Let them eat cake!
Better take your blood pressure meds… I know mine were insufficient.
We all know how BAS is supposed to work, right? You live in the barracks, you eat in the chow halls free – because you have ‘the card’. Now, you pay for the card – it costs your monthly BAS payment but you should get three squares a day in exchange. Folks who are authorized to eat elsewhere, like quarters or authorized off-post residents, receive their BAS but they have to pay for the chow hall meals. (Apologies to the other services, I call ’em chow halls – I know y’all have your own terminology but this one is Army oriented.)
Should be cut and dried. But it ain’t.
The U.S. Army is redirecting millions of dollars it has collected from the Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS) pay for soldiers living in barracks away from food services, according to a report.
The money is supposed to help soldiers with food costs, but a Military.com investigation found that of the $225 million collected from enlisted soldiers’ BAS pay last year at 11 of the Army’s largest bases, $151 million was directed elsewhere.
Wait, what? That’s taking almost 70% of the subsistence costs for food and spending it on – what?
The outlet’s investigation found that all but two of the bases they looked into – Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska and Fort Bliss in Texas – had redirected more than 50% of the money away from feeding soldiers.
It’s not clear what the redirected money is being spent on.
Rep. Jill Tokuda, D-Hawaii, said the data should be investigated.
“Stealing food money from our soldiers is not how we achieve military readiness,” Tokuda told Military.com. “The fact that at least $151 million was collected from soldiers and not spent on food as required demands not just an immediate investigation, but swift accountability.”
Swift accountability? It demands a goddamned HORSEWHIP. How many remember this?
The Army has struggled to provide meals for soldiers in recent years, the outlet reported, noting that its most extensive base, Fort Cavazos in Texas, only had two of its 10 dining halls open in the summer of 2023 and last November, Fort Carson in Colorado was forced to serve soldiers meals of just lima beans and toast.
Well, maybe the lack of dining halls makes more sense when 68% of the food money is STOLEN.
Oh, and before we start getting confused:
Food service worker salaries and dining hall infrastructure funds come from separate source, the outlet noted.
So it’s not money used for the workers salaries instead, it’s not used for the infrastructure…this is FOOD money. And what do the rats look like, other than the aforementioned lima beans on toast?
Some bases have also started serving prepackaged meals from kiosks – that the outlet found were generally high in sugar and low in protein – a cheaper alternative to cooked dining hall meals.
Not that soldiers are buying plastic wrapped sandwiches because they prefer them – but because it’s the only option they have.
Officials in the past have pointed to lower interest in dining hall meals as soldiers frequently report undercooked meat, a lack of fresh ingredients, and unseasoned meals being served there. Fox News
Calling some old-school senior mess sergeants? They served generally decent food, profanely cooked, grumpily served, that looked like and tasted like FOOD. But we privatized the mess halls, we converted the cooks to what, transgender hand-holders, and now we steal the food money to use for – what?
This is Army- and installation-level stuff, and a whole bunch of senior NCOs and officers need to fry. Probably some of these supposed dining facility folks too.
Couple of sacred things used to hold true – you could screw with soldiers’ lives, marriages, time off, deployments maybe….but you NEVER EVER FREAKIN’ EVER mess with their mail or their food. May not be great food… but get ’em real food. And don’t steal their food money.
Okay, DOGE – you’re looking for fraud and waste?
Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Army, Crime
This DEFINITELY requires the attention of our new SECDEF. I doubt Hegseth will be amused.
Maybe an unannounced arrival on a C130, followed by a ride in a non descript AGE van or pickup instead of a staff car and delivered to the chow hall without an entourage. Just the flight crew in their flight suits. Maybe announce who he is after eating, or just gather info, grab the crew and off to the next installation. A fact finding mission.
Ask to see the books when all is done and begin the firings or reassignment. I hear Minot is lovely in the winter.
I don’t think the chow hall is the problem. Drop in on the garrison commander unannounced.
Diverting money to other things happened in World War II, too– just needs the attention of someone higher up who can make said folk’s life interesting.
This is higher-level fuckery, far above any fraud the chow hall supervisor could perpetrate. 5-Sided Puzzle-Palace level.
Word.
Someone needs to me made an example of….
Ask the garrison commander who gave the order to pull such shit. Name names, or I’m going to assume it was you.
Send PV2 Snuffalong and PV1 Effenngeee to fetch trays. Examine contents. (LTC Kratman, the wise)
Mandate all officers eat trays fetched by Privates, and -nothing- else.
….
No. This has gone way too far.
At this point, relieve and dismiss every fucker in the chain who can’t document protesting the shitty conditions. Promote and place in command the SOBs that got smacked for protesting the shitty conditions.
Assemble the relieved fuckers. Count off by tens. Give everyone E-4 and under in division their choice of blunt instruments. Roll some geek’s 10 sided die. Those selected run the gauntlet. Steak and Beer night if no one crosses the finish.
Hmm. Not enough. Roll thrice? Once batch a day.
Definitely. This is some bullshit here. I do wonder about the math. Something doesn’t add up.
Try serving Lima Beans and Toast to inmates in State or Federal prison, and standby for the outrage and Congressional hearings to commence.
My wife worked in the prison system. A guy got a broken cookie, sued and won. Seems he didn’t get the same nutritional value as the other inmates.
What kind of cookie was it?
Tracking cookie, and go easy on the Lima Beans….
Not all lima beans are bad.
Father Edward J. Flanagan: There is no such thing as a bad Lima bean.
Beans in general, too.
Canned lima beans are slimy horrible disgusting stuff, imo. Even some food banks refuse them. Flash frozen lima beans however are 180. So ridiculously good.
You forgot the Ham that go along with the mother F—-kers.
Lima beans without ham is like a day without sunshine.
Butter beans!
Lemme guess, Ham & MF’ers with a nice warm Fresca for a chaser? 😀🤣😁
I think it was Convict Crackers, but in could have been Incarcerated Cameroons.
Try serving that to illegal aliens in custody and see how quickly the do-gooder liberals screech!
They deserve nothing better than a dry stale room temp cheese sandwich and an expired generic juice box on their out the door. With a size 12 boot firmly placed upside their ass.
I like lima beans.
Expect the troops to accept Lima beans and toast as a meal is some shit you would expect in the Russian Army. Don’t know how that military installation did not have a mutiny that evening. And it would have been justified.
Back in the day when Hack Stone was still on active duty, when you pulled Officer of The Day, you were required to eat your meals in the chow hall. You also had to interview five Marines and ask their opinion of the quality and quantity of the meal. One particular Marine said that meal was okay, but he wished that the vegetables were fresher. So Hack transcribed his comments. Next morning while turning over duties, the Sergeant Major reads the comment and goes off on a rant. “Does he think this is Camp Pendleton? We’re not surrounded by farms. This is fucking Okinawa!” If you don’t want to be pissed off by someone’s opinion, don’t ask them for their opinion.
At Team Spirit 88 they served us dehydrated pork patties in the mess tent on the pier, up until then we had pretty good chow. Well the pork patties had only “hydrated’ like the first 1/8 of an inch into them. The poor messmen ran into the back of the tent with the cooks when pissed off green people threatened to stuff those pork patties in every orifice on the human body. It was glorious, especially when the LCAC blew over the porta-potties in front of the mess hall and a WM was trapped in one. Ahh all the SHITTY memories.
Lower MAU Camp Chow Hall at Subic Bay Balikitan 1985. If you weren’t the first twenty through the line, they ran out of food. Eating off of metal trys, not enough cutlery, and the food sucked. Then someone discovered the Cubi Point dining Facility. It was night and day in contrast.
The stuff whatever it was that we ate from a mermite can out in the field in 2 weeks at Fort Drum because I forgot what it was when I was in the NYSNG 1975-1977 wasn’t bad. It gets bad when someone yells, cake and cock for dinner and they just ran out of cake,
Green runny instant eggs, soggy bacon and wet toast out of mermite cans can be pretty good when you have been starving in the field for a couple of weeks.
That’s why God invented Tabasco. My eggs were green and gray.
Washed down with very chewy coffee made by dumping coffee in a large pot and boiling the heck out of it.
Drum in 1979-1980 was still decent from my memory…
There is a YT channel of a dude who opens, eats and reviews MREs from all across the globe and going as far back as the Boer War.
Russian MREs got two thumbs up.
If you’re referring to Steve1981MREInfo, this guy has to have a cast-iron digestive system. He actually ate a piece of authentic Civil War hardtack and said the taste reminded him of moth balls. (How he knows what moth balls taste like I can’t imagine.)
You know Hack, Quite a few years ago if you went out about a block or two out of gate two street there was a 19th old taco place on the second story of one of the building buildings there that was really glorious. And I also remember if you went out gate two street and a couple of blocks to the left somewhere and down this area of shopping center called BC Street after twilight they were bananas 🍌 every to be had so….. you could get fresh fruit, Kinda🤭🫣
Does the Army still have KP duty?
Best job was “outside man” on the loading dock.
You got to stand there with the hose waiting on deliveries.
I can still hear the Cook yelling “outside man inside, inside man outside”.
Worst job was DRO.
I pulled KP for a Month straight before my training class started. best job was the garbage rack, got to catch a nap in the walk-in cooler after rinsing out the garbage cans. Memorys!
The last side gig Hack had to supplement his income aa a director of Media relations, there was a retired Marine on the government side who was a cook in the Corps, retiring as a Master Sergeant. Hack asked if if while waiting for a seat to open in Cook School, did he have to pull mess duty? The irony went right over his head.
If Marine cooks are like Army cooks, they ain’t got no sense of humour.
I pulled scullery duty aboard ship a few times. The smell of stainless steel and steam still makes my stomach turn.
Oh, the memories…
In my day (1980’s), you were a “mess crank” when you served a 90 day tour working in the mess decks. I started in the galley but moved the scullery. It was much, much easier. It was louder and hotter than other spots but compared to the Engine Room where the HT Shop was it was nothing. We had set up the table with condiments and fill the napkin holders before meals. Then retreat to the scullery and wait for the dirty trays & silverware. In between meals we’d help the SK’s with the mess supplies. My ship was an AOR-6 (fleet oiler) and we had a dozen fork trucks, so the was no human conveyor belts needed. I made a friend from 2nd Div that became a MS striker. He always hooked me up when he was on the breakfast line making omelets. When my son did it a few years ago, you called Food Service Assistants (FAS’s) because being called a “crank” hurt people’s feelings.
Oh wow, in before the AORs went over to the CIVMARs. That’s awhile back.
I thought worst job was pot and pan man. I spent 4 days on KP in basic, until I got patriotic and signed up for savings bonds.
Ditto. I spent three days as pots and pan man because I had sprained an ankle at Ft. Lewis, Wa. the summer of 1967.
The General’s office needs new tongue and groove oak paneling, a big screen TV and a walnut desk. The money for those necessities has to come from somewhere.
1. Meals at Army dining facilities have gotten expensive. Like $9 for a crappy lunch.
2. BAS has gotten expensive. The Army, by regulations, is supposed to reimburse you for every missed meal, THAT YOU PAY FOR, but never do. Go ahead and try to submit that paperwork.
3. Chow halls are a joke now. It used to be pretty solid homemade comfort food and very affordable for those that had to pay. Now, it’s expensive crap to include the corporate “heat and serve” mystery non food.
4. The end result is no one wants to eat at a army dining facility and do everything they can to get out of it which turns into a negative feedback loop.
A crappy lunch is nine dollars everywhere now.
I just spent $17.00 on a Chicken sandwich (deluxe) and salad at Chick-fil-A(?). Thank you Joe Biden et al.
Lemme guess what woke DEI crap it was redirected into…
“$151 million was directed elsewhere.”
Likely to more important things like the golf course at the Officers Club!
I am sure All-Points Logistics had the contract.
This seems like some Phil Monkress – level shit.
BTW: In the Navy the shipboard term is “mess decks” but (at least 20+ years ago) we still called the shore based establishments “chow halls”.
Of course, the Chair Force calls them “dining halls” to go along with their “dorms” in lieu of barracks. I’m surprised they don’t just cut to the chase and call their enlisted and officer’s clubs “frat houses”.
Air Force chow hall was more of a club house. Great food and friendly staff. Was like eating at a restaurant with Chef Pierre dazzling are pallet with his latest creations. I sure miss that great coffee! And I don’t want to forget mentioning those wonderful frozen meals served at the missle sites. Delicious! Things must have changed from 50+ years ago. In reality the food was very good.
Bolling AFB used to be bad ass.
Our enlisted club at Udorn was called the Pig Pen. It was run by the base police and security forces. They had a pool table and card table they played cards and gambled, they also played cards and gambled, they also played cards and gambled. Did I mention they played cards and gambled! Lots of broke airman eating at the Dining facility!
Now let’s not get too stuck on definitions. When I was at Mt Home AFB the dorm I stayed in was found to be worse than the what the inmates had to live in at the Idaho State Pen. Uncle Sam was found guilty and had to pay an extra $20.00+ per month to each one of us staying in the dorms. A dorm was just a barracks with a name change.
For what it’s worth $20.00 bought 16 pitchers of beer at the Airmen’s club.
I lived in an Air Force dorm and an army barracks I gotta say the Army had a better barracks. They had A/C on the building at Ft Gordon. In the Air Force I lived in an unheated uncooled Quanset hut from WW2. I think it was located at Camp Bullis where we trained before heading to SEA. It’s been 50+ years so my memory could be wrong on the location. It was around the San Antonio Area.
Camp Bullis – it is in San Antonio. Just drive north on I-10 past state route 1604, take a right before you get to Boerne and there you are. Oops, I’m originally from New England, and we can’t give directions without saying, “Aah – wha-ale – yah cahn’t get theah from heah.” I almost forgot to say that.
My Uncle Mike was a mess sergeant T/4 in WW2 and in charge of all the holiday cooking growing up. Man could put out quite an impressive spread — and his ‘shit on shingles’ weren’t half bad.
The Army done taught him good. RIP Uncle Mike…
Lima beans and toast? Are we slowly turning into the North Korean army?
Here’s your Uncle Mikes recipe (straight out of FM 10-412 dtd 1944) for “SOS”.
Recipe #303 – Creamed Dried Beef. Yield 6 gallons, 100 servings, one cup (8 ounces) each
———-Ingredients————–
Beef, dried, chipped 7 pounds
Fat, melted 1 pound (1/2 no. 56 dipper)
Flour, sifted 1 1/4 pounds (1 1/4 no. 56 dippers)
Milk, evaporated 12-14 1/2-ounce cans
Water (for milk) 1 1/2 gallons (6 no. 6 dippers)
Pepper 1/4 ounce (1/2 mess kit spoon)
Note: Serve hot over toast
ENJOY the compliments from the Dog-Faces !!!!
I like mine with wheat toast and a plate full of fried eggs on top; or, if it’s available an omelet with everything you’ve got on top. I swear, if you put a plate of SOS and toast and eggs on top of my head, my tongue would slap my brains out of the way just to get at it.
Like that no-bid contract the cut-rate contractor with totally-not-illegal-alien manpower at last summer training had. Loved the UGR-As served in the exercise DFAC… not. We couldn’t go to the main messhall at DivHQ and pay cash either.
Thanks to those drawing comparisons to Soviet armies! Exactly what this reminded me of… Somewhere someone is getting rich off this and seriously needs a whuppin’.
Absolutely inexcusable…tho these types of nefarious activities have happened time and time again thru out history. A call for a full investigation, forensic tracking for the missing funds, where they were spent, who diverted the funds, THEN send all of the guilty parties to a rock quarry in Kansas, making gravel out of boulders…on a diet of toast & lima beans.
The very first rule of leadership is you look after the welfare of your troops. How dahell did we get away from that?
No Golden Spatula Award for him…
Zulu…
A great movie with a great sound track.
Saw this and was just waiting for it to hit here.
Adopted nephew was on a TDY at another base (not one of the named in this) over the summer for 6 weeks. In 6 weeks, ate in the chow hall 2 times. First, maggots in the rice. Literally. Second time, after a shutdown and supposed clean out, maggots in the rice again.
I. Was. Furious.
There is a group of mothers of currently serving of all branches. They are a literal army of women who will coordinate and make anything happen anywhere in the world. Kid’s car broke down in the middle of nowhere at 11pm? Someone will get him, take him home, feed him and get him to his base. These women would have sent enough care packages, hand delivered, to feed all 600. Nephew knew this, didn’t say anything, because “higher-ups” were putting the word out “it would be a bad look for the CO” if people found out. Nephew, and buddies, were “warned” about anyone suddenly receiving a bunch of care packages, so nephew and buddies, after the second meal, just didn’t say anything. Nephew bought jars of peanut butter and boxes of crackers on which to subsist.
That CO was correct. An army of pissed-off, social media savvy moms all over the country can make a lot of noise. But, under the past regime, the consequences would have fallen on the kids. Now?
BOLO for lots and lots of stories, with pictures and videos. Nephew is a true soldier and took his wall-to-wall counseling from his aunt well.
Yeah, you can’t have the CO look bad for things happening under his supervision. Hack Stone would send the packages. And send a letter to the CO to let him know that he can expect a Congressional inquiry. And if there were repercussions for the troops, it would get real ugly real fast.
Love your new hairdo, OAM…tho I prefer the Ginger Haired you….pantpantpantpantpantpantpantpantpantpant
Betcha the folks who came up with THIS made sure to line their pockets first.
THEY OUGHT TO BE KEEL-HAULED IN SHARK-INFESTED WATERS.
No, piranha and candiru infested waters. Sharks are too good for them.
Forget the carnivorous fishies, that’s too speedy. Just drag them over the nearest coral reef. Repeatedly.
Okinawa is available for such activities. Coral scratches and salt water make a great combination.
Ok, but keep the candiru. That’s a fish that swims up people’s urethras and stays there 😱
I flinched just reading that.
Candiru (fish) – Wikipedia
Fishy at best.
The most credible accounts involved the candiru in a woman’s vaginal canal.
Still:
😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱
Yep!
Is this where nasty food started?
KoB, we are on the same wavelength
#pineapple-pizzaloversareheretics
An abomination against all from The Former Holy Roman Empire. If God hada wanted Mankind to put pine apples on pizza He woulda had them trees growing in Eyetaliany.
Yep.
DEI cooking courses is my best guess.
Welp…This Little Dog Soldier enjoyed his rations…
Reminds me of the things I read about the meals served to our troops during the Civil War…”weavels in the hardtack”…”spoiled beef”…”C-rats originally intended for the Roman Legion”.
Eight years ago, the DFACs on Sand Hill were on point. Gotta feed the Trainees… calories in, calories out! We usually did UPU (mermites) during training, even if we were in the company area, so it was up to the Drill running chow to ensure we got everything. The only issues I ever saw with not getting enough (for both the Trainees and the Drills/Cadre) was when a Drill from another unit grabbed an extra protein off our cart and it wasn’t noticed or reported to the DFAC staff. I got in the habit of volunteering to run chow to make sure it was done quickly and correctly (and to refill my water coolers with ice). I’d also request cadre coffee during the colder months, which few others even knew was possible. Fort Stewart, on the other hand, was all ate up (or not) 10 years ago. They got in the habit of opening only one chow hall on weekends, and 4th BDE (“Vanguard”, now 2nd Brigade “Spartan”) is on its own compound, so Soldiers without a ride had to rely on a shuttle bus. Perhaps worse, the Vanguard Shoppette was over 1/2 mile from the closest barracks and through the gate, making it an ordeal during the typical hot Georgia with daily afternoon thunderstorms for those who were willing to spend their own money on something to eat over the weekend (not to mention carrying everything back… better bring your ruck for the beer). EIB in 2015 was held at Camp Oliver, and the DFAC there struggled to provide basic meals to the Candidates and Cadre who were staying out there (fortunately, I was able to go home nightly). Later that year, my unit went to JRTC, where the entire brigade had to ration MREs due to a food shortage. As they were packing up to go back to Stewart, one or two Conex containers and reefer units were opened that were full of food that had to be tossed due to regulations. Seems the support units forgot about them, but had no problem using details from the units… Read more »
Fort Stewart in mid eighties had pretty good chow in any DFAC I hit. Our designated DFAC (2-7 Inf) was consistently good.
One thing about Navy/submarine life, even in port, we ate most of our meals on board…think working every day, every 3rd day a full duty day, etc.
So in that regard I didn’t waste a whole lot of cash on gedunk when I was off the boat.
Beer, OTOH….