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My son finally shipped off three weeks ago to begin his basic training at Lackland AFB. He's complained to me twice about how bad the food is. Told me he was very sorry that he took my cooking for granted (I guess that was a compliment?). My question for you former/ current airmen: is he just being fussy? if he's not, does the food get better? He'll be going to Keesler AFB for tech school.

I'll hang up and listen to any answers. Thanks

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Never been in the Air Force, but when we went through their base in Krgyzstan, they had TGI Fridays themed Friday nights and display racks of candy bars for the taking. I also had a box chow of theirs in Biloxi...it was huge. While I'm sure basic isn't anything like that, I'm certain it will get better when he gets to the "real" Air Force. They don't tend to care what recruits think of the food. I don't recall tasting it anyway we had to shovel it in so fast. I can tell you though, us Marines were definitely in shock and awe dining in their facilities

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I spent 23 years in the Air Force. While the food at basic is not fine dinning, it's not to bad. Your son in under a lot of stress and not given a lot of time to eat. He is also being introduced to foods he may never have had before. For me it was fried okra, grits, and the chicken fried steak. Never had it before or since. But to answer your question yes I'd does get much better when he gets to his perminent assignment.

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Coming from an Army point of view, whenever we had a chance to eat at an Air Force DFAC we took the chance. We were mostly amazed at getting to use china and steel flatware. I don't know what it is like at Air Force basic but I can imagine it not being much better than Army basic. What I remember about chow at Army basic is that I ate it and did so quickly. Don't really remember what it tasted like and don't much care either, it was food.

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As a soldier, the best food I had while in the Army for 20 years was at the Air Force Mess in Wiesbaden Germany in 1978.

I was a geographical bachelor living at the Amelia Earhart Hotel ran by the Air Force. It was right next to the Air Force Hospital.

The 2nd best chow I ever ate was on a Navy Troop Transport Ship coming back from Korea in 1961. It was a 22 day trip to Oakland, CA.

 

The meals were superb!

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Patchcollector

When I went through basic in the mid 80's the food was'nt gourmet,but was'nt bad either.Like others have stated,I don't think many were dwelling on the food anyway.

After basic,the food improved and there was lot's of variety.I remember having to eat at a neighboring Army base a few times and was shocked at the difference in dining facilities,and food quality.The Air Force dining room was like a Country Club compared to the Army digs.I felt a bit sorry for the Army guys.

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Interesting.

 

I never found anything to complain about the dining hall food -- even in basic training. In fact, I always thought it was pretty good, especially since at two points in my Air Force career, I slept in a tent, once as long as four months, eating C-rations twice a day.

 

I would just guess, it must be his first time away from home and in a very stressful situation.

 

Things will change once he's at his first permanent base -- I can guarantee that.

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... I never found anything to complain about the dining hall food -- even in basic training...

 

I would just guess, it must be his first time away from home and in a very stressful situation.

 

Things will change once he's at his first permanent base -- I can guarantee that.

 

Agree. Can't remember anything to complain about during my time in the Air Force in the 1980's, well about the food that is...

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I spent 23 years in the Air Force. While the food at basic is not fine dinning, it's not to bad. Your son in under a lot of stress and not given a lot of time to eat. He is also being introduced to foods he may never have had before. For me it was fried okra, grits, and the chicken fried steak. Never had it before or since. But to answer your question yes I'd does get much better when he gets to his perminent assignment.

 

This is exactly what I was going to say. At the beginning of basic, they are given about 10 minutes to eat. I remember my son saying he was eating so fast he had no idea of what he was eating.

 

When I was in the Army, one of the best dining halls I ever ate at was a joint operation between the Army and Air Force. The advantage was they could draw rations from each service's source of supply (apparently there was a difference!). He'll be fine once he leaves Basic, where everything is wrong!

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I don't remember much of what I ate in basic as we were all concerned about not being the last person to get up from a table, thus getting smoked at the "snake pit", (a long table where the TIs sit and eat that you have to walk by to leave, doing facing movements in the process). I do remember you had the option of grabbing some small packets of peanut butter to put on bread which was logical for energy.

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My son finally shipped off three weeks ago to begin his basic training at Lackland AFB. He's complained to me twice about how bad the food is. Told me he was very sorry that he took my cooking for granted (I guess that was a compliment?). My question for you former/ current airmen: is he just being fussy? if he's not, does the food get better? He'll be going to Keesler AFB for tech school.

I'll hang up and listen to any answers. Thanks

I once visited a Buddy at Dover AFB in Delaware and ate at the Air Force Chow hall. Also at the combined USN/USAF chowhall in Keflavik Iceland.

 

Beat Army Messhalls any day of the week for quantity, quality and they even had people take your trays when done.

 

My Guess is he isn't used to military cuisine and portions.

 

BEST chow I ever had in the military was while in Iraq. I literally had to limit myself to 1 or 2 meals a day

 

WORST was Ft Sill OK in 1981, was served Wheat toast with ground turkey, tomato sauce and melted American cheese as pizza one night when the cooks ran out of normal food. Even the Drill Sergeants raised hell over that.

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Having been a cook in the Air Force, I can tell you that I was never really trained as a cook and anyone who ate one of my meals at the Minuteman Launch Control Facilities probably had a right to complain, but since there was no alternative at all, they never complained to me :)

 

I seem to recall that basic training diets were reportedly very high in calories in order to keep the hard-working teenage recruits fueled up. The rumors also said the food was spiked with saltpeter to suppress the troops libido.

 

Mass production of meals is always tough: when I was in politics I attended a lot of banquets at some very nice hotels: the food was generally mediocre and we often wondered what mystery meat we were being served.

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I went thru Ar Force Basic at Lackland in spring 1966 and the chow was good. Ya didn't have much time to eat it, but it was OK otherwise. Now later I was assigned to Chanute AFB, Illinois and they had the reputation of having the worst chow in the Air Force. It sucked to put it mildly! After that, I was sent to K.I. Sawyer AFB in Michigan. That was a SAC base and the chow was good there and it may have been because about half the chow hall personnel were female civilians. Now midnight chow and flight line chow was all done by GI's and it was pretty good too.

Just what I remember from half a century ago.

That complaining young-un needs to suck it up and quit his bitching!

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I went through OTS in 1969 and the food was fuel - high carb and high calorie. I don't remember much about it, other than watcing guys who had never faced grits before try to figure out what to do with it. (butter and salt, guys -- no ketchup!). It will be better at tech training. Still not gourmet, but better than Army chow. If he gets to a major flying base, he'll discover that he can eat well. Having spent much of my stateside time deploying with the Army (III Corps and XVIII Airborne Corps), I was always happy to get back to Air Force chow, and the Army folks who travelled with us were always impressed with our food. I also spent time aboard Navy command ships and, while the standard was high, the chow generally didn't stack up to what I was used to. But, the Navy had napkin rings.

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I was in the Air Force 1968 to 1972 and there were two bad mess halls and one that had the Sunday evening from hell meal. At Keesler the mystery meat was horse meat and the fish served came from the shrimp boats, but you could eat the rest of the stuff. At Osan AB, Korea the food was so bad I wouldn't eat there, luckily I was traveling so much I was on Separate Rats. Ate at the BX Snack Bar and cooked in the barracks. The Thanksgiving Dinner they had was turkey loaf and no cranberry sauce. A small base in Taiwan had the mess hall dump all kinds of C-Rations in a pot and warm them up, all those fantastic flavors mixed together. The best mess hall was at Tinker AFB and the best meal was at an Army and Air Force site in Korea. A plate of BBQ ribs and a plate for the sides, finger licking good.

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From my experience, Military Chow Halls/Dining facilities follow the ranking below:

Best: USAF

Best of the rest: USN

Barely palatable: US Army

What the heck are they feeding us?: USMC

 

The box lunches we used to get on a USAF C-130 travelling across the Pacific were hands down better than the normal meals at any Marine Corps chow hall. The only exception to the rule I found was the chow hall at Iwakuni Japan 93 - 95. They brought in a chef that turned hat place from an "avoid at all cost" establishment to a "I can't miss a meal" spot.

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I seem to recall that basic training diets were reportedly very high in calories in order to keep the hard-working teenage recruits fueled up. The rumors also said the food was spiked with saltpeter to suppress the troops libido.

 

The rumor persists

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BMT foods:

 

typical breakfast foods:

 

Cream of Wheat or grits with butter on top, French Toast, sausage or bacon , scrambled eggs, chipped beef on toast with gravy, milk, coffee, water

 

pastry usually a Danish with fruit filling, raisen rolls, cinnamon rolls

 

lunch menu items:

 

fried rabbit , fried okra, mashed potatoes w/gravy, bread & margarine, piece of fruit like orange, apples, fruit punch, water, milk

 

chicken fried steak, white gravy, mashed potatoes, fried okra, green beans or mixed vegetables

 

hamburger patty, bread & butter, canned peas, Chicken Ala King over wide noodles & gravy

 

salad bar, tossed green salad, potato salad, macaroni salad, crackers and maybe some jello cups with fruit mixed in

 

post BMT Tech school foods:

 

very similar to what you would get at the Hometown or Country buffet, definitely an improvement from the BMT foods

 

including burgers, with fries, pizza, and all the ice cream bars and sodas and cookies you want

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also plenty of fresh hot dinner rolls with butter were always available during mealtimes

 

meatloaf with gravy & mashed potatoes w/ gravy, it seems almost every lunch & dinner has mashed potatoes? sometimes dirty rice or Texas long grain rice.

 

beans, cornbread, and sometimes steaks [chewy steaks, always well done]

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From a "Boot Camp" perspective I enjoyed the the food at MCRD San Diego - I enjoyed the BBQ Ribs and Okra - I had never had them before and I thought it was pretty good - Reserve weekend drill food was hit or miss depending on the mood of "Kitchen Staff"

 

Bill

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