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!