Deployment food. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

PO2 Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 08:09:29 -0500

What is the weirdest thing you have ever seen served in your galley/chow hall/D-Fac/Mess Hall, ect.

On my first deployment I learned real quickly, when you see steak and crab legs being served... prepare for bad news.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 4 at 2014 8:53 AM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 08:53:12 -0500

My biggest shock was when I saw all the various types of seafood served up in Hawaii. When you see an octopus or squid or whatever the heck it was sitting there with tentacles splayed out, you kinda go "oooookaaaaaay."

Response by PO2 Rocky Kleeger made Mar 4 at 2014 8:54 AM

PO2 Rocky Kleeger — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 08:54:41 -0500

The "weirdest" thing I've ever been served? Anything having to do with Mid-Rats on the ship

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 4 at 2014 9:08 AM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 09:08:47 -0500

Good question, PO3 Ralliford. I'm interested in reading other members' answers.

I mostly ate Clif bars and canned soup, but one day I got hot soup from a DFAC and it had something in it that looked like hair! Threw it out and the only soup I could eat after that was Ramen noodles.

Response by Maj Chris Nelson made Mar 4 at 2014 9:09 AM

Maj Chris Nelson — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 09:09:37 -0500

when I was in Iraq, steak/crab was every tueday (or was it thursday?)...anyway...they also had a mongolian grill, Indian food night...overall rations wern't too bad...took somegetting used to boiled steaks.... Afghanistan was much the same.... at one location, the mess hall was run by the Brits. Food there was a bit different then I was used to....not bad. Different.

Response by PO2 Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 4 at 2014 2:02 PM

PO2 Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 14:02:19 -0500

Borrowed form a Navy Memes page. I think you get the point. I can't even tell what the stuff on the right is.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 4 at 2014 3:52 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 15:52:59 -0500

I remember steak and crab legs every week, but I don't remember the bad news part. Maybe it was just your camp. Anyway, strangest thing I remember is the rose flavored ice cream popsicle served at our DFAC. Who wants to eat a flower?

Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 4 at 2014 6:35 PM

SGM Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 18:35:43 -0500

Mongolian grill, best night of the week. Turkey wraps for the rest of the week....

Response by LTC Paul Labrador made Mar 4 at 2014 9:30 PM

LTC Paul Labrador — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 21:30:48 -0500

My first deployment (2003-04) we ate MREs and T-Rats for the first 3 months. ANYTHING from a DFAC after that was gourmet...

Response by 1SG(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 5 at 2014 1:09 AM

1SG(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 01:09:37 -0500

I've seen T-rats served at breakfast in a BDE garrison chow hall. Remember that soldiers w/o meal cards paid to eat there.

Response by PO1 Ricky Allen made Mar 13 at 2014 4:35 PM

PO1 Ricky Allen — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 16:35:58 -0400

A chicken patty, salsbury steak looking, could have been a country-fried steak thingy. To this day I don't know what it was, but Texas Pete took care of it.

Response by LCpl Steve Wininger made May 22 at 2014 12:32 AM

LCpl Steve Wininger — Thu, 22 May 2014 00:32:25 -0400

This is no lie, while deployed aboard the USS Denver in 84, I could swear the cook was Dr. Seuss, it was the first time in my life I had seen or eaten green eggs and ham.

Response by SrA Bobby Lovelace made May 26 at 2014 12:28 AM

SrA Bobby Lovelace — Mon, 26 May 2014 00:28:41 -0400

I fully understand somethings are safe to eat while others are not. I was over seas for my first assignment and it could have been beef or dog you never knew

Response by GySgt Private RallyPoint Member made May 26 at 2014 2:17 AM

GySgt Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 26 May 2014 02:17:08 -0400

I don't know if anything I saw was weird, if I did it quickly became the norm. Eating at the Afghan National Police HQ Chow Hall was different eating Afghan food pretty often, living on a British FOB and eating there field rations was eh, but eating something weird and different is definitely better then having to continuously eat MRE's, pound RIP IT's, and chewing on cliff bars for months straight.

Response by PO2 Private RallyPoint Member made May 28 at 2014 1:06 AM

PO2 Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 28 May 2014 01:06:06 -0400

WOG day breakfast: green, red, pink, orange, and other colors of foods with food coloring. But that's not what struck me as odd. It was the drinks. What are in those things? It tasted like coffee, milk, coke, pepsi, Dr. Pepper, water, water from a Cadillac, and water from the toilet that hasn't worked in that abandoned head for months!

Response by PO1 Private RallyPoint Member made May 31 at 2014 7:22 PM

PO1 Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 31 May 2014 19:22:52 -0400

Steaks that were marinated in Rum extract. Tasted like butterscotch flavored armpit. The SUPPO was no longer allowed to cook after that meal.

Response by PO1 Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 1 at 2014 12:06 AM

PO1 Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 01 Jun 2014 00:06:49 -0400

Or when the freeze box goes down...eat it before it goes bad. Worst tho would be when we had rice with every meal for 3 months...

Response by MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca made Jun 8 at 2014 2:17 PM

MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca — Sun, 08 Jun 2014 14:17:08 -0400

Iraq 2005 -2006

Baskin Robbins ice cream
Surf & turf Fridays alternating weekly between crab & lobster

And my personal favorite - Frozen Combat Caffeine - LTC Jim Vartanian and CSM Dave Morgan (and I, snapping photo) enjoying frozen "foo-foo"drinks at Green Beans, Basra

Response by MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca made Jun 8 at 2014 2:54 PM

MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca — Sun, 08 Jun 2014 14:54:31 -0400

MAJ Mike Cote getting way to into Surf & Turf Friday, 'nuff said.

Response by MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca made Jun 8 at 2014 3:03 PM

MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca — Sun, 08 Jun 2014 15:03:14 -0400

butter sculptures

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 8 at 2014 8:09 PM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 08 Jun 2014 20:09:36 -0400

Just have to say......where did they get that cheese from? It was soooo nasty....(FYI that is NOT me in the photo).

Response by SSG Keith Evans made Jun 9 at 2014 6:51 PM

SSG Keith Evans — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 18:51:53 -0400

Brown Salad and Green hots dogs at the DFAC on COB Speicher. And Lobster??? In Iraq??? It was not fresh nor did it taste fresh. We stayed away from the lobster.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 9 at 2014 8:51 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 20:51:16 -0400

Not to say that chicken is weird but somehow I always eat a lot of chicken when I'm deployed. Enough that I feel like I shouldn't consume any more chicken until I retire. In a big FOB in Iraq, the food was good, variety was good, thanks to the contractors cooking them up. In a small COP in Afghanistan, the food was good too thanks to our Soldier chefs feeding us with limited resources available.

Response by PO2 Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 27 at 2014 10:39 PM

PO2 Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 27 Jul 2014 22:39:58 -0400

Anything involving seafood is automatically bad news.

Response by SSG Robert Pierce made Jul 27 at 2014 10:46 PM

SSG Robert Pierce — Sun, 27 Jul 2014 22:46:23 -0400

We always went through something bad and got to eat surf and turf on Friday's. I don't know about you, but it was a morale booster for this NCO.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 28 at 2014 6:11 AM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 06:11:20 -0400

The "eggplant" in kandahar always looked a bit suspect to me...

Response by Capt Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 28 at 2014 7:42 AM

Capt Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 07:42:09 -0400

The UGR Egg loaf (not the real name) But a little hot sauce and that thing is one of the best breakfasts in the Marine Corps!

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 27 at 2015 3:28 PM

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 27 Apr 2015 15:28:27 -0400

Mystery rice balls in Iraq. You never knew what was in them, hence the mystery. Sometimes they were good, other times they made you vomit. That too was a mystery.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Apr 27 at 2015 6:43 PM

MAJ Ken Landgren — Mon, 27 Apr 2015 18:43:49 -0400

Once I went to a military banquet in the middle of the Kuwaiti desert. The food was superb, lots of veggies, tomatoes, garlic, onions, and rice.

Response by SMSgt Dan Powell made Apr 28 at 2015 11:01 AM

SMSgt Dan Powell — Tue, 28 Apr 2015 11:01:38 -0400

In '68 toward the end of the Tet Offensive, regular convoys weren't getting through to us up at Pleiku AB and chow hall folks were digging deep. They served us bread that was labeled on the brown paper bag as "Hardened Wheat". The DOM was back in the '50s. It looked like big homade loaves and surprisingly, nice crust and soft middle. I have no idea what preservatives were in them!

Response by PO1 John Miller made May 2 at 2015 4:15 AM

PO1 John Miller — Sat, 02 May 2015 04:15:20 -0400

Pretty much everything. I blame all that "delicious Navy chow" consumed over 20 years as the leading factor in my having gastritis and GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease). Because the food was so bad I became good friends with salt and hot sauce.

Response by PO1 John Miller made May 2 at 2015 4:19 AM

PO1 John Miller — Sat, 02 May 2015 04:19:05 -0400

My last WESTPAC (2011/2012 USS Pearl Harbor) we were performing a mission which kept us in international waters for almost 3 months and unable to perform any UNREPs (Underway Replenishment). As a result food started running out and our CS's (cooks for you non-Navy types) got creative with potatoes. Eventually they stopped caring and breakfast, lunch, dinner, and MID RATS were boiled potatoes. I felt like my Irish forefathers...

Response by SFC Stephen King made May 2 at 2015 6:28 AM

SFC Stephen King — Sat, 02 May 2015 06:28:22 -0400

The good is all the food I had in Baghdad or Camp Victory was great. I was a Night Shift Operations NCO. The absolute best diet and nutrition I was able to maintain for training.

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made Nov 24 at 2015 7:42 PM

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 19:42:21 -0500

Steak, Crab Legs, Shrimp. That was first 3 days of the 2 week cycle on deployment food by the time the next Helo did a Vert Rep the fair was of a far less quality.

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made Nov 24 at 2015 7:49 PM

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 19:49:05 -0500

Worst would have been C-Rats that were dated from Vietnam or Korea. Spam was still good but the Dried Wrigley Gum and Dried Cigarettes in a Can were Awful. Crackers sucked too.

Response by SGT Kristin Wiley made Nov 24 at 2015 7:53 PM

SGT Kristin Wiley — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 19:53:18 -0500

I loved opening the 'new' orders of yogurt and finding mold.

Response by PO2 Kayla Modschiedler made Nov 24 at 2015 8:00 PM

PO2 Kayla Modschiedler — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 20:00:20 -0500

I remember one deployment for Thanksgiving, our CS's made a cornucopia out of bread. It was pretty but I wasn't about to eat it, I think it had been sprayed with wax. That was definitely weird. Then there is the fabulous chipper fish aka fish baked with potato chip crumbles on top. I think if I made it, it would have been awesome, but the fish was so dried out it tasted like soap. Once my friend, who was crankin, called me from the galley, she was cutting up the lettuce for the salad and it had worms in it. Extra Protein, unless it's a parasites, yuck.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 27 at 2015 1:07 AM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 27 Nov 2015 01:07:34 -0500

LCpl Steve Wininger Green eggs and ham! *roaring*

Response by Lt Col Scott Shuttleworth made Jan 12 at 2016 10:55 AM

Lt Col Scott Shuttleworth — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 10:55:52 -0500

Gravy and Tabasco can make anything tolerable. Had some nasty stuff but also had some decent stuff...not much worse than high school cafeteria. Worse part was when the power grid went our and they had to clean out the freezers...there were mixtures of stuff you just didn't ask. Mucked it down to get the protein and moved on. Kind of like a nutra loaf from prison.