For Military and Gov

[jimnjana]

Sorry about the title, cat hit the send button before I was ready.

If you are a Military Retiree and you live near an Air Force Base you may want to visit the Dining Facility. Prices are cheap, 4 of us had cooked breakfast for about ten bucks. Can't speak for the quality of meals at all facilities but at the Patrick AFB, was so much better than any Army facility I've ever eaten at.

New era in food service coming to Air Force bases

 

[Nords]

The Manpower, Personnel and Services community identified the transformation of food operations as the highest priority initiative to serve the Air Force community better and improve Airmen's quality of life.

Wow, the biggest problem the Manpower, Personnel, and Services experts could find wasn't manpower, personnel, or even really services but rather... food?!?

[Insert snarky Air Force joke here]

 

[JDARNELL]

Did someone also come by ang pick up your tray?

Tomcat98

 

[Koolau]

At least on Oahu, many of the dining facilities on military bases are open to the public. I've been to Fort Shafter and MCBH. Some bases are more difficult than others to enter, but once you're in, you can purchase meals in the dining facilities. Shafter is especially nice for relatively large groups (clubs, church, etc.) but one needs to contact them ahead of time. Having a military retiree is probably needed for big groups, but I'm not certain of that.

In any case, the food is good (if not great) and reasonable for what you get. It's pretty cool to mingle with the service personnel too. I recall being young and strong once.

 

[jimnjana]

Did someone also come by ang pick up your tray?

Tomcat98

Yes, at least at Patrick.

 

[jimnjana]

At least on Oahu, many of the dining facilities on military bases are open to the public. I've been to Fort Shafter and MCBH. Some bases are more difficult than others to enter, but once you're in, you can purchase meals in the dining facilities. Shafter is especially nice for relatively large groups (clubs, church, etc.) but one needs to contact them ahead of time. Having a military retiree is probably needed for big groups, but I'm not certain of that.

In any case, the food is good (if not great) and reasonable for what you get. It's pretty cool to mingle with the service personnel too. I recall being young and strong once.

They don't check ID cards, generally if you can get onto the Base, you can now eat at the Dining Facility.

 

[Gumby]

I always felt sorry for the USAF guys, living with such spartan facilities.

 

[Nords]

I always felt sorry for the USAF guys, living with such spartan facilities.

Oooh, careful, Leonidas and the Army posters may be reading this.

Last month I finished "Rising Wind", an old Dick Couch novel. Written in 1996, it describes a joint forces assault to stop a terrorist threat. At one point the Army Special Forces general is flown out to the USS TARAWA's flag quarters to lead the staff planning the strike. Couch, a former SEAL during the Vietnam war, is quite familiar with nautical terminology but chose to describe the scene through a landlubber's eyes:

The suite was spacious and well appointed, with a sitting room complete with a small conference table. A curtained bedroom had a porthole that framed an escort vessel steaming on the TARAWA's starboard beam. Along one wall of the sitting room was internal communications equipment that connected the room with the ship's bridge and combat information center. On the other wall, over a Naugahyde couch, was a large framed print of an armed Marine contingent marching through the streets of Tripoli. A green felt cloth covered the table. Cups and saucers attended a china carafe of hot coffee flanked by a crystal cream-and-sugar service. Soft music played over the ship's entertainment system. Directly above him was the flag plot that would serve his command center for the planning and execution of the mission.

F#$%ing Navy, he thought, as he tossed his gear bag on the couch. As a second lieutenant he'd slept rolled in a poncho liner in the field with his platoon. When he'd been a company commander, it had been a sleeping bag in the corner of a command bunker. Once promoted to field grade, he'd been allowed a canvas cot in the command tent; as a battalion commander he'd had his own cot and tent. And now I'm about to fight the battle from a condo with an ocean view, he thought.

Nobody picked up his food tray, though.

 

[REWahoo]

I thought about pointing out the plushest dining experience I had in the military was at a Navy facility (white jacketed waitstaff, linen table cloths, etc.) but I suspect it would be met with a response along the lines of "Yeabut, things have changed a lot since we stopped relying on the wind to power our ships"

 

[Nords]

I thought about pointing out the plushest dining experience I had in the military was at a Navy facility (white jacketed waitstaff, linen table cloths, etc.) but I suspect it would be met with a response along the lines of "Yeabut, things have changed a lot since we stopped relying on the wind to power our ships"

Nah, we nukes ate every meal like that...

 

[martyb]

Sorry about the title, cat hit the send button before I was ready.

If you are a Military Retiree and you live near an Air Force Base you may want to visit the Dining Facility. Prices are cheap, 4 of us had cooked breakfast for about ten bucks. Can't speak for the quality of meals at all facilities but at the Patrick AFB, was so much better than any Army facility I've ever eaten at.

New era in food service coming to Air Force bases

I ate at Patrick way back in 1979, and at the time, it was the best military chow hall I'd ever eaten in...I was impressed, and I was in the Air Force! Eglin wasn't too bad if I recall correctly, and seems like there was one at Nellis that was ok too. Now, the Army mess hall on Fort Bragg that I tried out wasn't so hot! I retired earlier this year at Barksdale AFB, in LA, and I am not aware of them allowing anybody other than active & reserves to eat there, never noticed any retirees, but I'll check into it. My wife would get a kick out of that! lol Good ol SOS.....lol! Do they even make that anymore?

 

[martyb]

I always felt sorry for the USAF guys, living with such spartan facilities.

Yeah, it really sucked to be us!

 

[Leonidas]

Oooh, careful, Leonidas and the Army posters may be reading this.

I remember when I got out into the FMF and discovered the Marine Corps' most treasured culinary asset. Feeding Marines with the finest chow ever, some Marines have sung ballads: (NSFW)

YouTube - Marine Pizza Delivery (check out the rest of Wrip2020's videos)

 

[Gumby]

One of the memories that sticks with me from my very brief introduction to the USMC at Quantico is the tradition that all the Marines eat before their officers do. The Corps really does develop good leaders.

 

[Nords]

One of the memories that sticks with me from my very brief introduction to the USMC at Quantico is the tradition that all the Marines eat before their officers do. The Corps really does develop good leaders.

Well... well... well we couldn't eat until the engineering drill critiques were finished and everybody left the mess decks!

 

[deserat]

I always felt sorry for the USAF guys, living with such spartan facilities.

LMAO on that one - great satire!

On subject - the movie Das Boot has a great scene where the U-boat Commander comes ashore to meet with the German command and they are having one helluva a Christmas dinner - the look on the U-boat CCs face is a classic - and then the speeches and crap coming out of the land CC's mouth are classic, too

In any case, I do like my service's attention to their facilities - I live and am serviced by an Army post right now - leaves a lot to be desired. I guess it's a matter of be careful what you give away as the expectations are now at that level - maybe that's why the other services don't upgrade as much.

As for the Navy and being a leader there - well, yes, they do tend to take care of the Captain....

 

[jimnjana]

I ate at Patrick way back in 1979, and at the time, it was the best military chow hall I'd ever eaten in...I was impressed, and I was in the Air Force! Eglin wasn't too bad if I recall correctly, and seems like there was one at Nellis that was ok too. Now, the Army mess hall on Fort Bragg that I tried out wasn't so hot! I retired earlier this year at Barksdale AFB, in LA, and I am not aware of them allowing anybody other than active & reserves to eat there, never noticed any retirees, but I'll check into it. My wife would get a kick out of that! lol Good ol SOS.....lol! Do they even make that anymore?

Patrick may have changed a little bit since you've been there. The dining facility is fairly new. Didn't realize the menu was online.

GO Patrick FL!

 

[friar1610]

I took a TAD (TDY) trip from Norfolk in the early 80's which really showed the differences in the services' digs. I started at the Navy base in Key West, FL, staying in the BOQ at Truman Annex. It was a dreary room, tile floors, maybe one or two wire hangers in the closet, lousy lighting, no TV and very typical of Navy BOQs I had stayed in. Went from there to a Navy command that was located on Homestead AF Base (south of Miami.) What an incredible difference! My room was nicer than, say, a Holiday Inn, had a color TV, a mini-bar, wall to wall carpeting, plenty of sturdy hangers in the closet, etc.

 

[REWahoo]

Friar, did you have a chance to try the room service while you were there?

 

[M Paquette]

In a Navy dining facility, you'll get the best/strongest coffee from the urn near the Chief's tables.

Long ago, I was on the Master At Arms force for a Navy mess. Among the High Responsibilities of the MAA force was the Keeping of the Keys to the Coffee Locker, and the Weighing of the Coffee. (Bear in mind how much a 50 pound can of coffee is likely to sell for!) We had to measure out the coffee for use in the urns. Enlisted and officer urns got a 6 ounce measure per pot. The Chief's urn got a 9 ounce measure for the same size pot.

Now, some would say that it took that much caffeine to get a Senior Chief to move, or to keep a Master Chief awake. Not me, of course...

 

[zinger1457]

Back in the 80's I worked as a civilian tech-rep for the Navy supporting electronic systems on aircraft carriers, made two full 'west-pac' cruises. Before arriving for the first time my expectations were extremely low, that the food served on board would be the same crap I got in my college dorm cafeteria. Boy was I surprised, we ate in the officers mess and the food was generally very good. The exception being the few times we were at sea for extended times and hadn't been re-supplied in awhile, they just didn't have much to work with.

 

[Purron]

Sorry about the title, cat hit the send button before I was ready.

Yeah, that happens.

 

[Nords]

Bear in mind how much a 50 pound can of coffee is likely to sell for!

Sold? Those can be sold?!?

I thought they were just for barter or an alternate form of shipyard currency-- or a temporary deckplate covering for the first few months underway...

We had one 90-day patrol get extended for "a few days", and during that time we had a chance to assess the truly important things in life. It turns out that you can come up with a lot of alternatives for movies and toilet paper, let alone food, but there's no acceptable substitute for real Navy coffee.

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

Sorry about the title, cat hit the send button before I was ready.

If you are a Military Retiree and you live near an Air Force Base you may want to visit the Dining Facility. Prices are cheap, 4 of us had cooked breakfast for about ten bucks. Can't speak for the quality of meals at all facilities but at the Patrick AFB, was so much better than any Army facility I've ever eaten at.

New era in food service coming to Air Force bases

I was at Patrick yesterday at about 0715, maybe you saw me. I was the only Navy person in the building. Everyone kept calling me Major, even though my flightsuit has gold oak leaves, not the rusty USAF ones.

Great food, especially for the price. I noticed that USAF dining facilities charge a la carte. The USN galleys I have been to have the same quality food, but everyone pays the same price, regardless of what you want to eat. The one here at NAS New Orleans gets pretty busy sometimes.

The Coast Guard galley in Key West is rumored to be the best one in CONUS.

 

[martyb]

I was at Patrick yesterday at about 0715, maybe you saw me. I was the only Navy person in the building. Everyone kept calling me Major, even though my flightsuit has gold oak leaves, not the rusty USAF ones.

Great food, especially for the price. I noticed that USAF dining facilities charge a la carte. The USN galleys I have been to have the same quality food, but everyone pays the same price, regardless of what you want to eat. The one here at NAS New Orleans gets pretty busy sometimes.

The Coast Guard galley in Key West is rumored to be the best one in CONUS.

Yeah, the Air Force went to that ala carte thing a few years back, I don't know exactly what they get out of it...most people on active duty who eat in the base dining facilities are single & authorized to eat free of charge & so they don't pay anything. Not that many people who are paid bas (extra pay for food because they're with dependents) eat in the chow halls because they can actually eat cheaper at other places around base (Burger King, base bowling alley etc.) or even off base. Reservists who are drilling on weekends can also eat free, so again, I don't know why the bother with the ala cart thing, unless maybe somehow it helps with inventory purposes. The Air Force for some reason just likes to be different....