Posted on Jan 22, 2014
Mess Hall, Chow Hall, or Dining Facility. What do we call it??
102K
407
183
34
34
0
Food/Chow
DFAC
Responses: 107
3
3
0
Chow Hall on base. Mess tent in the field in 74. Now get your tray and move down the line. I'm hungry.
(3)
(0)
3
3
0
The galley is where the meal is actually prepared. Mess deck would be more appropriate for navy and Coast Guard. However, as long as I knew what you meant, I probably would associate your nomenclature to your branch of service, not an issue to stress over.
(3)
(0)
3
3
0
3
3
0
It doesn't matter what you call it. a rose is still a rose, regardless of the name. If I go there to eat and I am served food, I'm happy.
(3)
(0)
3
3
0
3
3
0
A mess or mess hall (also called a mess deck aboard ships) is an area where military personnel socialize, eat, and (in some cases) live. Comes from an old French term, over to the British army, then over to us. Originally meant a small portion of food. Chow hall is more modern slang for a place to eat, dining facility comes from the new "modern" service to make it more like the civilian world especially when we started contracting the facilities to civilian contractors to run. I have also eaten in military "mess halls/decks" for all branches of the US military (and many foreign services), in all corners the world as well as on board ships and subs from the mid 1950's with my dad, a Navy commander, until 1996 when I retired from the USAF. I can say for the most part the men and women who worked in putting food out for the troops did a great job, sometimes in the most difficult circumstances.
(3)
(0)
3
3
0
It does not matter what the name is. They all are the same. Try this the next time.
Tell the individual that DFAC, Dining facility, Chow Hall, Mess Hall, and Galley are all the same thing. So what your calling it is historically correct with what ever name it is.
I had to school an airman that worked in the dining facility at Cannon AFB, one time on that. He was still saying its a dining facility. He was a lost cause.
Tell the individual that DFAC, Dining facility, Chow Hall, Mess Hall, and Galley are all the same thing. So what your calling it is historically correct with what ever name it is.
I had to school an airman that worked in the dining facility at Cannon AFB, one time on that. He was still saying its a dining facility. He was a lost cause.
(3)
(0)
3
3
0
LOL, be flexible. We all grew up in different parts of the country, traditional terms based on branch, etc. All work because they all mean the same. Even shortening it, i.e. DFAC.
(3)
(0)
SSG (Join to see)
from my experience, it used to be a Mess Hall, I guess the cooks got tired of it being called mess, so to be PC, its a DFAC now... oh well,
(2)
(0)
MSgt Hal Weeden, MBA
EXACTLY, CW2 Joseph Evans! So, what do you call the midday meal at the DFAC/Dining Facility/Mess Hall/Chow Hall? Lunch or Dinner?
Phrased differently, is dinner served midday, or in the evening (relative to whatever shift you are working)?
Phrased differently, is dinner served midday, or in the evening (relative to whatever shift you are working)?
(1)
(0)
2
2
0
2
2
0
we called the mess Hall or chow hall while I was in. When I went to Iraq as a DOD contractor I almost starved to death because I couldn't figure out what a DAFC was.
(2)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google