which military eats the best?

this article was in the new york times and found it interesting evnough to post. problem was, didn't know where to put it.
in your opinion, which is eating the healthiest?
the best meal for combat, i'd assume high calorie, high energy.

Published: September 4, 2010 A Taste of Home in Foil Packets and Powder By ASHLEY GILBERTSON Troops from nearly 50 lands dine on combat meals in Afghanistan — each reminding them of where they’d rather be.

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a weak army loses, no?




[edit on 6-9-2010 by rubbertramp]

there were times during deployments i was on that every Friday was Steak and Lobster day on base.
that's right. steak & lobster.

So, i think the usaf eats pretty well some days in warzones.

also, we had multi-national forces. and it was not too difficult to get a real taste of culture from other nations as well. i have eaten things that are not on the menu in america, and in some cases even liked them.

one time we had a "BBQ" of sorts with itallian, bahrainian, guam, and american dishes served. mmmm, good eaten. yum yum.



[edit on 6-9-2010 by Esoteric Teacher]

reply to post by rubbertramp


I heard the Air Force has pretty good food

Originally posted by Esoteric Teacher
there were times during deployments i was on that every Friday was Steak and Lobster day on base.
that's right. steak & lobster.

So, i think the usaf eats pretty well some days in warzones.

No wonder the other branches make so much fun out of the Air Force. You are kinda rubbing it in their faces.

Well my bf is a submariner and from what he has told me I think the Navy eats pretty well. I wish I had menus like they do!

reply to post by pavil


rubbing it in their faces? well, maybe a little. but, soldiers and marines also ate at our dining facilities, and would go out of their ways to do it.

i was a firefighter in the usaf for eleven years. and guess who cooked a lot of those steaks for hours on end? yep, the off duty firedogs would volunteer their "days off" when not on duty every other day to help do other things also. including preparing and cooking those mmmmm yummy yummy steaks. and yes, we even had A-1 sauce to go with them.

my scanner is on the fritz, or i would load up some pics of us cooking those steaks. sorry.

steak & lobster fridays,
et

[edit on 6-9-2010 by Esoteric Teacher]

Originally posted by NeutronAvenger
reply to post by rubbertramp

 

I heard the Air Force has pretty good food

They sure do. I was in the US Navy and was based close to a USAF base for while and we would go across the river to their chow hall for dinner.

Navy food wasn't bad, we had steak and eggs for breakfast everyday on the boat during the last month of our gulf war deployment.

reply to post by rubbertramp


Air Force has it better than the other services in just about every aspect when it comes to creature comforts. I believe much of it has to do with folks being on flight status - the brass wants to keep aircrew happy so they don't crash all their expensive toys. Those perks trickle down to the ground/admin people.

I think Italians had the best chow in Iraq. I would eat with them any chance I got. The funny thing is, they felt the same way about our food- loved a hamburger and fries. The grass is greener I guess.

I loved the food the British army fed me, that included rations....mmm bacon grill.

The chefs used to get a lot of grief about the food at times, but i thought it was great.

Then again i love hospital food so you could say i'm not that fussy.

CX.

ok, sounds damn good so far.
but what happens when i also ask which military has the worst food?
i wonder what the north koreans have for supper.
does the taliban eat well?

Well I always thought the Us military probably eats the best the world over, where quality is concerned.

That really depends on the scenario though.
The Army defacs were pretty tasty and made some damn fine breakfast "Oh GOD" it was good, and yeah steak and crab legs were on the menu occasionally.

However when I went to the field I packed my rucksack with a crap load of food and mt dew from the PX. For multiple reasons one being that I could make extra money selling the goodies to other soldiers who were desperate, another being that while in a field exercise for a month MREs get pretty Effing ugly.

Not to mention that the little portable mess tent they set up had a lot of NON COOKING privates serving me brown scrambled eggs and watery hash brown substance. WTF?

So needless to say I would raid the kitchen supply tent and get a few boxes to bring back to my platoon. If any one asks how I managed to get all that food in my ruck it was easy. I just put all my rucks usual contents in a Humvee freeing up some space. Ahh the good ol days. No not really.

reply to post by snowen20

another being that while in a field exercise for a month MREs get pretty Effing ugly.

i would venture to say that this is more relevant to the n.y.t. article than steak and lobster.

I totally agree that AF has the best dining facility's by far in the military. Us soldiers envied those dining halls and those of us fortunate enough to be stationed near one would go out of our way to eat at them. The only time i actually enjoyed an Army base dining facility was when i was in Alabama...god they had the best cheeseburgers ever. Freshly cooked and always hot off the grill. Although eating like that all the time tends to have an impact on your PT scores...

When I was stationed up in Alaska (Ft Wainwright) from 1991-1996, we had the BEST DFAC in USARAK (I was a ration control specialist). Every Thursday we has steak, lobster, crab legs, bbq and soul food.
EVERYONE came to our chow hall from all across post to eat at lunch on Thursdays.
The way the chow halls work is is they get X amt of $$ for the people that eat in the DFAC, the more people that eat in the chow hall, the better of a budget.

reply to post by CX

Hmm, CX. Bacon grill with the solder from the tin still stuck to the bottom,
The white mars bars with arabic writing from the Suez canal campaign.
And not forgetting the spangles you had to eat with the wrappers still on as they were that sticky, And lets not forget the "Mega" teabags for brewing up in the "BVs".. And the green cheese possessed for fixing leaks in the fuel tanks,

Boil in the bag !! that was obviously intended for the "Brylcreem boys

I dont care what people say, I LOVE MREs...some of em are really damn good

reply to post by HomerinNC


i lived off of MREs for 4 months straight one time. some of them were real good even. sometimes it felt like kids in the lunchroom from grade school. "wanna trade your this for my that".

yes, even in the air force we had to eat bad once in awhile.

reply to post by HomerinNC

Ive heard that the quality has significantly improved over the years and that they are actually pretty tasty as well. I would love to try some for myself and see what they really taste like, but all I have been able to find is surplus MREs (which are old and probably not the newer, supposedly better versions).

I think my favorite of old was the dehydrated pork patty, the hot dogs (aka the 5 fingers of death), sliced meatballs

on another note, Chris, youre from Long Island, whereabouts? I'm from suffolk county/Bayshore

Originally posted by mblahnikluver
Well my bf is a submariner and from what he has told me I think the Navy eats pretty well. I wish I had menus like they do!

Being an old submariner, hands down we ate the best. There was always food available. We had 4 meals each day, breakfast (cooked to order, and as good as Bob Evans). Lunch, with a huge menu to choose from. Dinner was always the best. Steaks, Shrimp, Lobster, ribs. And everyones favorite meal, Mid Rats! This was a combination of everything that was left over from the day. Which wasnt really alot since the food was always all you could eat. We were on 3 section duty underway, which means you were on watch for 6 hours with 12 hours of non watch time. Makes for an 18 hour day. The only way you could tell what time of day it was, was by the meal being served.

I almost forgot about our baker! Awsome homemade breads, sticky buns, donuts. And I wonder why I have a weight problem!