Army brass needs to get off their dufflebags and open some %&$#ing chow hallsBEEGE WELBORN 6:01 PM on August 10, 2023
This is one of those stories that I was hesitant to write about, because it’s outrageous outrage ready…and those are usually the ones that bite you in the butt when you jump right on them.
But I’ve gotten my independent confirmation from impeccable, on the scene sources, and I am snorting fire.
This is – and has been – happening at Fort Cavazos, the former Fort Hood in Texas, and is unconscionable.
Fort Cavazos Soldiers Have Been Without Proper Access to Food for Months
One of the Army’s largest bases has been barely able to keep its food services up and running for months, according to soldiers stationed there and dining facility schedules reviewed by Military.com.
The situation at Fort Cavazos, Texas — previously known as Fort Hood — has left some junior enlisted with few options for meals, as top officials on base struggle to juggle logistics while most of its cooks are on deployments, missions or serving field training and other events.
The base had only two of its 10 major dining options open every day for much of the summer, with three others open only during limited times. The closures forced many soldiers to drive long distances across base, sometimes an hour round trip for their meals.
Guess what “many soldiers,” especially junior enlisted troops, don’t have?
Cars.
How are they eating? WHEN are they eating?
Fort Cavazos is the third largest military base IN THE WORLD. The distances from point A to B, especially for those camps in the interior, are enormous.
214,968 acres
Fort Hood
The second-largest state by both population and land size is home to the third-largest military base in the world. In terms of physical size, however, Fort Hood is 214,968 acres and is larger than even Fort Bragg.
I was out there a year ago August when they dedicated a building at First Cav in our nephew’s name. The vastness is tangible. “Nothing” starts from the edge of the parking lot at what Marines would call Mainside, where your Exchange, schools, quarters, etc are. Boosh – straight out to desert and brown hillsides. There, helicopters were constantly putting out brush fires started by armor and artillery. Kind of surreal. It also didn’t help that it was 100°+, a constant wind blowing – sometimes howling, and you just gave up scraping the dust off.
It’s pretty rough country and the soldiers who live and work there have enough to deal with as far as the environment goes – they shouldn’t be worried whether they can catch a ride to get fed.
…But not all junior soldiers have vehicles, and the base provides only a limited shuttle service, with none dedicated to dining facilities. The service is so limited that some service members interviewed by Military.com didn’t even know it exists.
Or if they manage to get to one of the two chow halls that are open, can they get through the lines in time to get back?
Are commands making allowances for travel and congestion?
The young PV2 we checked in with said both chow halls are slammed. He’s as junior as you can get – he’s not going to make waves if he’s starving. His NCOs and officers should be raising holy hell for him and the others.
…”For months, one [dining facility] was open and was a more than 30-minute drive for my soldiers,” said one noncommissioned officer, who spoke to Military.com on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press. “All the soldiers were going to that one. It’s unmanageable during the workday.”
In some situations, the base posted conflicting schedules or confusing guidance on what meals were being provided at which dining facilities. One facility had a sign on the door stating that it was “closed for dinner,” but it didn’t note which specific days it was closed or days when other meals were not available.
Unconscionable.
The official lines is “Ooo, we don’t have any cooks. They’re all on deployment.”
You didn’t notice before you sent them all? What kind of Mickey Mouse outfits are on that base? What is the base CG (commanding general) doing, since this has been going on “for months” – it can’t be new to him? What is his excuse and where is his solution?
…At the heart of the issue is the dining facilities not having enough Army cooks to run them. A rotation to the National Training Center, or NTC, and support for a cadet training exercise at Fort Knox, Kentucky, took many cooks off base.
Dining facilities have been a key focus in the Army’s discussions on boosting the quality of life for soldiers.
The Army’s response to being embarrassed directly contradicts what our PV2 has been saying about the state of the two chow halls open, while admitting there were only two chow halls open.
What a crock of CYA.
…Reached for comment by Fox News Digital, an Army spokesperson said the issues experienced at Fort Cavazos stemmed from “Combat Training Center rotations, operational deployments around the world, facility renovations, and support to Cadet Summer Training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, Fort Cavazos was limited to running two Warrior Restaurants during the month of July.”
However, the spokesperson stressed that “dining facilities available through July did not reach capacity and were well stocked throughout the month. Since August 1st Fort Cavazos has reopened multiple Warrior Restaurants on base. There are currently five opened facilities.”
Instead of calling up Reserve unit cooks – who might well be more than glad to get activated, and whom another in-the-know source has assured us there are plenty available of – the Army’s brilliant solution is to let kids use their meal cards…at the Panera Bread, etc, franchises on base!
OMG I’m gonna have a coronary.
I cannot get over the fact that this has been allowed to fester for this long. I mean, it’s only feeding the soldiers.
You know and I know a certain Army food blister who damn sure has never missed a meal.
Fort Hood commander, Lt. Gen. Mark Milley, left, and Col. Viet Luong attend Luong's promotion ceremony, Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2014. Luong has become the first Vietnamese-American to reach
There’s no excuse for this other than these corporate DEI loving, white rage hunting virtue signaling morons don’t give a flying frick about their troops.
That’s all there is to it.
WHY are veterans disgusted with today’s military?
Let me count the ways…
US Army Has Cook Shortage
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Originally Posted by Gunny
Time to sound like an old timer: