Odd military dining experiences

[Griff Murphey]

I did not have complaints at Fort Sill Army ROTC advanced camp about the food as much as about the water. It was heavily chlorined, when we could get it. Spec 4s dumped Clorox bottles into the water buffalo trailers and lister bags. Great Kool Aid, burned as it went down.
C-rats... What can you say? Best part, the crackers and peanut butter.
Camp Hansen officers' open mess, Okinawa... Generally good food, interesting with the Okinawan cooks - they would cut the grapefruit up and down, making it very hard to get the segments out. One time they served an oyster stew. Hard to find the oysters... One marine officer remarked, "Let's see if I can snag the duty oyster as he swims by..."
Naval vessels... If you were close to the time breakfast closed, forget ordering. Better remember to fold your napkin neatly and put it back in the napkin ring (which had your name on it) because if it was left lying on the table it would be stuffed into the napkin ring as imaginatively as possible to look as messy as possible. You had to use the same napkin 3-4 days in a row.
Strangest meal on a ship: USS DURHAM, as we picked up 3500 refugees, called by the 1MC from a sea of filthy, scared, and sick humanity, to a perfect tex mex meal in the wardroom, complete with white jacketed mess attendants. Then... Back to work.
Strangest meal off of the ship: Col. Singh of the Singapore Army had invited us... many of the officers of 1-4, to dinner at his spacious pre-WW-2 British Army officer's bungalow. Picked up by a Singapore Army Mercedes with driver popping a "Monty" salute. He and 1-4's XO, Maj. "Iron Mike" McGowan, had gone to Army Command and Staff College together. Rice with tiny tropical fish in it, very hot. Chaplain had tears running down his cheeks... no amount of Tiger beer could sooth our palates. Broiled chicken was brought out and eyes brightened ... Real FOOD! We loaded our plates to the gunwales, uh oh... it tasted like it had been soaked in perfume. Ahh... we had to eat it all once our plates were loaded.
Call me a chauvinist officer pig, but the officers clubs were sure nice. Fun to play the slots out in the Far East. Good times. One day I hope to see the Cubi Point O club bar again... At P-cola.

[butlersrangers]

Here's one!

29862

[Michaelp]

Wierdest I ever saw was at the BX at Bien Hoa in 1969.
By then that place was like a little city-they had a modern air conditioned movie theater and a nice shopping center with a decent restraunt/snackbar.
Our rear area compound bordered it and we had free run of the place.
I was buying a bunch of stuff for the guys back on the team when a deuce and a half full of army guys in from the field pulled up.
They headed for the snack bar for chow and BX stuff.

A punk ass AP and backup appeared and told them they were not allowed in because of their appearance.
He said they had to go to their own unit which was miles away.

I was beside myself in disbelief. They loaded up and left. I still think about that shameful day.
I bet none of them ever forgot, either.
It wasn't just the "hippies."

[gtodan]

Hadji's Revenge. During Desert Storm evac'd a team of medical doctors into northern Saudi Arabia. Seems a whole Patriot missile battery was rendered ineffective after eating at the area "dining facility". Was common practice for the military to hire locals to work in the DF's under Army supervision. Really?

Anyone else ever gotten sick eating from a mermite can?

[Ltdave]

went to alaska for 35 days in 89 for Brim Frost (exercise for the defense of Alaska). all 5 branches were involved...

i was only a Senior Airman and got tagged to stick around at End-Ex to police the quonset hut housing on Fort Richardson (shares a fence line with Elmendorf AFB)...

we had been eating in the Army mess hall. nasty chipped tile floor, long worn "banquet table" tables, and plastic chairs where we had to police our own dishes and were served by sweaty BDU wearing specialists, serving up the same stuff for the last 34 days...

i had a couple of PFCs assigned to me (from Fort Richardson) to help clean up the barracks and make sure everything was good to go. i suggested we go to Elmendorf to eat lunch because i wanted better food...

we walked into the Dining Facility there and were greeted by an Airman in Chef whites, who asked how we'd like our burgers cooked (or whatever it was we ate). the food service area was ceramic tile, all polished. bright stainless all cleaned and polished. we sat down at our tablecloth covered 4-place table with condiments, napkin dispenser and flower, cushioned chair on carpeted floor. the soldiers ate in disbelief that there were drapes on the windows and not crooked venetian blinds and when the civilians came around to bus our table they were about in tears...

they were even CLOSER when i told them the DF at my home base had 3 fireplaces, a separate dining area for "private" unit get togethers, chandeliers and a rock garden outside the glass walls...

[meterman]

I served in 4 branches...missed the Foreign Legion and the Marine Corps...and this story is right on the button. The AF knows how to treat it's people. Housing, food, duty, everything.

[John Sukey]

Not much to add,except when we went TDY to Cold Lake Canada.
Senior NCO's mess.
Food served on PLATES and you had a choice of entrees.
4 person tables with TABLECLOTHS!

[Major Tom]

Mess Sgt. "get in, get it, sit down, eat it, get out". No idle chit chat there! Oh, and there better not be anything edible left on the tray when you turned it in to the KP.

[Mickey Christian]

Ship tied up at Treasure Island in Frisco Bay. There was a Canadian war ship also tied up and a couple of us met some Canadians. (In Canadian military c. 1971, a soldier could serve on a ship...so they had a few) anyway we managed to work into an invite to dinner on the Canadian ship to check out the chow.
Was really good ass I remember, but what we really liked was the Canadian Club we could purchase after dinner. Only .15 per drink so we ponied up. One of our hosts officers came over to welcome us aboard but we wouldn't be allowed to consume any more alcohol. We paid in US coin so they knew they had visitors.
They had to follow US rules about drinking while in our port. Very cool experience....got a bit of a tour of the ship too.

[Dan Shapiro]

Best military breakfast I ever had was served at the Air Force transit billets at Rhein-Main. The white-coated chef actually ASKED me how I wanted my eggs cooked! And there were no powdered eggs in sight! (First thought was that he was talking to some officer standing behind me!)

Worst meals, US Army transit center at Ft Dix. We slept in barracks that were condemned and were in the process of being torn down. 1st evening meal, we had to wait while the OOD checked the food. At one point he turned to the head cook and pointed to a pan on the steam table "What the hell is that supposed to be?"

[BEAR]

Going through Jump School at Ft. Benning in 1972 we were standing in line waiting for our omelettes ( yes, they had omelettes). A big mouthed Spec 4 in front of us said that he only wanted a veggie omelette because "eating meat is a sin". The sergeant cooking the omelettes started to put his veggies in the egg mix when a good sized roach fell from the ceiling into this guys eggs. The Sergeant looked up, then at the Spec 4 who wasn't paying attention, then put the mass of veggies on the still squirming roach, folded the egg and mashed it down with the spatula. Turned it over a few times and then served it hot on the plate, which he then gave to the Spec 4 with a loud "Bon Appetit". He then looked at us with a big grin of very white teeth and said "Meat is protein and you guys need every bit you can get." Needless to say we weren't interested in omelettes that day.

[Michaelp]

Christmas 1968.
Guy on left is former WW2 Luftwaffe.
Still living.

[barretcreek]

When I was at Diego Garcia in '84 the captain of one of the LASH ships had been a U-boat officer. Gave the Navy fits on the monthly convoys for not following the script. "Don't tell me how to do this! My job was sinking your freighters."

[jmm03]

Diego Garcia in 1975,seabees can be a rowdy lot to say the least.Large rodents sometimes would appear on the purlins in the chow hall during dinner. If spotted, it was not unknown for the hapless creature to be bombarded from all sides with anything at hand,plates,glasses,full ketchup bottles,napkin dispensers,you name it. We all must have had pretty lousy aim,because I never remember seeing one hit... The best food was when we found the mother lode of langustas on a night time outing to an oceanside reef at low tide. My buddy Mike must have collected a hundred pounds of those sea cockroaches,which we took back to the messhall and talked the cooks into boiling them up in the giant copper kettles. A pound of lobster in each hand,dipped in butter,a cold beer from somewhere,man that was good.

[Dolt]

Went through cold weather training at Fuji Japan with 2/9 3rd Mar Div. We were freezing our butts off in our fighting holes one night and the cook called out "Hot onion soup!" Everybody made a bee line for the mess truck. Everybody but me that is. I was too lazy to get out of my grave and skipped the soup. About two hours later everybody came down with the green apple quickstep...except me. Being a sh..bird saved my bacon that night.

[Ken The Kanuck]

Not having been in the military I am not too sure if my contribution counts, but it does have to do with the US navy. I was working in Bander Abbas in Iran in the 70's and the Shah had bought a bunch of ships from the US navy. I was helping to run a construction camp for the workers on those ships who ex-navy guys. One day a US ship came into port and naturally a bunch of the guys knew one another. Some of the sailors came to the mess hall for dinner, as I was running the canteen I struck up a conversation with a couple of them. It turned out that for some reason the ship's mess did not have a particular item (I think it might of been pineapples, but to be honest with you I cannot remember). It turned out that we had lots of what they were missing, but our beer supplies were low. The ship had more beer than they needed so we struck a deal, a very good for us. We were traded beer for the missing item at a rate of about 5 to 1.

Everyone was happy, my guys got some beer and the ship's crew got what they were missing as what we had was considered to be gold and we got a great deal.

Just goes to show you whenever the government is involved they will fook it up.

KTK

[Garden Valley]

Wierdest I ever saw was at the BX at Bien Hoa in 1969.
By then that place was like a little city-they had a modern air conditioned movie theater and a nice shopping center with a decent restraunt/snackbar.
Our rear area compound bordered it and we had free run of the place.
I was buying a bunch of stuff for the guys back on the team when a deuce and a half full of army guys in from the field pulled up.
They headed for the snack bar for chow and BX stuff.

A punk ass AP and backup appeared and told them they were not allowed in because of their appearance.
He said they had to go to their own unit which was miles away.

I was beside myself in disbelief. They loaded up and left. I still think about that shameful day.
I bet none of them ever forgot, either.
It wasn't just the "hippies."


Summer of 1968 I was sent down to Da Nang to the NSA optical shop and with a bit of spare time afterwards I took the shuttle bus to the big Air Force PX in Da Nang. When I started to go in a "punk ass AP' stopped me and told me that Marines were not allowed in the PX. I've not had a good thought about the Air Force since then.

[Clark Howard]

We were having burgers in the DOOM, and wieners and loaf bread in the mess hall at Danang. After months of this diet, I persuaded several members of the ops crew to slip through the wire to the Fleet Air Support Unit's mess hall. Since we were wearing Marine flight suits, (AF Nomex was still months away), we were allowed to enter the line for a meal. The white-coated server asked, "Steak, or lobster, sir". I took the steak, but the guy behind me asked for "both", and got it with a smile. The Navy soon figured us out, and if they could catch us before we made it to the mess, they jeeped us back to our unit operations. Look at Google Earth, the whole area is now restricted for Agent Orange contamination. Bon Apetit! Regards, Clark

[Major Tom]

As OOD, I had to inspect the mess hall when they closed up for the night. I'd walk in with the 1st cook, turn on the lights and the floor would always be a moving black mass of cockroaches. 8-(
On the other hand, when in 'Nam, Special Forces officers would show up at the back door to our mess hall wanting rations for their camp. We always had a surplus of beef especially steaks. The SF guys would trade captured weapons for steaks. Gun running was very profitable when selling those weapons to GI Joe.

[RCK]

Back in 1967 Army Reserve Summer Camp was two weeks camped in the "woods" at Camp Pickett Va. As a Construction Engineer Bn., we were building roads and small Bridges under tactical conditions on the Post. Late in the second week the Mess Sgt. and two cooks disappeared in the afternoon. That evening meal we had Chocolate Cake with chocolate icing for desert. They had gone back to the base mess hall and baked five large sheet cakes. Seconds for everyone. Made up a bit for the heat, dirt, chiggers and pup tents.

[Varmintpopper]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]38666[/ATTACH

Try these, but be very hungry !

[jlutin]

Lajes AFB, Azores 1970 36TAS C-130E's stopped there both ways on rotations to and from Mildenhall and Rhein Main. You could be sitting in the OOM having breakfast and the guys at the next table flying in from the opposite direction would be having dinner. The specialty was snails. One time I was served garlic butter for my breakfast pancakes.

[fjruple]

Mess Sgt. "get in, get it, sit down, eat it, get out". No idle chit chat there! Oh, and there better not be anything edible left on the tray when you turned it in to the KP.

Tom-- Better yet. "Inhale your food and chew on the way out! Ft. Dix Basic Training - 1975

[alibi]

There are several military dining events that I recall in detail. Three that occurred in the dining facility in the post confinement facility at Fort Ord. I was a Correctional Specialist assigned to the facility from November 1970 to January 1972.

On one occasion a group of Correctional Specialists (guards) were seated in a group eating when some prisoners entered and filled in the rest of the table. One prisoner took exception to the guard seated across from him and stabbed him in the neck with a fork. Fork didn't go in very deep and little damage was done to the guard's neck.

Prisoners were used as KPs in the mess area and on another occasion one of the guards found a band-aid folded up inside a meatball, obviously put there by a prisoner, but I still wonder if the meat ball was intended for a guard.

For Thanksgiving day 1971 I was assigned to work segregated quarters, these were the prisoners that for whatever reason couldn't be in general population. Usually these prisoners (usually 5 or 6) were fed in their cells, but it was decided to let them eat in the dining facility, ahead of the rest of the population. We seated them at the table closest to the door to SQ and they had the usual nuts and candies along with their meal. Everything was going fine when a general in dress blues entered the dining hall, went to the only prisoners in the place and asked if they were getting enough to eat. The general continued on his way which I took to be a traditional command visit. Years later I discovered that the CG of Ft. Ord at that time was Maj. Gen. Harold Moore, of "We Were Soldiers" fame, and I am certain he was the general that came into the dining facility that day.

I was commissioned in the National Guard in 1974 and picked up some extra duty at Ft. Irwin doing annual training site support. One morning I went to the designated mess hall that was being run by a mess team from another state National Guard. The mess sergeant kept going up and down the line sort of pushing people into line, because a general officer from his state was scheduled to visit. I finally got tired of being pushed and told him to keep his hands off of me. The next day he refused to let me into the facility and had a major standing by to enforce his refusal. I discussed the matter with the major, told him that I understood the mess sergeant's anxiety over the visit of the general and if he wanted the line to move in a military manner he should have conducted it that way, not pushing people into line. The major agreed to let me into the mess facility. I was scheduled to conduct an inventory of the range control vehicles and needed to get there before they were on the road for the day so did not pursue entering the facility. By the time this was discussed I didn't have time to eat. I'm not sure how this incident got around but I understand the Command Sergeant Major of Ft. Irwin got involved. The next day when I went to the mess facility I was admitted but it was obvious not welcomed, and I was served what can only be described as a short ration, by servers that were obviously uncomfortable with their instructions. I saw no point in making any more waves there and avoided that mess facility after that.

[Merc]

Great USN cooked meals aboard the carriers Enterprise, Saratoga and Shangri-La in the early 1960s. No complaints other than the long lines for the enlisted men. Meals at NavCommSta in Morocco were mostly good with an occasional surprise. We quickly learned not to eat the dinner rolls. Those dark round things in the bread weren't raisens. They were flour beetles. I guess the Navy thought a little extra protein never hurt anyone.

The local Moroccans that worked in the galley washing dishes liked to take home all the leftovers, especially butter patties. We made sure to clean our plates of every last bit of food (except the dinner rolls) and put out our cigarette butts in the butter. Then the loud cursing in Arabic could be heard throughout the mess hall and out into the street.

[blackhawknj]

I often found C-rations preferable to "hot" meals, especially in the field. No arguing over portions, no surly cook dishing out mystery meat, no wondering how to clean your mess kit. One veteran told me they were at a range in Germany, an overnighter. Dinner arrived, some dummy had grabbed a mermite of potatoes instead of the meat dish. Biggest problem with C-rations-aside from Ham and Lima beans, which I liked-was stupid commanders always trying to "toughen up" their troops by putting them on short rations, and thieves.

[PWC]

C ration ham & eggs, beanie weenies..... beefsteak and pork was OK after you got the grease out. Boned chicken and Turkey, and tuna all tasted the same. Pound cake; open the lid but don't cut it off, add cream pack, some cocoa powder little water put it on the exhaust manifold of your MRC-107 or 108 jeep to cook. Made a pretty good cake. Ranger cookies; 4 to a can; must have been what used to be called hardtack.

LURPS came along and I don't think there was a bad meal; only problem was they required hot water, which wasn't always available, or you were not allowed to lite the C3 or C4. (C3 turned fingers yellow) Chili Con Carne was the best.

Now the troops have what sounds like really good chow that even heats itself. Best surprise of all is now you don't have to write home for that wonderful taste enhancer-taste killer....Tobasco is included in little one-time-use bottles.

[2flasargent]

Uss Ohare, Off Nam. Someone somewhere thought an ethnic night was a great idea so Chitlins were on the menu. The entire ship smelled for a week, and not a person of any persuasion was able to eat a bite.

[Former Cav]

I don't know if it was the "hot chow" the choppers flew in or the C rats or just poor hygiene. I was in the 3/4 Cav, 25th Inf div. And we were running a resupply convoy through downtown Tay Ninh.
I was squatting on the sponson (tool) box on the fender on my M48A3 tank with my fatigues down by my ankles defecating into the wind while we were breezed through downtown about 35 MPH.
I'll never forget the look on that Vietnamese guys face when he saw me.
I was sicker then a dog. ended up being medevaced to a hospital at Cu Chi and had about 4 days of IV's. They called it gastroenteritis. I had that same problem for many years after I got out of the army.
Maybe it was the malaria pill, who knows?

[JohnPeeff]

Former Cav, Where you in 3/4Feb 68?

[Mk VII]

Most disgusting thing was canned pilchards in tomato sauce. I could not eat those things, even when there was nothing else. On one exercise I lived on ration chocolate and nothing else for about two weeks, taking a dump eventually after it ended was an adventure ...
One time a bunch of us got back from a course to the coy out in the brush, and found everybody else had got Montezuma's Revenge from the coy cooking, and we had to have some shots before we were allowed back in. Some people had had it worse than others, even to the point of being excused duty.

[blackhawknj]

On another board a veteran said he was stationed at Fort Richardson, Alaska in 1965, he said at Thanksgiving the officers and NCOs were allowed to bring their families to the mess hall, the EM got what was left.
One time I helped the baker prepare the rolls and desserts for Thanksgiving. I had no food handlers certificate, had never been to Cooks and Bakers School, someone mentioned I liked to bake. The Sergeant Major asked me to help, I said sure, why not ? Everyone enjoyed what I made, nobody got sick...

[Sunray]

Always thought only the Army could screw up an egg. Then I had a heart attack and quad by-pass. Ate what I was told was egg's in the ICU. Eggs generally don't have granules of I don't know what. Even the crappy Army scrambled eggs didn't have that. Food in the ward was worse though. Worst of it was that I had been working at the food distributor who supplied it. I had handled all of it. Still have nightmares.
And the Senior NCO's mess always has the best food.

[Allen]

Always thought only the Army could screw up an egg. Then I had a heart attack and quad by-pass. Ate what I was told was egg's in the ICU. Eggs generally don't have granules of I don't know what. Even the crappy Army scrambled eggs didn't have that. Food in the ward was worse though.

Powdered eggs perhaps?

[Fred Pillot]

A guy in our gun club served on a destroyer in the 70's. They were served bad milk one time. Everyone spent the day standing in line for the toilet. You sit down, go, pull your pants up and then go to the back of the line again.

[Vern Humphrey]

Thanksgiving, 1966. My new wife (and Army nurse) sent me a small canned ham. I cooked it over first aid bandages soaked in insect repellent.

[S.A. Boggs]

Thanksgiving, 1966. My new wife (and Army nurse) sent me a small canned ham. I cooked it over first aid bandages soaked in insect repellent.

Run out of P.E.?
Sam

[coastie]

Coast Guard Station Port OConner finally got the word to evacuate as the hurricane approached the Texas Gulf Coast.
Little preparation, just grabbed stuff, loaded station vehicles, boats and personal vehicles, buttoned up the station
and headed up the barge canal to the Dow docks outside of Victoria. When not minding the three boats, slept on a
school's gym floor. Used our own supplies.
TO THIS DAY, CANNOT STAND VIENNA SAUSAGES !
1967.

[CJCulpeper]

When I joined up with the USAF in 76 every thing was chow runner and chow hall and eating chow or food or grub. Some time between then and my one year Alaska vacation in 90/91 at King Salmon the Air Force got all snooty and high falootin'. I must have missed that memo because a chuckle headed TSgt jumped my backside when I told him I liked how well the chow hall was looking. It was a "Dining Facility!" said he. He was very adjitated to say the least to the point of veins popping in his neck. Oh well pardon me all to hell. Always said Chow Hall after that. Still do.

This same chuckle head had a survey a couple of months later. One of the questions asked what personnel on the station did not want to see on the menu. I wrote, in my chicken scratch, basically don't cook anything that every one says tastes like crap. Holy crapski! This guy somehow had the brain cells to figure out it was me. He banned me from the DFac and we had an appointment to see the Major. The Deputy Commander was a smart and good officer and if he made General the USAF would be a better place. So I had to explain to the Major that he had asked a question and he misread the answer. He said Thank and your dismissed. Didn't matter to me too much. Being banned would have gotten me Seperate Rats. The end result was TSgt Chucklehead was not to: 1. have unapproved surveys. 2. show his personnel survey replies. 3. Not allowed to make the threat of banning personnel. He was to suck it up when the Staff Sgt told him it was a chow hall.

I was not banned from the chow hall. dang. The one thing I didn't get to do was catch him on a dark alaska night and brain him with a 2x4. But hey. There's always tomorrow.

The whole episode was too surreal at the time.

[PWC]

Assignment to Shemya 83 - 84, next to last island in the Aleutian Chain (It's not the end of the world, but you can see it from there). Best way to kill an unaccompanied 16 mo is to work it to death. Twelve hrs at work, play raquet ball another 4, then....midnight chow. Best meal of the day; bare 3 egg omlet to 3 egg "everything on the board", bacon and / or sausage, biscuts or toast and SOS (almost as good as the army makes), fried potatos (they knew how to make them crispy), whatever fruit wss available, coffee, milk, juice, soda. Morale was hi.

Remember, the front gate of Shemya was 1400 miles away at Anchorage; everything had to be flown in except once a year heavy equipment type stuff was barged in.

[Vern Humphrey]

Run out of P.E.?
Sam

I was an Adviser (4/48 ARVN Infantry). We had nothing. We weren't even allowed to shop at the commissary, if we happed to be in Saigon.

[M1CHAZZ]

Receiving barracks; Paris Island ,Jan 1979, chicken soup that looked like grease with cut up hot dogs in it.

[Siefly]

MCRD--San Diego----The fat bodies were restricted on the amount of food they could have---us skinny recruits got more.
I made the mistake of taking a orange The DI's were screaming at us to get out of the mess hall. I was told to eat the
orange right now! I was told to eat it, not peel it. I ate the orange within a few seconds without peeling it. Last time I ate
a orange in boot camp.

Siefly