NAVY CHOW

[amazingflapjack]

Army-so the chow was never very good, unless we were being inspected by someone 06 or above-then the hot rolls came out of wherever they had been. Of course, training always resulted in the worst of the worst. One place had potatoes and chili peppers-ALOT. In Infantry AIT the cooks were returnees, and had that look that said, "you'll never make it." One cook would play, "Only the strong survive" the whole time we were in there-which wasn't long-The "food" was abominable. The best chow I ever had while in the military was, ironically, in Vietnam. We stopped off at some Air Force installation on our way down country-heading to our first duty station. Most of these guys were Army like me, and had known nothing but training installations with horrible ambiance. We were thunderstruck as we went down the line-beautiful food! And the servers were nice! Then, at the end of the line they dumped a 4 inch square block of ice cream on our trays! Wow, next time I go, it's gonna' be Air Force all the way Bud !!!!!

 

[GKC]

It's been a long time ago (1969 - 1973) so I don't really remember that much about the food, but I do recall the best I ever had was when I was stationed at a small cargo handling base outside of Williamsburg, VA. The Navy had its lens lab there, and a school for opticians. I went to Optician Tech school there (6 months) and I recall the food being excellent. Seems like we had steak every Friday.

 

[Frank46]

When we made our westpac cruise we had close to 5000 people on board.
You'd go stand in the mess line and when your lunch time was up (without eating) back to work we went. We had more people eating mid rats than there were watch standers. Finally our complaints were heard and they opened the forward mess decks. Hamburgers, hot dogs and stuff like that. But hey at least we got to ea

 

[CH4]

I have only been in 5 chow halls and they were all good.

Nothing beats AF chow! The higher the ASVAB score, the better the chow. Haven't seen too many Army guys chiming in on this discussion.

 

[Fishslayer]

I spent 3 months at 29 Palms (4 months if you include the CAX I did). I don't remember hating the food. I do remember the E-Club and the treacherous trip across the parade deck from the club back to the barracks at 2AM.

I gots a story about my first day there. They put a shaggy, bearded E4 Seabee into a squad bay with a bunch of boot Marines. Awakened at oh dark thirty by some poor E5. Hilarity ensued!

 

[crazyphil]

"GI beans and GI gravy-
GI wish I'd joined the Navy."

 

[johnt671]

The best military food I had was on the Coronado. I was with the first Marines to sail on her. The mess people did some great meals. I use to volunteer for for night Sgt. of the guard just to get the mid - rats they served.

 

[andy52]

DE's and DD's didn't have the same chow as a bird farm...
We ran out of fresh stuff fast...

Absolutely correct, my first ship was USS Noa DD-841 out of Mayport. The first month or so into a 6 month cruise wasn't to bad but by the end it was god awful.

Second ship was entirely different USS Rigel AF-58 accentually a floating grocery store we ate as good as anywhere in the fleet because we had all the goodies. However the work was grueling, up at 0300 prep for CONREP and VERTREP and go at it until got dark that evening.

 

[Doug M.]

Not to fault the Tabasco sauce! Many folks aren't aware that the McIlheny family (owners of the Tabasco brand) provided FREE shipments of little bottles of Tabasco sauce delivered to the troops in Vietnam. ...
Half a century later and I still have more fondness for the McIlheny family than I have for Uncle Sam.

*
I read a few years ago about the death on of the family; he was a USMCR Brig. Gen. Something tells me he had an awareness of the suck of the field, and spread that in the company.

 

[Nevada Ed]

I was in the Sea Bee's and even in peace time on Guam, at a table.......

I could not, get used to the taste of that powdered milk.
I had to give up dry cereal until back in the states.

 

[indie_rocker]

Nothing beats AF chow! The higher the ASVAB score, the better the chow. Haven't seen too many Army guys chiming in on this discussion.

Sometimes we just know when to keep our mouths shut and be grateful for a hot meal.

Having said that. The best meals were dinner at the hospital DFAC on Ft. Bragg. Otherwise, it was always a toss up. I remember my first meal in Iraq, getting excited because they had nacho cheese. Then I tasted it, it literally had no flavor. By the end of the deployment, that cheese was bangin and I'm sure they didn't change anything.

 

[riverrat38]

I was an Army trained cook in the Calif National Guard. '64 to'70.
We normally ate C rats on the convoys to and from Summer Camp.
Near my last camp, it was decided that we would serve the same chow on the master menu for that day. They gave me some frozen large chunks of meat and raw veg, as the menu said stew, beef, edible. I could have done something with all of that if I had an entire shift, but I had about an hour to "force cook" the mess. The result was, predictably, terrible, and most ended up in the garbage can. Except for the "full time" motor pool Sargent. He came back for more. Said it was just like he liked it, and that it reminded him of the stew his wife made!
I was a third generation Army cook. My dad was a cook during the occupation in Japan, and my grandfather during WW1. None of us volunteered for the job. My grandfather said they got sides of beef, whereas we were issued meat that was already butchered. He told me that the cooks got the best cuts of beef; we didn't get any best cuts. Mostly hamburger and stewing meat. Or, "steaks" that should have been ground.

Best,
Rick

 

[lkabug]

Nothing beats AF chow! The higher the ASVAB score, the better the chow. Haven't seen too many Army guys chiming in on this discussion.

I was Army, and I ate. However my mother taught me that if I have nothing good to say, to say nothing at all.
When I was across the pond in 67/68, in the highlands north of Plieku along the boarder, we ate what they ate.

 

[A-37]

"Field rations" in a KC-135 were frozen dinners (similar to Swanson's) cooked in the plane's small electric oven. Nothing like a hot meal during a long flight.

If you preferred something different, the Inflight Kitchen would make you a box lunch with a sandwich and extras. Always an orange, too.

On SAC Alert (KC-97G, 1960-64) at Churchill or Frobisher AB, the mess hall was a 24-hour operation. After shooting some pool, we'd meander up to the mess hall and have some bacon and eggs around 2200 hrs. Maybe some hot rolls and honey for desert. How could we not enjoy a 2-week Alert TDY like that? So what if the wind chill was often 60 degrees below zero................

 

[Westie1]

Being a post Nam SAC crew dog sounds like I got the better of meals. Most meals I had were what the wife or I cooked. Even on days we flew, I ate home cooking.

Pulling Alert was the only time I ate in a mess hall. Breakfast was whatever you wanted. Waffles, pancakes, eggs, oatmeal, or cold cereal. Lunch and dinner was what was scheduled for the day. Though they would fix burgers if you wanted that instead. At the end of the fiscal year, the mess hall manager always had extra money that had to be spent. And he did.It was the only day that the mess hall was only open to the Alert Force. On the menu was lobster and prime rib.

 

[Double-O-Dave]

While in the Army, I had a buddy who served under Colonel (later MG) George S. Patton - the son of General George S. Patton, Jr. in Viet Nam. He said Col. Patton had a habit of prowling company areas looking for sergeants and officers who were hiding out "in the rear with the gear", rather than being out in the field with their men. He claimed he was once in a mess hall (tent) eating a meal before shipping out when Col. Patton suddenly appeared and walked towards a table filled with E-7 and above Sergeants who were sitting around drinking coffee and shooting the breeze. The tent got very quiet when Col. Patton asked the sergeants sitting at the table why they weren't in the field. All of the sergeants claimed to have medical profiles stating they could not eat combat rations. Col. Patton then asked to see the Mess Sergeant, and when he appeared, Patton ordered him to make each of the sergeants a sack lunch, and then ordered the MPs to make sure each of the sergeants were given a ride out to a field unit.

I don't know if the story is true or not - my buddy insists that it was - but if it isn't it sure ought to be.

Regards,

Dave

 

[paulh]

While in the Army, I had a buddy who served under Colonel (later MG) George S. Patton - the son of General George S. Patton, Jr. in Viet Nam. He said Col. Patton had a habit of prowling company areas looking for sergeants and officers who were hiding out "in the rear with the gear", rather than being out in the field with their men. He claimed he was once in a mess hall (tent) eating a meal before shipping out when Col. Patton suddenly appeared and walked towards a table filled with E-7 and above Sergeants who were sitting around drinking coffee and shooting the breeze. The tent got very quiet when Col. Patton asked the sergeants sitting at the table why they weren't in the field. All of the sergeants claimed to have medical profiles stating they could not eat combat rations. Col. Patton then asked to see the Mess Sergeant, and when he appeared, Patton ordered him to make each of the sergeants a sack lunch, and then ordered the MPs to make sure each of the sergeants were given a ride out to a field unit.

I don't know if the story is true or not - my buddy insists that it was - but if it isn't it sure ought to be.

Regards,

Dave

That is so on target I can't believe it. When we left Kaneoe for Okinawa and the what was to become ChuLai I can't count on both hands the number of staff NCOs who claimed marital issues and had to go back. PISSULAMANOUS pieces of sh&&t. That was not the Corp I joined. May they rot in hell cause we were there you *******s.

 

[jimbo728]

I was an express line man most of the time. Hot dogs, soy burgers and fries. Breakfast was eggs to order and anything you wanted with em. Always had fresh milk. Holiday fixins were always great.
Jim

 

[Murphy's Law]

I beg to differ. My first ship was a carrier with wooden flight decks (USS Oriskany CVA-34). During the years 1964-1967 on WestPac's once we departed Pearl Harbor (for Yankee Station) within a week or two at most, we no longer saw fresh fruit, real milk, etc. Everything served to us looked more like the cat threw-up, not to mention all the weevils in our bread. In fact, I never knew corn beef could look the color green when cooked. A decade later on the USS Truxtun CGN-35 things were 100% different. Either way, those two ships are long gone. The Oriakany was purposely sunk off the FL coast for the fish/marine life and museum. I think the Truxtun is "razor blades" now. God bless them both and for all the men that served on them. RMCS retired.

 

[OLDNAVYMCPO]

MURPHY'S LAW, not all ships were up to par. The Skipper's leadership and that of his staff determine the conditions aboard ship. I was on the USS Independence in 1971-1972, on a Med cruise. That was the worst ship I'd ever been on. Trash in every nook and cranny of the hangarbay, a fire each and every day, a boiler out, only half the mess open for the entire cruise and lost more hands than a West Pac.

My very first day aboard, still in port, loading A/C and gear aboard, a fire broke out on the flight deck. Me and my working party grabbed a fog nozzle and ran to the fire. No water pressure. One hand grabbed a fire extinguisher, malfunctioned. I knew then that it was going to be a heck of a cruise.

The chow, if you could wait in line long enough to eat was horrible. All the hands in my crew depended on care packages from home or on what they could buy in port. I lost 20 pounds on that cruise. There was no way you could stand in line for chow and be on the flight deck for ops.

My next cruise was on the Connie, what a world of difference. Immaculately clean, chow and laundry was great, right up until the last month on station when we had to go on water hours due to a boiler blowing.

Leadership is the key in any command as you well know.