This question was asked to me everytime I communicated with someone back home my first two months in Afghanistan and I always answered yes, send what you feel would be enough for me. The positive response was overwhelming. I have a small shelf in my small room ( I will post pictures of my room in the near future on Facebook) and it quickly began to beg for mercy with Girl Scout Cookies, beef jerky, summer sausage, crackers, Snicker protein bars and boxes of Wheaties Fuel Cereal quickly burying it. One Winter day here in paradise I stared at my shelf. It looked like a pantry. Five minutes turned to 10 minutes. What was I thinking as I stared at the miniture gas station snack aisle in my domain you might be asking? I was simply thinking "Do I really need food mailed to me?". What were people back home thinking I was living and eating like in Southwest Asia? Let me let you into the subsistence that is offered for my selection on a daily basis.
If you asked me a month ago, how I would rate the food, I would of said it is real good. Unfortunately, the past month the quality has noticably dropped to were I now would rate it a 5 out of 10 instead of an 8 out of 10. For those of you that don't know what my specific military job is, it's Food Service. Some of you based on the way I look, speak and act thought that I did something else that was "cool and important" in the Army. Well, I do have a cool and important job it's called Food Service (Not cook. That sounds like a degrading term to me). It's unfortunately eliminated in the majority of the places where Soldiers are deployed. A majority (not all) of dining facilities are ran by civilians who come over to make tax free money in a deployment zone. What do the Army food service specialists do if they can't do their jobs, you may ask? Two things, sit at a counter and count how many people come in to eat at every meal or get assigned to whatever mission needs extra Soldiers. I actually like doing something different. I am not afraid to show my range and versatility in the Army. Anyway, back to the point. Here in my very small camp, it is civilian ran, so I am now on the other side as the customer, however they are unaware that I know and see what they do right and wrong.
All meals are a combination of heated frozen or fresh cooked meals made in the kitchen. Breakfast offers cream beef, biscuits, hashbrowns, potato pancakes, cheese grits, regular grits, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, eggs to order such as any type of omelet you could want, waffles, pancakes, vast assortment of fresh fruit to chose from, cereal and alot of other good stuff that quite frankly is pretty good.
Lunch is as bi-polar as Axl Rose, the singer of Guns and Roses. As of now, you don't know what you are going to get served. Again, its fresh cooked, however it's not really healthy. Just about everything is fried like mozzarella sticks, fries, pizza poppers, small pizzas and they make burgers (frozen processed patties) on the grill. They have a sandwich bar that is up 24/7 since in between meals you can come in and make yourself a sandwich whenever you want, however sometimes the sandwich bar is like a crying baby with a soiled diaper. It's begging to get changed out. They have Jack's Beef Jerky packs, energy drinks, energy bars and assorted snacks to take with you. They also have fresh made cakes, frozen pies, frozen ice cream bars, frozen sorbet bars, an ice cream bar that serves a really expensive ice cream that sounds like Haasgans or something like that with self serve toppings. As you can tell, I don't eat it since I don't know the name. Yes, they have sodas here. All Coke products are offered along with Gatorade and this other sports drink known as Mega Sport. Ironically, it comes from Warren, Michigan. The first time I saw it was from Michigan, it brought a smile to my face and I briefly recalled some good times when I lived there. I drink mostly bottled water. Sodas make me sick out here. My body only burns premium fuel.
Dinner is usually the meal, where I forgive the dining facility for what they offered me at lunch. Each day has its theme. Monday thru Wednesday is forgettable. Again, good food, just not my type for an awesome body that I am trying to maintain and build upon. Thursday night is fresh, homemade burger night where I get two burgers with no bread. Friday is steak, shrimp and/or lobster tails/crab legs. Steak and shrimp is what I usually take. Saturday is Mongolian night where they cook the plate of stir fry items that you picked, on the grill. Sunday is the best for me and alot of the guys. Homemade pizza. The dough is from pillsbury tubes and the toppings are leftovers from the salad bar and breakfast, but it is sooooo goooood! My normal response when I see four sheet pans of different pizzas is usually "I'll take one slice of each please". Without hesitating, the civilian starts loading the plate. By the way, each slice is about half the slice of a normal pizza in the states, so don't think I am gorging and splurging like Charlie Sheen at a hotel room with cocaine and webcam to "talk" to his fans. Again, my body and mind is of the upmost importance to me out here, so just like Charlie, yeah I'm "winning" out here. A great thing out at this camp is that you can get as much food, as many times as you want. No questions asked. They don't offer just one type of item. They have other choices if you don't like that stuff, I am giving you the "theme meal" of the day.
Now here is what might shock you. There are some camps that offer what I described to you, but they also have Burger King, Subway, McDonalds and Pizza Hut to chose from if they don't want to eat for free. Yes, they pay out of their own pockets, but it is a pointless in my opinion to eat there consistently since you can eat for free. Plus, a "large" pizza is $10 and is the size of a medium pizza. As a matter of fact, you pay more than you would back in the states. Would you pay $8 or $9 dollars for a "value" meal? You might be surprised that there is one camp that has a TGI Friday's with servers and everything just like the states.
Every camp in Afghanistan is different. What you see on television is true, however luxuries, experiances and options are different based where you're located. There are some small camps that don't have the options like I or other Soldiers have. By the way, I don't have options like BK etc., on my camp and I happily eat for free. Those Soldiers in remote camps would trade to have a fresh, hot meal even if it is fried on a consistent basis. They mostly eat MRE's (meals ready to eat) that are actually pretty good, but like anything it gets repeative after awhile.
With what I described in my small camp, I still see Soldiers complaining. Yesterday for dinner, I heard a Soldier complain that he no longer was satisfied with eating the same "shit" every week. He got up and threw away a freshly made cheeseburger with toppings into the trash. He didn't even take one bite. My Soldiers and I looked at him like he was the biggest idiot. I wasn't the only one. A local Afghan who works at the dining facility watched the food go in the trash. I saw that he had the same expression on his face. He hid it pretty well, but I could tell he was offended that someone would not appreciate what options and luxuries they had. I am pretty sure food is not wasted in Afghanistan like that. If we weren't around, I would not have been surprised if he would of taken it from him to prevent waste. We, Soldiers, represent and construct the view of what an American is on a daily basis. I am pretty sure this incident came up at home with his family or friends. Sorry about my "soapbox" moment. Food deserves proper respect.
Now that you know that I eat good here along with the majority of Soldiers in Afghanistan, a snack from home is always welcomed, however, please do not send the entire grocery store shelf in the mail. We will pass out the excess snacks to our Soldiers who can make weight to enjoy. Unless you send me Girl Scout Cookies. I open a box, eat one cookie and the next thing I know I wake up to empty boxes and wrappers the next morning wondering what happened. As you can tell, it is very easy to get overweight out here when you put care packages and the food here together. By the way, the food on my shelf was gone two months after I received it . I no longer keep food in my room and I have now said no to care packages since March, except for my Wheaties Fuel Cereal from the wife. I have her send me two boxes at a time to break the boredom of the same cereals here.lol. Until next time, take care.
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