Ever have that nagging feeling your meals on exercise or ops are cheap

[NutLoose]

Well you want to be a horse. :}

The daily amount allocated to feed soldiers at sea, on exercise or on operations can be as low as £3.63. This contrasts with a £3,559,742 contract awarded to provide straw, forage and fresh produce for around 540 military horses for three years - the equivalent of approximately £6 a day.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/fury-as-mod-accused-of-spending-more-to-feed-horses-than-soldiers-on-missions/ar-AA14jwJ5?ocid=winp1taskbar&cvid=059593f90aff4a6c942483e4efa72ae5

[ShyTorque]

Neigh, can’t believe it.

[SASless]

Ya suppose the RAF having to settle for mere Three Star catering might be the cause?

[sitigeltfel]

Economies of scale.

[Herod]

Economies of scale.
​​​​​​​Exactly. Horses are bigger.

[L1011effoh]

When we owned horses some years ago, we would have been over the moon to have bought feed/forage for £6 per day.

[ShyTorque]

Having been on RW we had to get used to eating on the hoof.

[MPN11]

I recall getting a friend to send some suitable herbs and spices to FI to improve the quality of the SasDet pizzas.

[Jackjones1]

Going to have to rein those horses in & next we will hear that they are having to eat on the hoof 😜

[Jobza Guddun]

Ya suppose the RAF having to settle for mere Three Star catering might be the cause?

SAS,
I'm positively insulted that you put "RAF" and "Three Star" in the same sentence....our scales don't go that low! :p

[cynicalint]

What ever it costs, despite all the jokes about our caterers in field, we have the best by far. I know that the catering course is the hardest course in the Military as no-one has ever passed and that they are also fitters and turners, in that they take the fittest food and turn it into slop. But, every place I have deployed where there are mixed nationality kitchens, the UK chefs consistently produce the best and most palatable food. Even if that is on £3.64 a day! Thank you field chefs, i salute you... indeed, prior to contractorization and PAYD, we used to have outstanding chefs and stewards in every mess.

[DuncanDoenitz]

I think most horses are excellent value for the money; in fact many of them are outstanding in their field.

Incidentally, this reminds me of a nagging question. The last time I renewed my UK military driving permit I had to complete a vote-for-joe test on the Highway Code, one of the questions was along the lines of "A horse-rider on a dual carriageway approaches a roundabout intending to turn right (3rd exit); in which lane should he approach?" I neither know nor care what the answer is but it generated a further question in my mind; does one need a military driving permit in order to drive an MoD horse?

[BigDotStu]

I neither know nor care what the answer is but it generated a further question in my mind; does one need a military driving permit in order to drive an MoD horse?

I know that probably wasn't a serious question, but it happens I have a mate in the Band of the Household Cavalry, and apparently you can only ride a military horse if you have been trained to and gained the "mounted duty man" qualification :)

[Old_Slartibartfast]

For some reason, "mounted duty man" conjures up a fairly unpleasant (to my heterosexual brain) image (with apologies to any of our LGBTQ comrades).

[DuncanDoenitz]

One hopes that the Duty Man would not be a little horse in the morning.

[just another jocky]

What ever it costs, despite all the jokes about our caterers in field, we have the best by far. I know that the catering course is the hardest course in the Military as no-one has ever passed and that they are also fitters and turners, in that they take the fittest food and turn it into slop. But, every place I have deployed where there are mixed nationality kitchens, the UK chefs consistently produce the best and most palatable food. Even if that is on £3.64 a day! Thank you field chefs, i salute you... indeed, prior to contractorization and PAYD, we used to have outstanding chefs and stewards in every mess.
Hear, hear!

[sitigeltfel]

ISTR that it cost more to feed military police dogs than it did their two legged handlers. Also, if things got tough, you could always eat the horse!

[NutLoose]

The NYtimes recognised our food in Afghanistan as one of the best. Highest mark is 4

https://archive.nytimes.com/atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/14/the-best-and-worst-in-kabul-military-dining/

Camp Souter DFAChttps://static01.nyt.com/images/2012/06/14/world/asia/14atwar-kabul-dfac-ratings-4star/14atwar-kabul-dfac-ratings-4star-blogSmallInline.jpg

Rating: 4 Exploding Stars

The Camp Souter DFAC proves that not all British food is bad. Notable for its wide selection, each meal features a tip-top spread fit for the queen – fluffy omelets, rich curries, seasoned roasts, roasted potatoes and sinful chocolate tarts. After dining, step next door to the cafe and catch a lively Premier League match with some boisterous British lads. Just don’t call it soccer. Over all, a brilliant establishment.

[Bengo]

Unless things have changed, caterers were generally dealing with wooden dollars. They 'bought' foodstuffs using the aggregated daily allowance from the MoD list at MoD set 'prices'. Those prices largely did not vary much, regardless of what was happening in the real world. Some stuff could be bought locally for real money, but not much. An after effect of the great catering scandal of the early 70s.

[SASless]

Jobza,

Accept my apologies I did not mean to demean the rating system.

My experience with US Army leaves me a bit confused.

I started my field chow eperience with Marmite Cans and hot cans of juice as the plastic bottle had not been invented at that time. That lukewarm chow was very similar to what was served in the unit Messhall...just thrown into insulated containers and trucked to the field for consumption what seemed like a week after.

Then upon reaching the two way shooting range in a beautiful tropic paradise....we moved to the old fashioned "C Ration" (Meals, Combat, Canned). some of which dated back to just before the start of the Korean War.

After several month they actually became quite edible, well some versions were anyway.

I shall have to admit Ham and Pinto Beans, Pork and Scalloped Potatoes, took some effort to down....and the Sphagetti and Meatballs consumed cold took a very tough hungry Solider. The Peaches, Pears, Pound Cake were pretty good. We would fist fight to get the Beans and Franks B-2 Meal that had cheese and cracker in it.

Then we discovered LRRP Rations known as LURPS.....which were quick frozen meals that only required the addition of water to make them edible. Chicken and Rice was the favorite.

Finally....along came the infamous MRE style of combat ration.....commonly known as "Meals Rejected by Ethiopians" by the Troops.

I so worry about the health and well being of today's troops that have to live on those thing for more than one meal.

The worst thing I have ever been offered to eat is the MRE is "Pork with Jamaican Jerk Spice added"..... No one in their right. mind would ever eat that.

The one thing we did right in the Army in those days was try the best we could to get a proper Thanksgiving Dinner to every Soldier in the field....and laid on extra flght sorties to accomplish that....most times being involved in the flying I ate C rations as we did not have time to stop for a proper meal.

Last night while enjoying a wonderful meal with some friends.....I thought back to those days in. combat and how much that hot meal meant to the Soldiers in the Bush....and the smiles we saw all around us while we were being unloaded by the Human Ant Column work party.

[Wader2]

We once attended an RAF catering competition. We were the guinea pigs being served a formal dinner. They were a team of 3. The corporal serving introduced the wine with each course, and described the various dishes as she served them. The desert was brought over by the chef de patisserie and the meal rounded off with coffee and petit fours. I think the highlight had to be the gold leaf on the dessert.

Our team was from Chequers and won the competition. Our Cameron was PM at the time.

[ShyTorque]

On a less than comfortable field exercise in West Germany, Cold War days, we were told to everyone’s dismay that we were to be eating 24 hour Compo ration packs for the entire duration. Our flight cook was a very resourceful chap and after a couple of days we were eating a fantastic Sunday roast lamb dinner with all the veg and trimmings, with no sign of any more Compo rations. I complimented him on his cooking and asked him how he’d managed to do it. “Ask me no questions Sir….. ;)“ came the reply….so I didn’t.

[gums]

Salute!

SAS has it right about the extent the U.S. army went thru to get a decent meal for the troops for Thanksgiving. Due to my timing, I had three of those meals in SEA and best one was close to where he flew outta. Was at Bien Hoa.

The freeze dried things known as LRRP's were actually quite good and my favorite was turkey tetrazine, or something like that. Our USAF dining hall was normally quite good, so only time we saw those LRRP's was when staying with the special forces Army folks or when we had them at our place as part of an exchange program we had in III Corps.

Worse for my unit was a training TDY to a "bare base" back in the states. Being in special ops then, my unit "joined" (camped out) with the snake eater types, and had sorry excuses for "hot meals". All of us would rather have had the LRRP's.

Second worse TDY food was the "in flight meals" they gave us when we ferried our jets across the pond to SEA . The logistics folks didn't realize we were not in a huge cargo plane and had no running water, a john or flight attendants. So they gave us "box lunches"!! One hop we had fried chicken that was quite tasty, but the damned crumbs clogged the valves in your oxygen mask and the life support troops hated all the work they had to do that night.

The good news of those days, however, was development of great freeze-dried camping/survival packages and the stuff for the space program.

Gums sends...

[SASless]

Working with the SF guys was quite interesting.....much more laid back than the conventional force units.

My unit provided support US non-divisional units, SF, Engineers, Artillery, Armor, Navy and Air Force, and the Allied Forces...Thais, Vietnamese, Philippine, and Australian.

Dininng with the various forces yielded some interesting experiences food wise....the most civilized (most surprisingly so) were the Aussies as they had Linen table clothes, plates, and proper eating tools and darn good food.
My next choice was the Thai food....which was heavy on the hot pepper side, followed by the Vietnamese style with lovely Pho's (Soups) and the Philippines with some very nice Lumpia.

There was a field kitchen setup for a 199th Light Infantry Brigade in an area just west of Saigon known as "The Pineapple" as it was an immense Pineapple plantation and the Area of Operations for the 199th.

The kitchen was set up across a large canal from the main road in the area and had a single plank foot bridge to afford access to the Dining area.....with no hand rails.

Arriving for a lunch break....although not working for the 199th that day....we came roaring into land in the Chinook....very low level and doing a completely unapproved sliding skidding banked well over screeching halt kind of landing.....and as I passed over the wee foot bridge I caught a glimpse of a single Soldier caught mid-span on that plank bridge.

The thing that caught my eye in sequence was the sparkling clean starched battle dress uniform, web gear, and camo helmet cover, a pair of spit shined leather boots and a stubby CAR-15 rifle......all 180 degrees in orientation to the canal water (mucky scum filled ugly water). feet up....helmet with one hand on it down....and it was then I noticed the Two Silver Stars on the Camo Helmet Cover.

In lieu of landing for a good steak lunch....I reversed controls turned the ramp to the splashing water and flew off to anywhere but there to enjoy a cold C-Ration Lunch.

I bet the General still thinks today that I did that to him on purpose.....I did not have the courage to offer him my apologies.

The General may have wanted to initiate an action that could have lightened my pay for a couple of months.

[Gne]

In 2006 we spent most of Thanksgiving day inspecting Mosul airport and when it came to leave the "powers that be" decided it was too dangerous to take us out by Blackhawk (the way we arrived). in lieu we were taken to a FOB in the countryside (if such existed in Iraq at that time) by armoured vehicle to await darkness and a Blackhawk ride back to BIA and Camp Liberty. On arrival the FOB looked more like a family gathering in the US with turkey and all the trimmings, locals joining in and as we had time to spare we enjoyed a great meal with them. Thanks guys and gals.

The other memorable meals in battlespace were two successive lunches while doing an inspection of Bacau airport in what became Timor Leste. First day we visited the Thai security camp on one side of the runway and they cooked us a tremendous meal from the self supporting organic garden they had set up. I've always enjoyed Thai but this was something special. Next day we went across to the Pakistani camp and had one of the best curries I've enjoyed (sorry RAAF cooks) from their garden of fresh chilies, coriander etc. No Idea what the meat was and we did not ask.

The Afghan lunches the office boy used to obtain while in Kabul were also worthy of mention - but not prepared by military teams, well not that we knew. The young lad could rustle up curry and rice and that great Afghan flat bread and a drink for six of us with sufficient left over to take home to his family for USD10-00 - and we knew the bugger was keeping the change!

Gne

[Prangster]

If ever you're passing please drop in for breakfast

June 1940 and an itinerant Luftwaffe fighter pilot having dined on an early breakfast at Calais finds himself dangling under his parachute somewhere near Ashford in Kent. He is picked up by the army who promptly, not wishing to appear rude to their unexpected guest feed him a full English. On being transferred to police custody they too offer him breakfast, not wanting to appear ungracious he somehow manages to eat it. And yes you've guessed it, on being dumped on the RAF they too force feed him! He waddled into captivity.