Does the military teach you to work through lunch?

The military is a terrible place to learn how to manage the time of employees. That's because they don't actually pay for their employees time, and overtime, and their employees (ie soldiers) dont generate revenue for the "company" so to speak. Aand there are no legal labor requirements for hourly employees like a mandated lunch break and breaks during the day.

So that is why the military is famous for the hurry up and wait management style. Believe me, if those soldiers were paid extra for hours after 8 per day, there is no way you would have dozens or hundreds of soldiers showing up hours early just to make sure no one is late. Or sitting around at 1700 waiting to get he word. And there wouldn't be endless meetings consuming huge blocks of time if it meant that no products or sales were being made during those meetings.
After I retired I ran a software company as its COO for 5 years. Then later I went back to work at USSOCOM HQs a civilian. The time wasting management style of the military was shocking after being in a profit driven company. You would have 50 senior officers tied up in a three hour meeting just so each could brief their 3 minutes worth of stuff, and sit there the rest of the time doing little just in case something in their area came up. Collosall waste of talent and time.

Working through lunch is in most cases simply a sign of poor time managemet. It ahould be viewed as a deficiency to fix, not something to be praised as "dedication". Same with working late. So IMO the military teaches very poor time management and covers up for a lack of plannng and preparation by being able to cause soldiers to work late at no extra costs.

And to get back to the example in the original post about the conference room, why do you suppose the room is only available at lunchtime but booked all the other times? It's because those organizations planned ahead to schedule the resources they needed without having to screw their employees and expect them to skip aa meal to cover up poor planning.

When I'm on Army time, I'll eat on Army time; which means sometimes one must be flexible. In my civilian roll, my boss can suck it when it comes to my breaks and my lunch (not that my boss expects us to work through our breaks).

Sure its important to get things done, but in the end, all my efforts--no matter how much I would have done--aren't going to build monuments to the glory of my work ethic any more than it will build monuments to the people for whom I work. Just remember that 10 minutes after you retire/quit/get fired, no one will even remember your contributions. So I have no intention of looking back at my life and thinking "I did all this work, and the fruits of my labors expired so long ago, that no one but me remembers how I was the hardest working little cog in the workplace." So why give them extra at no cost?

Sometimes working through lunch is unavoidable, whether that be due to deployment, training, VTC/conference calls with multiple time zones, or just something really hot that needs to be completed, but for the most part I make it a habit of getting away during lunch, if not to eat then to get some exercise or fresh air or just recharge. When I have been in command I made it an unofficial policy that all my Soldiers stopped working and left...just get away from work for an hour or so. Like I said initially, sometimes this is impossible, but for the most part there is no reason to work through lunch.

SGT Ben Keen "Does our prior/currently lives in the military teach us to deal with missing a meal?"
Absolutely, and early hours, late hours, coming in on "off hours"
We do it with hardly a thought, or , we bitch about it, WHILE DOING IT.
Its a foreign concept to many ... "Hey sorry guys I have to bail on the ride, have a job I have to get finished so working late, and then going in tomorrow to finish"..."Huh?? What, but tomorrow is Sat... Who works on the weekends?????"

" Grab me something while your out at lunch, I need to make some calls "
"What do you mean.....its lunch time, go get your own sandwich, or better join us"

Not to say plenty of civilians don't know what its like to work extra hours, or wired non standard times ...Management mostly... but plenty of clock punchers have no concept of working when you can (your VTC availability) , or until done

Nope, I get out of the office at lunch time!

From my experience I would say not on a regular basis. With that said, there were times it was required to accomplish some missions. I believe the military teaches you to do what you need to in order to get the job done and, as the saying goes, "Work smarter not harder."

After over 26 years of service, spread over 30 years, I learned that sometimes you don't get lunch. Sometimes you get five minutes - and you use all five minutes. Sometimes you get 30 minutes - and you use all thirty minutes. Every once in a while, you get 90 minutes - and, come hell or high water, you use EVERY ONE of those ninety minutes.

It took me almost 5 years after retirement to start ensuring that I go somewhere else for lunch and occasionally walk around the building for a break once or twice during the day as well. I do still shift lunch left or right depending on appointments, because veterans are my customers and I accommodate as much as I can, but still make sure I take those breaks.

I now do either a quick breakfast or fast for the morning, but take a good lunch break and have dinner with my family most nights. Before I retired I was averaging 10-12 good, sit down meals a week counting weekends.

Even if only for 5 minutes, stepping away and thinking about something else or just going for a short walk and letting your mind wander helps make stress management a little easier.

I have meal replacement bars in my bottom drawer.

I worked through many lunches while in the Army when the job and mission took priority. I've be out of the Army for over 20 years and I still work through lunch when the job takes priority. Not my bosses choice, my choice, it's the way I was raised.