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

Well you want to be a horse. :}

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/othe...2483e4efa72ae5

Neigh, can’t believe it.

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

Economies of scale.

​​​​​​​Exactly. Horses are bigger.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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?

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 :)

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

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

Hear, hear!

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!

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

https://archive.nytimes.com/atwar.bl...litary-dining/

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.

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.