That's first cook. In Vietnam I was also Assistant Mess Sgt.
SOS (I forget the official Army name) was always made with ground beef. It was served every morning.
Luckily, I was in a Field Artillery unit in the states so got plenty of experience in field cooking.
That came in handy in Nam, our base camp had no refrigeration, and we used WWII era M37 Fire Units, which ran on compressed air (via bicycle pump) and gasoline. The motor pool built us a grill out of sheet steel and angle iron, we served out of mermite cans. We made the SOS in the big square head pans, about ten gallons at a time.
All the good stuff like steaks never made it up to where we were.
Bacon came pre-cooked in a can. The eggs were "fresh"; as long as the yolks weren't black when we cracked 'em, we cooked them. Had to, or there would have been none to serve.
Sorry if I'm rambling on, but please know this - some guys I served chow to went out and never came back. Even after 40 years, sometimes this still hurts.
To the 444 KIA's of the 1st Infantry Brigade, 5th Infantry Division (Mech): Rest easy, my Brothers. Big Al is keeping the faith.

[rider]

My mom used to make "creamed chipped beef on toast" when I was a kid, and when I first saw the stuff with ground beef I thought it was all wrong but it turned out to be alright. When you're living out in the field in winter, anything warm that comes out of a mermite can hits the spot. Our company cooks were good guys.

[John Sukey]

Mess halls, Airforce mess hall better than the army one but the BEST mess halls were in Canada.
Senior NCO mess at Cold Lake; table cloths, dishes,THREE different choices of food.
Mess hall at Halifax Nova Scotia was like going to a good resturant with a choice of entree.

[OldDoggy]

SoS, nothing better to start the day!!!!

Better with reconstituted scrambled eggs on top and tabasco all over it, yum, yum.....

Just Another Old Doggy, Don

[joem]

My mother made it with hamburger and served on toast. It was great.

My wife made it with chiped beef once in a while but it wasn't as good as my mothers. I didn't tell her that.

[Nick Marciano]

I was in the Air Force 68-72 and it depended who made it as to if I ate it. One cook in particular made the best SOS I've ever had. It was a creamy white in color and was great over toast. He also put in finely diced onions. I have never tasted anything that could compare.

Nick10Ring

[mike24d20]

The best ever made is with a old, well used combat boot sock added for that extra kick an flavor.

[John Sukey]

The BEST FOOD I had was in a CANADIAN mess hall! Once as a reenactor and even better the second time around in the Senior NCO's mess. You ACTUALY had a choice in the menu. Plus Real dishes instead of aluminum mess plates.

[Dolt]

I've been out now for 30 some years, but I still miss the stuff. I don't care what other people have said about it...that stuff was GOOD! We had 3 cooks in our Mess Hall. Depending on which one made it, it varied in colour. It was either grey, yellowish-grey or green-grey. I ate it every day and had them pour it over everything on my plate at break-fast. I've never had anything in civilian life that has come close in comparison. Anybody else out there a closet SOS lover?

Mike

I liked a lot of the recipes when I was in the Marines. Just found this little jewel that may bring back old memories: http://www.quartermaster.army.mil/jccoe/publications/recipes/index/full_index.pdf

I will try some of the recipes to see if they are still the same.