Originally Posted by
megan
I remember my military days as being fed well with good tucker by service personnel. Attended an aircrew graduation formal dinner in the mess recently and the standard of food could best be described as "slops". All civilian contractor now. Could see why those living in no longer eat in the mess, preferring to cook up a BBQ on the lawn outside their accommodation instead.
Concur. Dining-in nights were cheap and compulsory. Great food, great service and not so great hangovers. Sadly the armed forces have lost what they cherished almost the most; Mess life. Without Mess life, chaps live out and it almost becomes a 9 - 5 job (apart from Ops). I have just attended a reunion of 1969 14 Sqn Wildenrath. What brilliant days they were; the Mess full of bachelors, great food, cheap booze, batting (yes proper batting) and comradeship. Those who attended the reunion all agreed that we did not fully appreciate what we had then.