For Soldiers at Fort Carson, Food Is Scarce

[OldSolduer]

This principle of leadership is key - "Know your troops and promote their welfare."

Food is the basis of almost any good plan. There's a reason that R comes before Q in R&Q.

You get it. It seems some don't.

Good food can be the difference between a very shitty time and just a bad time.

Morale is dependent on a number of things and if you serve the troops shit food.....well you're starting behind already.

 

[Jarnhamar]

2 of the 3 of them didn't know how to use a knife to cut a steak...

Cutting rare or well done steak with a flimsy plastic knife is a Canadian army classic skill.

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

What the heck do they issue you with a bayonet for, then?

 

[Halifax Tar]

What the heck do they issue you with a bayonet for, then?

Or a Gerber or Seamans Knife ?

 

[dapaterson]

What the heck do they issue you with a bayonet for, then?

Bayonets are for stabby-stab, not cutty-cut.

 

[OldSolduer]

Bayonets are for stabby-stab, not cutty-cut.

Stabby stabby isn't required as much anymore. A bayonet is a handy tool but steak cutting isn't one of the tasks its good at.

 

[dimsum]

Tangentially: "warrior restaurant" has to be somewhere in the Top Ten Cringiest US Terms list.

It also feels like the whole pay the servicemember then bill them for uniforms, and R&Q in settings where there's no civilian option (members on course, members without the ability to cook or access to groceries/civvy restaurants, members where the only housing option is military) is an enormous waste of time, especially with uniforms.

In certain instances (like deployments), the US military does issue them X number of sets of uniforms. But generally speaking, yes the US military buys all of their operational and dress uniforms.

An interesting thing I found working with them is that whether they are entitled to get more of those uniforms varies not by your MOSID, but by your particular job at the particular posting. Those folks were aircrew at a staff HQ posting - they were allowed to wear their flight suits (we all did) but they couldn’t get more flight suits in that posting. So they started alternating days wearing flight suits and combats (which they paid for themselves) to save on wear, so their flight suits weren’t destroyed before going onto their next posting.

 

[Halifax Tar]

I think we should have gone the way with paid for uniforms after initial issue a long time ago.

 

[RangerRay]

What about a points system? I talked to a US fed LE officer and said they get allotted points every year and can “spend” those points as they see fit. Usually the points allotted would pay for basic yearly uniform parts replacement (pants, shirt, ball cap” and a few points extra to save up for items requiring less frequent replacement (jackets, boots) or items deemed “extra” (Stetsons, dress uniforms, etc.). If one wanted to, they could blow their points on something more “expensive” but would have to wait a year to replace the items more frequently replaced.