U.S. Army Soldiers Facing Unconscionable Food Shortages on Domestic Bases
Fort Cavazos soldiers forced to endure food service shortages while sweltering in 100+ degree heat, and the excuses are unconvincing
We have recently reported about the Navy’s recent troubles with keeping its submarines at sea as scheduled, here: Nearly 40% of U.S. Attack Submarines are Out of Commission, and here: Delays with New Strategic Nuclear Missile Submarine Program Could Damage National Defense, GAO Reports.
We also reported about the inability of USS Boxer, a large amphibious assault ship, to get underway as scheduled despite a two-year-long overhaul that was supposed to improve, not degrade, the condition of the ship: USS Boxer Unable to Get Underway after Two-Year $200 Million Overhaul, Symptom of Military Readiness Problems.
As the title of that post suggested, these failures to execute assigned missions are serious symptoms of problems with military readiness.
Lest it be outdone by the Navy, the Army is also having its own readiness problems in the form of a severe ammunition shortage, the result of our free-of-charge largesse to Ukraine as it attempts to ward off the Russian invasion:
- U.S. Weapons Stockpile Disaster Limiting Our Ability To Deter China In Taiwan
- ‘Sure Let Our Adversaries Know’: Anger Boils Over After Biden Reveals in Live Interview That America is Low on Ammunition
- Biden Admin Sending Ukraine Cluster Munitions, a Weapon Banned by 100 Countries
- Only U.S. Factory Making Key Explosive for Artillery Rounds and Tomahawk Missiles Still Offline After It Blew Up in 2021
- Biden Admin Depletes Reserve U.S. Stockpile in Israel in Bid to Replenish Ukraine
- U.S. Weapons Stockpiles “Uncomfortably Low” Due To Arms Shipments to Ukraine
- Biden Sending 31 M1 Abrams Tanks to Ukraine, Russia Calls the Move ‘Blatant Provocation’
And now, military.com reports that not only is the Army facing an ammunition shortage, soldiers at Fort Cavazos, formerly known as Fort Hood, are unconscionably short on food:
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.
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.
I can’t even describe to you how unfathomably disgusting this situation is, especially with soldiers in Texas facing 100+ heat as they try to survive their work day on substandard, or nonexistent nutrition.
The cause?
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.
Something seems off about that excuse, and while I am not a wild-eyed conspiracy theorist, this explanation does not seem that outlandish:
In any case, the situation is unprecedented as far back as I can remember, and the Army should be ashamed of itself and fix this ASAP.
"Fort Cavazos, previously known as Fort Hood, has struggled to provide its junior enlisted troops with meals for months, with the base only opening two of its 10 major dining facilities for much of the summer"
Good thing we renamed it, for diversity! https://t.co/QzE67fN8FV
— JB in CO (@jrb528) August 9, 2023
When the @USArmy runs out of bottle washers and cooks – it is clear we have a major recruiting problem. Wonder why? . . . I also thought Fort Hood was raaaacist and the new name was Fort Cavazos. What the hell is going on @SecDef + @thejointstaff ?https://t.co/q5OvkPrQ1c
— Jack Maxey (@JackMaxey1) August 9, 2023
Regarding the story about the soldiers at Fort Hood not being fed – watch and see if anything is done to address this failure. If Trump was President I’ll betcha there’d be hell to pay and it’d be fixed in a matter of days. I doubt Biden will even hear about it.
— Magdelyn McAndrew (@MagdelynMcAndr1) August 9, 2023
"The situation at Fort Cavazos, Texas — previously known as Fort Hood — has left some junior enlisted with few options for meals."
$817 BILLION defense budget and the Army cannot figure out how to feed its soldiers? Outrageous!https://t.co/6sLi9fuRXl https://t.co/qHezdlABEw
— Mary Waggener (@marywag2947) August 10, 2023
I could not have said it better myself.
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Comments
Hey, it is hard work, trying to collapse the USA from within.
What better way to destroy the military than from withing from neglect. Obama started the process by purging all the real generals and functional staff. Biden is just wrapping up the process with injections of the woke mind virus, complete with male soldiers dressed like women and further lowering whatever standards are left.
But Pres. Trump is the problem, right?
The fundamental transformation of America is happening, and nobody EXCEPT Trump is trying to stop it. The rest would rather close their eyes and pretend that it is all happening because Trump was elected, and if only we elect somebody they choose for us, it will be different.
This is the long term consequences out outsourcing capability in the name of efficiency.
When I was a young officer at Hood 35 years ago every battalion had thier own dedicated facility. In the interests of saving manpower the Army reduced soldier cooks and replaced them with civilians at consolidated facilities.
Me contracts are cut further and you can’t surge civilians to other bases, leaving us with an army that literally can’t feed itself
“In the interests of saving manpower the Army reduced soldier cooks and replaced them with civilians at consolidated facilities.”
In other words, contractors. This was done right around 9/11. I believe. Rumsfeld’s idea. He was warned that military readiness would suffer as a result.
But, at least those in charge are diverse.
Very mental illness inclusive.
How will this play out when it’s time for the troops to re-up?
I think we’re seeing that play out in real time.
When the equity takes hold the military will have the best chefs with nothing to cook, the brightest janitors with no cleaning supplies and brilliant maids who excel in every ridiculous request.
Read between the lines to find the incompetance.
Maybe the goal of the DoD is to recapture the mid 1970s feel again.
I am sorry – did I read that headline correct? We cannot feed OUR soldiers in peacetime, on our own soil?!?!?!
I am so far disgusted by this….
We can’t feed our own soldiers in peacetime, on our own soil, but we can give that fraud by the name of Zelenskyy BILLIONS of taxpayer USD to wage an endless proxy war against Russia.
I am so disgusted by this . . .
It’s just how Biden and the Marxists will treat the whole country writ small.
Russia is the one waging a war of extermination. Ukraine is just refusing to bend over and take the bullet to the head willingly. The money spent on Ukraine is a drop in the bucket of the federal spending. There are many better things to complain about. Sounding like you want millions slaughtered for Putin’s crazy ideals is just Satanic… oh right…. Lucifer…. I get it.
Meanwhile Zelensky closes churches, prohibits elections and hangs with Nazis.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/zelensky-holds-court-ukraines-most-notorious-neo-nazi
I don’t care, MattMusson. Are they killing Russians or aren’t they? They are? Keep sending them the bullets.
Zero hedge is a lousy source given it is part of the Putin agitprop network. The Nazi thing is simply a lie generated by Putin’s neo-Nazi minions. The only churches closed were those associated with Moscow. They were caught running Russian agents and supporting the Russian war effort. Closing a 5th column is not the sin you claim it to be.
Several of Putin’s circle are known neo-Nazis and many Russian troops have been captured bearing Nazi tattoos.
You need to find a different story.
Russia is the one waging a war of extermination.
If Russia wanted to wage a “war of extermination” the war would be long over and Ukraine would be under Russia’s control and that fraud Zelenskyy would be long gone.
Ukraine is just refusing to bend over and take the bullet to the head willingly
But the bullet is inevitably on the way. And when it hits you can be guaranteed that Zelenskyy will be nowhere to be found in Ukraine. He’s a fraud, coward and incompetent leader who is more worried about fundraising than actually prosecuting the war in his own country.
The money spent on Ukraine is a drop in the bucket of the federal spending.
Again, why should the U.S. taxpayer be funding a foreign proxy war with Russia when we get nothing from it. We don’t need to adopt Ukraine’s problems as our own. We’ve got plenty of our own problems that need to be dealt with before handing money over to Zelenskyy.
There are many better things to complain about
Failing national infrastructure. Failed public schools. Food costs rising. Energy costs rising. Inflation all around. Unemployment. Can’t even feed our own troops in our own effing country. Crime out of control. And on and on. Yes, we have other things to complain and deal with. Giving BILLIONS of taxpayer USD to that fraud Zelenskyy isn’t going to solve any of them.
Sounding like you want millions slaughtered for Putin’s crazy ideals is just Satanic…
Millions slaughtered? Where did I say that I wanted “millions slaughtered”. I didn’t and don’t. All Zelenskyy has to do is negotiate a peace with Russia. Zelenskyy might not get all he wants but those millions won’t be slaughtered. But he won’t do that as long as the money keeps flowing in from the Biden regime. Until the squeeze is put on the little fraud he’ll keep the proxy war going. And going. And going.
oh right…. Lucifer…. I get it.
No, you don’t get it. You don’t get a thing.
So, you Red devil, it is your contention that Russia is intentionally prolonging the war, a war they could win easily if they really wanted to. That’s your lead-off argument.
Click.
Can’t feed the troops, but the pronouns are correct and the drag queens are plentiful!
I guess as long as this doesn’t affect the Ukraine, our brilliant army leadership doesn’t care. Just another bunch of whining Americans.
Okay, so what % of our federal budget does Ukraine get? lol. Not much.
Is the real shortage reason the recruitment and retention of troops in the Wok armed forces?
The quality of life (QOL) issues are what drive folks to depart military service. In general at the end of an initial enlistment of 4 years more than half depart. Which is fine b/c many of them served out of family tradition or to obtain GI bill qualification; these folks were only going to do one enlistment anyway.
There’s normally enough retention of the remainder of the 1st term folks and new recruits in the training pipe that Manning levels are fine. Today that’s not the case. The QOL issues become very important in this environment. Inability to support dining facility operations is a recurring problem in the Army that pops up from time to time.
IMO the driving factor is the end of the GWOT ‘money tree’. From the 2002 Defense Bill on there was basically unlimited funds. Not just for ammo or training budgets but for garrison support operations. The DoD was contracting out base security and hiring civilian cooks to run the dining facilities. Not so today, but there’s an entire generation of Officers and NCOs who who grew up with the ‘money tree’ mentality.
These folks have now reached SR positions and are not used to having to balance limited budgets and personnel constraints with the ‘desires’ of their bosses. Prior to the GWOT it was common for units to run out of funds in August, most of this was due to chronic underfunding. What did it look like? No $ for stocking toilet paper in the restrooms, no $ for clearing supplies. Yet the CSM wants the floors waxed and polished so Soldiers reached into their own pockets and bought the supplies. Most units with better leadership were able to budget and avoid this.
Writ large, prior to GWOT money tree the leadership was forced to learn how to budget and make trade offs. After the money tree was chopped down we still had enough mid grade Officers and NCOs who understood budgets. Now we don’t. So instead of telling the boss, usually a Gen Officer, ‘no’ and giving the reasons why you can’t support a mission to pull cooks they keep saying ‘yes’ and the consequences are bad.
Obviously one base having a temporary cook shortage isn’t a big deal….or is it, as I suspect, an indication of far greater problems under the radar? This is the sort of thing that occurs when your organization doesn’t have adequate personnel to support the number of missions and operational demands nor have mature leadership with the moral courage to tell their bosses ‘no’ or bosses with emotional maturity to listen to their subordinates warnings or objections instead of dismissing them and telling them to ‘make it happen’ despite the impossibility.
“”So instead of telling the boss, usually a Gen Officer, ‘no””
AKA ending your military career….
Not always. Even now there are still some Gen Officers and many more COL and LTC with enough sense to at least listen to someone honest enough and with the moral courage to buck them. I managed to do it multiple times without any damage. Of course later on I did it to a 2 Star ‘golden child’ who was very put out about it and that pretty much was all she wrote. It was still worth it as I had about had enough anyway.
As you note, it only takes once. My situation was similar.
If I were King (I would not take the job of President), I would start at the top of the Army and ask that person how they plan to fix the food problem. If that person does not lay out a plan to get food to the soldiers, I would fire him (or her) on the spot.
Then I would turn to the second in charge, (who was quickly promoted by the recent actions of his or her superior,) and ask that person how to fix the food problem.
And so on, down the line, until somebody shows the the way to feed the privates, then corporals, etc. No officer gets to eat until all of the enlisted personnel are fed.
It’s good to be King.
“”It’s good to be King””
So you don’t have to answer your own question.
Maybe Tommy Tuberville should keep his ‘Hold’ on until the soldiers get fed?
Senator Coach has the right attitude. I’m proud of that man.
.
I was just having a conversation this week about whatever happened to the left screaming about food deserts. This looks like a place they need to look into.
The government can’t feed its soldiers but expects us to believe the government should be completely in charge of the economy.
The solution is actually easy if the ptb would just do it – same way they handled chow halls in the 50s & 60s. Assign KP duty to lower ranks for basic kitchen and staff , Fix the issue with the cooks through an accelerated training course. Meanwhile, contract qualified cooks through civilian vendors. They could have the problem fixed in a week.
Real great job the pedophile and chief is doing
Please use the correct name for Fort Hood, not the name the communists use.
A small point the genius revolutionaries in the administration of President Rutabaga have failed to appreciate:
you can’t starve soldiers and then order them to shoot their countrymen.
It doesn’t work that way. President Rutabaga previously noted that he had F-16s, and we civilians didn’t. Apparently, he’s now starving the very army he and his fellow travelers will depend on the day it becomes necessary to put down “civil unrest”.
Shrewd, very shrewd …
You aren’t taking into account the fact that it might be intentional. If they can’t recruit enough American citizens, there are those millions of military-age illegals who would have no problem killing Americans. After all, some of them are doing it every day.
Retired Marine officer here: While throughout my military career, I’ve experienced commands having to occasionally get creative to feed the troops (or buy toilet paper…which believe me, you do not want to run out of) particularly near the end of the fiscal year. Sometimes you budget correctly. Sometimes you don’t. But, troops never, even in the worst of times, missed a meal. What is happening now is really without precedent in peacetime and it’s SHOCKING this isn’t a bigger story. I’m afraid it speaks directly to a malaise and dysfunction that has quietly settled over our military the last several years
Failure by design. None of what is happening is because of ignorance, incompetence or neglect. It has all been carefully engineered and implemented.
Back in the late 80’s the Marines converted over to civilians running the chow halls. It freed up a lot of voluntold and punishments details. Oh and the food was spit free.
Compare and contrast. The link below shows what happens when the job to be done was the priority. This, in short, was America.
https://youtu.be/1lwE0JUXP4Q
I grew up in the military and served for 30 years. In the field, it may not be easy to feed the troops. On base, this is unacceptable.
Neither base nor unit commanders don’t care, and obviously, neither does the clown show at the Pentagon. They are too busy renaming bases and pronouns.
Is it any wonder that recruitment is falling?
soon the sleeper cells from south of the border will be activated