What is the funniest use of food you've seen/done while in the military?

CPL Brendan Hayes — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 12:27:22 -0500

I have been out of the military for quite a while now, and my current career as an educator leads to lots of questions from my students. A lot of times the questions are along the lines of "What was the funniest/coolest/most memorable thing from your time in the army?" Many of my responses would not be appropriate for the classroom, so I tend to focus on the "funniest" aspsect of the question(s) I get. After a few stories, one of my students asked why food seems to come up so often? The more I thought about it, the more I realized the student was right. The best answer I could give this particular student is that in the field/on deployment/out to sea sometimes food is the only form of entertainment around. This leads to things like the MRE cracker challenge, new and disgusting food combinations (MRE cornbeef hash mixed with peanut butter comes to mind), eating only T-ration pudding for a week straight, and various other ideas. So, what is the funniest use of food you have seen or done while serving?

Response by Sgt Nicholas Whitacre made Feb 18 at 2015 4:16 PM

Sgt Nicholas Whitacre — Wed, 18 Feb 2015 16:16:19 -0500

I remember hitting port in Jordan and everyone in my platoon was eager to get off ship to try some of this meat on a rotisserie. I was reluctant an stuck to MRE's or ship food. Lucky for me because everyone who ate that mystery meat got food poisoning.

Response by SPC David Hannaman made Aug 12 at 2015 4:39 PM

SPC David Hannaman — Wed, 12 Aug 2015 16:39:25 -0400

Gaegogi - Korean Dog delicacy. Of course there was always the joke whenever we would see a dog on the streets "Run boy Run! You don't want to become dinner!"... but curiosity got the better of me and I started actually trying to find a place where I could TRY it.

That turned out to be quite a challenge, it turns out that Korean's are sensitive about serving it to Americans after years or ridicule (go figure). Finally, after months a Korean civilian employee that I'd become friends with took me to a place.

Pretty good actually, not something that I find myself craving and drooling at the neighbor's dog over (it's actually a special breed of dog raised specifically for that purpose)... but definitely edible.

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made Aug 15 at 2015 8:02 PM

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel — Sat, 15 Aug 2015 20:02:35 -0400

In Diego Garcia you could go to the Far Side of the Island (Old Coconut Plantation) and camp out for your entire break period that could be a 3 day weekend if you were a day snake. You had to make a few arrangements. Permit to camp from the Royal Police, Permit for a Bonfire and give the Chow Hall everyone's chow card number and they would send a pick-up out with food for you to cook on the grills out there. Well they always sent out lots of good stuff and they also sent out a 1 gallon can of "Mixed Fruit" nobody would eat it. The 1 Gallon Can of Mixed Fruit was usually thrown in the Bonfire and then everyone would back-away awaiting the inevitable explosion. The last time we did it the Lid ended up on the Roof of the Old French Guest House after the explosion.

Response by SGT Michael Bair made Sep 9 at 2015 8:07 PM

SGT Michael Bair — Wed, 09 Sep 2015 20:07:32 -0400

An E-4 in my section stole a gallon can of chocolate and a gallon can of vanilla puddings from the mess tent. 4 of us commenced to having a great time trying to eat all the pudding. Talk about feeling like crap about an hour later. Karma - 1. The 4 of us - 0.

Response by PO2 Gail Grace made Apr 7 at 2016 1:07 AM

PO2 Gail Grace — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 01:07:57 -0400

I never had any experiences with bizarre food in my time, but early at my first duty station, (NAS Whidbey), I got assigned mess duty. One day they were serving these chocolate chip cookies that I just loved, and someone else knocked the tray over and they all fell on the floor. Actually many never touched the floor, a couple did, and a couple plates broke. The order given though was that none could be used now, so I quickly volunteered to clean the entire mess up. I swept up and disposed of the broken glass mingled inedibles, and salvaged a nice sized bag of perfectly clean cookies to sneak back to my barracks. 5 second rule works, right? Those were always really good cookies!

Response by PO2 Gerry Roberson Sr. made May 19 at 2016 5:11 PM

PO2 Gerry Roberson Sr. — Thu, 19 May 2016 17:11:19 -0400

3-day-old tepid left-overs used in polliwog/line-crossing festivities. Am told it's sadly watered down from the way it was in the good old days when I was in the Navy. Something about lack of calcium/hard-metal mineral content in the spinal bones(LOLOL).

Response by SP5 Joel O'Brien made Nov 1 at 2016 8:58 PM

SP5 Joel O'Brien — Tue, 01 Nov 2016 20:58:02 -0400

From Basic I was sent to Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis for my AIT. Chow in Basic consisted of stuff and eggs, always scrambled. First morning for breakfast at Uncle Ben's Rest Home, I go to the mess hall, get in line and the Pvt. dishing out eggs asks me "How do you want your eggs?" Well!! This a pleasant change! Slightly dumbfounded I blurt out, "Oh...any way!" He then picks up two eggs, still in the shell, and tosses them to me! I caught one and missed one. The servers all had a good laugh.

Response by CSM Charles Hayden made Jun 26 at 2019 10:39 PM

CSM Charles Hayden — Wed, 26 Jun 2019 22:39:48 -0400

CPL Brendan Hayes Enroute to Korea aboard the USS William Weigel “we” discovered an unused galley - fully stocked galley that is - the ship was not transporting a full load of Soldiers.

We enjoyed eating all of the ice cream we could stomach!

Do you suppose the returning RCP, (returning combat personnel), missed their ice cream on their return trip to CONUS?

My shipboard duty was to operate a garbage disposal during meals. A adjacent, small pantry contained boxes of Vanilla Wafer Cookies. An entire meal of Vanilla Wafers would fit into the baggy pockets of my HBT Fatigues blouse.

Response by Sgt Michael Hearne made Jan 4 at 2020 12:39 AM

Sgt Michael Hearne — Sat, 04 Jan 2020 00:39:26 -0500

In I Corps; Viet Nam we would give the "Zipper and Slope Heads" some of our "C-Rations" to try out. Some would be curious enough to taste them. Then to see them spit it out and the face's on those "Gook's" was something to see.

Sgt M.B. USMC