Mess halls
- Thread starter Rustyt1953
- Start date
Correct
Enlisted in 1983. Never heard any complaints about USAF chow halls from members of the other branches.
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BLACKHAWKNJ
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The standard complaints about Army chow:
1. There isn't enough.
2. Doesn't taste good.
1. There isn't enough.
2. Doesn't taste good.
My mess hall story comes from Basic Training at Fort Lewis in the 1960s. I was always hungry, assumed it was all the fresh air and exercise.
I was a holdover pending orders. When powers discovered I could type, I was assigned to type daily mess hall requisitions. Noticed the draw for the next day was two pork chops per man. When I went through the line, everyone was served a single chop. While working on the next day's paper, I saw the mess sergeant carrying cases of pork chops out to his car.
That bit of insight on how the Army functioned served me well for the rest of my enlistment.
I frankly don't remember the quality of the food.
I would have turned the #^%&$ in. You just don't short the troops!
I was a holdover pending orders. When powers discovered I could type, I was assigned to type daily mess hall requisitions. Noticed the draw for the next day was two pork chops per man. When I went through the line, everyone was served a single chop. While working on the next day's paper, I saw the mess sergeant carrying cases of pork chops out to his car.
That bit of insight on how the Army functioned served me well for the rest of my enlistment.
I frankly don't remember the quality of the food.
I would have turned the #^%&$ in. You just don't short the troops!
sousana
Member
Agreed, for the most part they do provide great food. I remember once eating at the Eagle Dining Room located on Langley Air Force Base when we returned from Italy. Fast forward to my joining the Navy, becoming both Fleet Marine certified and IDT trained, I ate at the chow hall at Camp Del-Mar in California for Fleet Marine Training, not long after that I spent a week and a half in the hospital for food poisoning. Ok, that happens, but near the end of FMF training I again got food poisoning at the same chow hall this time giving me 2 weeks in the hospital. I ended up graduating but received my orders and diploma in the hospital. It was the second time around I came to the thought that maybe, just maybe, the USMC was trying to off me. Seventeen years later when I retired from the Navy with no more food poisoning incidents, I decided I was just in the wrong chow hall at the wrong time, by the way, the chow halls at Camp Lejeune were way above great food.
Best chow hall food however goes to the Carabinieri mess at AFSOUTH in Naples Italy. MAN, you'd slap your momma for that food.
Best chow hall food however goes to the Carabinieri mess at AFSOUTH in Naples Italy. MAN, you'd slap your momma for that food.
I was selected for FMF school in '65. This was at Camp Delmar on camp Pendelton, California. The Mess hall (more like a dining room) had won numerous awards for best food service in the Marine Corps...ALL the Marine corps.
I hated leaving there.
But all the Navy and Marine mess halls I ate at were decent...except for the coffee.
I hated leaving there.
But all the Navy and Marine mess halls I ate at were decent...except for the coffee.
Years ago, I read a book called Class 29 by John Carl Roat about his BUD/S training class. He talked about when they did the Airborne phase at Ft. Benning, there was never enough food. Some of (or one of) the mess sergeants was skimming by counting a toasted slice of bread cut in two as two slices. The guy(s) got court martialed over it, IIRC. Seemingly inconsequential, but extrapolated out over tens or hundreds of thousands of slices of toast, it added up!
AJ
US Veteran
Was at AFSouth in Naples, Italy several times. Never ate in their mess. I was on USS Saratoga and eating in the Chief's Mess there.
Murphy's Law
Member
The Navy had the best chow of any service. How do I know .....22 years, 6 months and 4 days that's how !!!
AJ
US Veteran
In the mid 1980s I was in a reserve unit that drilled at Bolling AFB in Washington DC. Our chow was great. I believe that since we were minutes from the Capitol they never knew when a politician would show up they wanted to put on a good spread.
BLACKHAWKNJ
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Worst mess hall I ate in was at Jump School. In the Army training units usually have the worst of everything, starting with the cadres.
DWalt
Member
I spent many years as a civilian at Randolph and Lackland AFBs. No place better for eating as Randolph was the USAF’s center for recipe development. You might say it was the AF’s test kitchen. The main dining facility at Randolph always had lots of interesting stuff, although I did not eat there too often, maybe once or twice per month. Civilians could eat there if they paid, but it was a fairly nominal amount. My favorite on-base eatery was the cafeteria at the Randolph golf course clubhouse, especially on red beans, rice, and pork chops day. The cafeteria at Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland AFB was also excellent with a huge selection, and very reasonably priced.
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LDM
Member
My dad said the best food he had in the service was on the liberty ship from New Orleans to Sydney in 1944. Had to keep the GIs happy when going that distance at 12 knots.
DWalt
Member
It must have been a challenging job to feed a troop ship full of bored and hungry GIs on a long voyage.
OP
While vacationing at Lackland I was "volunteered" for KP. I was assigned Pots & Pans. They put me in a tiled room with a large floor drain and suited me up with rubber galoshes, rubber gloves, rubber apron and a face shield. They handed me a car wash wand dispensing scalding hot water under high pressure.
The heat was oppressive and the carts of crusty kiddie pool sized pots and pans seemed endless. A most miserable day, indeed.
A week later I cracked a joke at the wrong time and got volunteered again.
You'd think I would learn.
The heat was oppressive and the carts of crusty kiddie pool sized pots and pans seemed endless. A most miserable day, indeed.
A week later I cracked a joke at the wrong time and got volunteered again.
You'd think I would learn.
ancient-one
US Veteran
Tell me, except for Officers Mess, when salad bars became a reality. I sure never saw one.
Wow. I was volunteered only once for pot & pans. You must have been good at it!
At the beginning of my career the chow halls at the National Guard Post were decent. I then went to BMT at Ft Leonard Wood, Mo. Best advice I received prior to BMT was to find the largest spoon in the chow line and shovel the food down as fast as I could. Not only did we not get much time to eat but the faster you ate it the less you tasted it. 33 years later I still have the nasty habit of eating fast. After 6 years Army, I got my head out of my backside and went Air Force. DFACs (AF lingo for chow halls) were MUCH more pleasant. I can't recall a bad meal at an AF DFAC. I wish I could say the same of Army chow halls.
AJ
US Veteran
Guess I was real lucky as I was never volunteered for Mess Duty.
