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What do you remember of Army food?

I was in army ROTC and in the USMC. It was the USMC chow that was bad. Whe

I spent 4 years in the Air Force 62-66. I had to travel quite a bit, so I ate in a lot of CHOW HALLS. The quality of food varied a lot, which proves my theory that a lot of FOOD SUPPLIES were sold out the back door at some mess halls !!!!!!

Did USN for 4 years. The only poor food was in a shared Army/Marine/Navy mess in Danang. Some of the blame might have been on local water quality.

Best Naval duty was in the kitchen. No desire to ever piss off the cooks. Good hours and no watches.

While at Fort Knox, I frequently was the Jeep driver for the Company Commander. One day after looking at training exercises, the Captain asked if I wanted a good dinner at a great chow hall. I remember that an inordinate number of officers were present there and with good reason. The big black Sargent that ran the Army Chow Hall had all kinds of cooking trophies and with good reason. The strawberry shortcake was the best I had ever had, and I was introduced to Country Bob’s Sauce. Great food that I remember some 50 odd years later. He took pride in his chow hall and food. The only enlisted personnel that I saw were mostly drivers like myself. He ran a tight ship.

US Army '72- '75. B Co. 10th Engr. We had our own mess hall and the food was good. At times out in the field the chow was less than stellar...

Army, '78-81' then '87-05' when I retired.


I went through C-Rats, T-Rats, real cooked food in Mermites, and about 3 versions of MREs. Worst I ever had was the old LRPs (long range recon) freeze dried, there was no amount of Tabasco that could fix it.

Best mess hall food ever, Bosnia and Kabul, both KBR contracted. We'd joke that Bosnia was a 25lb deployment, no chit pastry cart with an actual Bosnian pastry chef.

Still eat in the DFAC on post once in a while if we've got something going on. Generally it's pretty good, done by contractors, and depending on the TDY location is a heck of a bargain. Our post DFAC:

Meals Cost
Standard:
Breakfast - $4.30
Lunch - $6.85
Dinner - $5.95

USAF 8 rs 1965-1973. Mess hall food we had wasn't so bad but then I'm not picky. Ate a lot of c-rats overseas for 3 yrs. have eaten better but some wasn't all that bad.

The best I had was at a Navy mess hall in Corpus Christi. The worst I had other than basic training was at Ft. Sam Houston, 1st Med.

kwg

I was in the USMC fomm 1966 to 1970. Because of my MOS I trveled a bit so I was on USMC, Navy and Army bases.

The best chow consistently was at Treasure Islnd Navy base that had quite a number of VIP's travelling through it. Amazing seafood.

The worst mess hall chow I had was in an army mess hall at Pohakuloa Training Area. We were there about 6 weeks and only got paid once and got one weekend liberty. They were experimenting with a "40 meal" menu.

The worst field chow was the glop we were served in the "field kitchens" in ITR. Lukewarm hot dogs in grease juice was the headliner.

The best messhall chow I had was at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii during December of 1967. The midrats were cooked to order and were especially good.

I pretty much fended for myself from age 10...when I joined the Army in 1964, I thought I had gone to heaven...3 squares of good quality food, even hot food delivered to the field occasionally in MelMac cans. I grew so fast the first year, they had to give me an entire re-issue of uniforms. Maybe the only man in the world who loved the chow.

After my Grandmothers Cooking when i was growing up, Army food was a big let down. Rio7

USAF 1971 - 1992. Not only did I eat in the chow hall often my job was to inspect the kitchens as well. Overall the food was very good to excellent. When we were stationed at Eielson, prime rib and lobster tails (or king crab) were on the menu once a week. Breakfast eggs cooked to order. Absolutely no complaints.
When at Elmendorf I took my friend and his son to the Iditarod Dining hall for a Thanksgiving meal. Friend ran the catering department for the Anchorage Hilton hotel. He was blown away by the quality of the food and the appearance of the dining all.
The Air Force knew how to take care of their people.

The best meals I had were at Bal Bia Naval Hospital. I can’t say I ever had a good meal at any USMC chow hall or field rations. Bal Boa usually had 4 or 5 choices of meats and many side dishes.

My first mess sergeant was a drunk who put out poor quality food, so I asked the BN SGM to find him a new home. The SGM was a shooter, so we hit it off pretty well and he took care to send me better than average NCOs when they transferred in to the BN. Since NCOs are the backbone of the Army, having a core of competent NCOs made my job easier. I always had the best or second best 1SG and the best NCOs in Food Service, Maintenance, and NBC. I think that I had the worst Supply SGT 'cause I never had one who could find anything that we needed and didn't have.

I liked the ham and eggs C-Rats, but most guys didn't, so I always had plenty of them to eat when we were in the field.

I did 35 years both Army and Air Force. The AF had the better chow (no surprise, right!). But I still remember the meals cooked over heat tabs in canteen cups with my squad mates being the best.

But in the spirit of the thread: Best field rats ever were the 24 hour ones we got training with the Brits.

I have never used a heat tab to cook anything, but have heated water or fried a sliced ham or steak on the lid with a bit of
C4.

I remember the bad meals, I can't recall most of them.

The first oil embargo years in 1973 I was stationed at Ft. Sam Houston. Our meal hours were greatly cut back and so was the selection. We had hamburgers or knockworst . That was the choice. I was already a skinny guy but with rotating shifts I rarely made it to the mess halls. I spent most of my money on going to McDonalds and getting my meals there.

I was then sent to a remote missile base just outside of Ft. Richardson. When I first got there the Air Force supported us. Steak twice a week. After about 3 months on the site the Air Force decided they were not going to support the Nike Hercules bases anymore. The food rations went to total crap. Even the Army didn't want us around any more.

I have eaten in a Navy mess hall. That was really great food and lots of it.

kwg