What are US Army chow halls/DFACs like? Are they on every base?

2018-03-07T15:09:51-05:00

Response by SPC David Willis made Mar 7 at 2018 3:13 PM

2018-03-07T15:13:59-05:00

Not awful. Way better than basic training food though. They are on every base. Usually you'll have several options to choose from. Basically like school food for adults.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 7 at 2018 3:23 PM

2018-03-07T15:23:17-05:00

Most bases have multiple chow halls and the quality can vary from base to base and chow hall to chow hall. Overall it's not terrible. Once you get out of IET the quality will go up a little.

Response by SGT Jim Arnold made Mar 7 at 2018 3:25 PM

2018-03-07T15:25:18-05:00

the food is edible but bland. after basic you will have a hard time slowing down to taste it anyways

Response by SPC Joseph Wojcik made Mar 7 at 2018 3:37 PM

2018-03-07T15:37:05-05:00

It depends, do you like coffee that tastes like JP8? Like others have said, quality varies from post to post, but the food is like any public school cafeteria. My advice: if you get stationed at a TRADOC post avoid where the AIT students eat, those DEFACS tend to be lower quality.

The only chow halls where I actually enjoyed my meal were at Dover AFB and BIAP. FOB Diamondback was alright.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 7 at 2018 3:57 PM

2018-03-07T15:57:15-05:00

As long as you eat, that's all that matters, even if it's siting on the ground eating a MRE.

Response by LCDR Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 7 at 2018 4:24 PM

2018-03-07T16:24:06-05:00

I was afforded the pleasure of experiencing the DFAC at a variety of stateside Army bases, and to say the least...was impressed.

Response by SSG Carlos Madden made Mar 7 at 2018 4:32 PM

2018-03-07T16:32:49-05:00

It depends on the installation and if the installation has multiple DFAC's some still may be better than others. The NCO academy DFAC was pretty good on FLW and so was the one on Redstone. But the ones at Ft. McCoy were generally awful. YMMV

Response by SGT Russell Wickham made Mar 7 at 2018 5:20 PM

2018-03-07T17:20:39-05:00

Ft Stewart wasn't bad, but it varied from DFAC to DFAC. I was 4th brigade, but would walk down to the 2nd brigade DFAC because it had better chow. Germany was generally outstanding, but the food on the economy was so much better. Deployed, the closer you got the the air force, the better. They get the best of everything, so you wanted to eat in their DFAC if you could. Farther you get from big bases the worse the chow got. By the time you got to the COPs, unless you had one of the few outstanding cooks, you'd rather eat your boot leather than the junk that passes for food. At least that's what I experienced.

Response by Cpl Mark A. Morris made Mar 7 at 2018 5:43 PM

2018-03-07T17:43:31-05:00

I live the chow hall! It smells like...It smells like... Victory!
This chow hall is not going to stay open forever.

Don't say anything, or make a face about the chow.

Response by LTC Kevin B. made Mar 7 at 2018 6:01 PM

2018-03-07T18:01:00-05:00

They keep you from starving, but they're definitely not fine dining. Every base will have DFACs. I always thought that the breakfast was the best meal.

Response by SGT Tony Clifford made Mar 7 at 2018 6:29 PM

2018-03-07T18:29:12-05:00

They will be on every post, but quality varies wildly between DFACs. Get used to eating slop now, otherwise when you eventually consume T-Rats for first time it will be difficult to stomach. Trust me, even basic training food isn't that bad. Also, when you eat MREs avoid the cheese. It might seem tempting especially if you're given the country capt. chicken, but you won't be able to shit for days.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 7 at 2018 7:00 PM

2018-03-07T19:00:21-05:00

I never complained about the mess hall. I was glad to have three squares a day. Some were better than others, and it is much better than school cafeterias from what I have seen of both. The best food I ever had was at the 7th Army NCO Academy which won the best mess hall in the Army at that time. In thirty days we never had the same lunch or dinner. Generally breakfast is always the best. In fact it is better than most restaurants

Response by SGT Philip Roncari made Mar 7 at 2018 7:28 PM

2018-03-07T19:28:54-05:00

Hate to break the news to you young man,but if food and dining facilities are important....hint US Airforce,US Navy,just kidding I’m so old and been out so long don’t even know what the hell a DFAC is,but they got to better than metal trays,bug juice and KP!

Response by SGT Matthew Sesar made Mar 7 at 2018 7:35 PM

2018-03-07T19:35:04-05:00

Do not waste your money on food. There are dfacs and it’s really not bad, especially after getting out of boot camp.

Response by LTC Jason Mackay made Mar 7 at 2018 7:46 PM

2018-03-07T19:46:51-05:00

Not every base has one. Picatinny Arsenal doesn't have one. They also don't tend to have junior soldiers in any significant numbers. Natick Labs does have one, I forgot they have temporary rotations of test volunteers from IET testing individual equipment.

Response by LTC Jeff Shearer made Mar 7 at 2018 7:59 PM

2018-03-07T19:59:32-05:00

Jordan I never had an issue with the chow hall food.

Response by LTC Greg Henning made Mar 7 at 2018 8:00 PM

2018-03-07T20:00:06-05:00

Some the best breakfasts! The food can vary, but you will not go hungry.

Response by SPC Mike Lake made Mar 7 at 2018 9:30 PM

2018-03-07T21:30:14-05:00

I wasn't picky I was always hungry..lol

Response by SPC Mike Lake made Mar 7 at 2018 9:32 PM

2018-03-07T21:32:07-05:00

I always are at Womack hospital they had great food and their omlets we're huge and so good

Response by LTC Jason Mackay made Mar 7 at 2018 10:58 PM

2018-03-07T22:58:35-05:00

Each post with DFaCs has one really good DFAC, and one that sucks. Others hover in the middle. For breakfast at Carson, 4SB's DFAC is great. For lunch, 10SFG. Follow the other Joes at chow time, they have figured it out already. In IET you are marched to the DFAC, you get in line, you get what they give you, shovel it down, bus your tray and resume training. There will be a prescribed way for you to mount the DFAC, eat, clean up, and depart.

Certain meals are off the chain. thanksgiving dinner is the Oscars for Army food service. Ice sculptures, artisitic food displays, chain of command serving so portion control is,out the window. And the food is four star. All of them bring it. The DFAC manager's NCOER is on the line. The Food Service Technician's OER is on the line.

DFACs typically are similar for breakfast. The short order line is doing omelettes and eggs to order. The main line has scrambled, hard boiled, sausage or bacon, some form of potatoes, pancakes or waffles or French toast. Dessert bar has pastries, baked fresh by the Night Baker, a designated cook that works over night. Sausage gravy....caution it is considered a "meat" which they ration you on. There is usually a small salad bar with fruit, veggies, jellies, PB, and such. There is usually a cauldron of oatmeal or grits. There is a bread bar with wheat, white, raisin bread, and English muffins/plain bagels.

Typically for lunch and dinner there is a main line for a regular meal. There are usually three different entrees. There is short-order for burgers, dogs, chilli, and sometimes, sloppy joes. You can have any side you want as long as it is fries. Many posts have a deli line for sandwiches. All have a salad bar which rivals any restaurant. There is usually desserts. Drinks consist of a cool aid equivalent, milk, chocolate milk, soft drinks, Gatorade, and a coffee like substance. All foods have a nutritional card with serving size, calories, fat, and a color code for quick reference green, amber, red. Green is healthier, red not so much.

There is either a station to get a to-go container or a separate area to get to-go plates if you are on duty, running late, or for some, that just like to eat in their barracks room or in their car.

Best pick de gallo I ever had was at a DFAC at Ft Bliss TX. Best breakfast was at Ft Irwin in the OPFOR DFAC....before Sausage gravy was considered a meat. Big ladle of that over an everything omelette. Best midnight meal Manas Kyrgyzstan at the Air Force DFAC. Best dinner prime rib with dry rub crust and horse radish sauce with all the side you could want in an Army/KBR DFAC in sharana Afghanistan. Best field chow 11th ACR Fort Irwin BBQ steak, baked potatoes, and hand made apple pies we made on the mobile kitchen trailer. Second best meal Fort Irwin, 11th ACR field DFAC: Chilli Mac made from A rations. Hot, brown, lots of it. Best Lunch: Mexican day in the 10th SFG DFAC at Carson. Fajitas with all the fixings. Grab your DFAC provided protein shake to go. The struggle with a DFAC lunch is trying to function afterward. So full....

Field chow is another discussion thread all together.

Response by COL Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 8 at 2018 12:50 AM

2018-03-08T00:50:49-05:00

There are multiple dining facilities on an Army post, like many have said. The quality of the dining facility changes at each. It depends on a couple of things. First and foremost is throughput. How many Soldiers go through its doors at each meal. Why is that important? Well, it determines how much money that chow hall gets. That effects everything from the building itself (whether it looks and smells like something from the Vietnam era or if it looks and smells modern) to menu choices and manning. If there is a small staff, they can't do some of the "extras" that larger DFACs can do. If Soldiers have the choice, they migrate to the better DFACs, which in turn increases those DFAC throughput numbers, reducing the numbers at the "just ok" DFACs. Vicious cycle. Most DFACs can maintain a decent throughput because a lot of Soldiers don't have the time to come from PT, get showered and changed, drive to a DFAC across post and then get back by work call. Either way, like you have seen here, Breakfast is awesome. Lunch and dinner depends on the DFAC.

Response by MSG Louis Alexander made Mar 8 at 2018 2:02 AM

2018-03-08T02:02:53-05:00

Well, from what I understand they're called "Dinning Facilities", not chow halls. In my past we called them "Mess Halls". You would dine in a Dinning Facility, slop in a chow hall, and make a Mess in Mess Hall. Your choice of eatery? McDonalds? LOL

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made Mar 8 at 2018 4:41 AM

2018-03-08T04:41:44-05:00

PV2 J M The Only Army Chow Hall I've ever Eaten at was at Ft Myers, Washington, DC but they always have really good grub. No Complaints out of Me and I'm a Sailor used to Eating Pretty Good.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 8 at 2018 5:00 AM

2018-03-08T05:00:22-05:00

Jump school at Fort Benning was very good chow, as much as you want to eat. And, if you ate to much, you get to see it again on the 5 mile run. Still today, I can see all those Apricots on the track, it came out of a Marine LTC , to bad he never made it through the Airborne School. By the way, those Apricots was mixed with Milk.

Response by LTC Jeff Shearer made Mar 8 at 2018 6:46 AM

2018-03-08T06:46:07-05:00

Jordan they are each a little different I guess they take on the personality of the units they support, and the people who run it. I dont think I ever had food that would be world class 5 star dinning but I am pretty sure I never had any that was pretty good.

Jordan, what service are you looking at? What possible fields are you considering?

Response by SSG Jessica Bautista made Mar 8 at 2018 7:19 AM

2018-03-08T07:19:40-05:00

They're okay, but the superior DFACs are always in the hospital.

Response by SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth made Mar 8 at 2018 7:29 AM

2018-03-08T07:29:07-05:00

During basic and AIT you'd eat in a mess hall, other that, you'd have to eat where your assigned to, most likely you'd eat at a DFAC.

Response by Lt Col Charlie Brown made Mar 8 at 2018 7:57 AM

2018-03-08T07:57:06-05:00

Officers rarely eat in the mess halls but breakfast is always a meal of choice

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 8 at 2018 9:03 AM

2018-03-08T09:03:53-05:00

for the most part the food is palatable. I have been in a couple units where the mess sergeant really did well at taking care of the troops with outstanding meals.

Response by SGM Bill Frazer made Mar 8 at 2018 9:52 AM

2018-03-08T09:52:29-05:00

Seriously young man? ok with out looking at your background- the Military serves or tries to serve you 3 meals a day- nutritionally balanced. Every active duty base has them normally at BN or BDE/RGT level. They are good, it ain't the Ritz or Chop House, but good and on Holidays they surpasses them selves. There are set times to eat, and if living in billets it's free with an assigned meal card. If drawing Separation Rations, then you have to pay for them, but it's fairly cheap.

Response by SSG Carlos Madden made Mar 8 at 2018 3:59 PM

2018-03-08T15:59:00-05:00

I should also add that some of the Army bases are now joint with the Air Force which means you may have easy access to their chow halls. If you're able to eat at those, do it.

Response by SFC Jerry Humphries made Mar 12 at 2018 5:24 PM

2018-03-12T17:24:08-04:00

The Chow halls are typically as good as the NCOIC is who runs them. Sometimes they are exceptionally fantastic other times they are disappointing. We actually had one Dininig faculty when I was at Camp Hovey Korea that entered actually won some kind of culinary arts championships. That was no ordinary mess hall their food was great.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 19 at 2018 12:21 PM

2018-03-19T12:21:05-04:00

Army chow halls aren't bad at all. Pretty good, actually. I've been to Air Force chow halls as well and don't see much of a difference.

Response by SPC Erich Guenther made Mar 19 at 2018 1:39 PM

2018-03-19T13:39:13-04:00

So one thing to keep in mind is Basic Training / AIT you have much less of a choice of what you eat. Also my long ago memories is they did not season the food all that well it was rather bland tasting in Basic and AIT. So you will definitely see and uptick in food quality once you get assigned to your unit. Also the Army puts on a HUGE meal for Thanksgiving and Christmas and those meals much better presentation and food quality then other meals of the year. So if your on post during one of those holidays you definitely want to eat in the Mess Hall.

I still remember Fort Benning, GA when I went through Infantry OSUT they would assign the OSUT Soldiers to details every so many weeks like other soldiers on Ft. Benning. So I got KP once and had to work in the OSUT Kitchen, helping with prep and cleanup. Came time to cleanout the coffee machines that had been sitting for a while unused. Opened the coffee grounds container and all these live cockroaches came running out. I credit that one experience with my life long avoidance of coffee. They should have had a safe room I could go to or a onsite grief counselor, that sight was just too much for a young private to handle all on his own. :)

I have to say though when they bring the hot food to the field in mermite cans, that was an experience. Sometimes at the bottom of the mermite the eggs would be a dull grey in color from being over heated, the ham might have like a rainbow sheen on it, or even sometimes they would clean the mermtes with COMET dish cleanser and not rinse them all that well and you could taste COMET along with the food or get that sandy taste. So in garrison, food is always better.

I've been out for a long time so that was decades ago. Hopefully they fixed some of those items.