Porkchop shenanigans, allegedy crappy boat food, and the Great BAS Debate of 2020

[AllAmerican75]

I think you're getting into a separate issue. What rules governing SUPPOs are preventing the cooks from making food per the recipe card to the proper level of doneness while maintaining proper health and sanitary standards? That's the issue here. The fact that you or I might not like some dishes when prepared properly is irrelevant to the above (for me it's chicken fried steak with cauliflower that will always make me go to my oatmeal stash). There's surveys and menu review boards to look at that stuff.

That's all about give-a-shit at the individual level. Which is about CSC, CS1, and SUPPO engagement.

Also, what rules do you want to see that SUPPOs /CSC can't do to 'spice it up?' I think that they have plenty of leeway to do special meals.

They need more access and freedom to use discretionary funds to buy stuff off of the economy or outside of the stock system. Most SUPPOs and ISICs are wary to use the command credit card for anything that's not immediately necessary. I understand that there are legal reasons why but my ice cream story is an excellent example. That ice cream probably only cost a couple hundred dollars but it made a world of difference for the crew in the middle of a rough deployment. It should have been as simple as SUPPO arranging delivery with the husbanding agent and then swiping the credit card. It takes jumping through far too many hoops to do that.

Agreed. But recognize that the FSO / chop is probably a green JO. So help him out and go to CSC with him.

The FSO/Chop on a surface ship is a seasoned Supply officer who has done at least one operational tour and then a shore tour. They are department heads with at least 4 years of service and often more. There's no excuse for them not being able to reign in their CSs and FSAs. I could understand if the Disbursing Officer (DISBO) has trouble because he's often a wet-behind-the-ears ensign fresh out of Chop School but that's not who we're talking about.

I think now you're crossing streams between food and parts.

Not at all. SUPPO has to worry about all of the above at sea. He's responsible for the galley, mess decks, wardroom, goat locker, berthing spaces, ship's store, post office, store rooms, barbershop, and making sure repair parts and supplies show up in a timely manner. The dude's only got so much bandwidth so when the skipper is yelling at him at least three times a day about why widget X or gizmo Y aren't here yet which do you think he's going to prioritize?

 

[JollyGood]

Of all the various annoyances of boat life and failed shoe-airwing integration, I wouldn't rate mess bills or the actual food to really be very high on the list. Did it irk me to shell out $330/month to pay for 4 meals when I only was afforded the opportunity to realistically eat 2-3 (or frequently 1)? Yes. Was the food fantastic? No. There are a few precious CS's out there who make life better for everyone, and I think they take pride in that. But me.......I mostly just ate chicken and rice, or pasta and marinara while underway, with plenty of salad and fruit. The latter 2 being extremely important if trying to stay "regular". My diet wasn't really balanced or healthy in any sense of the terms, but it's like 7-10 months......I think people will be ok. And hamsters are great. My other personal fave was the breaded chicken breasts if they didn't F them up.......little mustard, some kraut....nom nom

This is where Metamucil comes into play. Start your Mucil game about 5 days prior to an underway and you will be regular and efficient.

The best part of being on the Mucil was avoiding wiping a ton with the old John Wayne sandpaper TP. 1 wipe to verify it was a Mucil poop, 2 wipes because you cannot just trust the first wipe. 3 wipes you need to up your Mucil intake.

 

[Birdbrain]

Huh? Have you ever been to sea? At some point the fresh stuff runs out and you end up with canned, rehydrated, and frozen food. There's only so much freezer and reefer space, so eventually even the frozen stuff runs out. How quickly all this stuff runs out is dependent upon the size of the ship and the crew. If you're on a gator with none of the Yut-Yuts embarked, then you'll end up with lots of space in the gym and lots of chow on board. If you're on an independently deployed small boy with a full air det, VIPs, and crew on board, then it's gonna run out much quicker. Despite all of our bitching, the Navy does an outstanding job of making sure that every Sailor on every ship gets a warm meal three times a day (or more if you get midrats) 24/7/365. Is the meal 5 star? Not at all. Does it get the job done? Absolutely.

Navy chow is on par with most other institutional food, it's decent. It can't all be hamsters, pancit, and lumpia.

No. Never been to sea. I'm just asking a question because I'm genuinely curious and don't know.

Which is common.

 

[nittany03]

Huh? Have you ever been to sea?

Poster is an SNA . . . easy now.

 

[AllAmerican75]

Poster is an SNA . . . easy now.

Wasn't trying to be an asshole, I legitimately couldn't figure out what exactly @Birdbrain was trying to ask. I tried to address it as best I could. It seemed like he was worried that he wouldn't get fed when he went to the boat, which isn't the case. If he has never been to sea then he doesn't have a reference for normal and all of our complaining can seem a bit daunting. It's not all bad but it also ain't Ruth's Chris.

 

[MIDNJAC]

To be fair, it is somewhat better than I remember my grade school cafeteria food being in the late 80's-early 90's

Also, if you are a dick to the airwing Sailors "cranking" dishes and picking up your dirty plates, you are the worst person in the world.

 

[nittany03]

Also, if you are a dick to the airwing Sailors "cranking" dishes and picking up your dirty plates, you are the worst person in the world.

This . . . and it WILL affect your reputation with the other airwing officers, because there’s a good chance it’s their Sailor TAD to the wardroom you just treated like a servant. Bus your own crap to the max extent practical, unless the Sailor asks to take a plate. And thank them if they do. Don’t be the dick that walks away and leaves dirty dishes for them to pick up.

 

[MIDNJAC]

This . . . and it WILL affect your reputation with the other airwing officers, because there’s a good chance it’s their Sailor TAD to the wardroom you just treated like a servant. Bus your own crap to the max extent practical, unless the Sailor asks to take a plate. And thank them if they do. Don’t be the dick that walks away and leaves dirty dishes for them to pick up.

Yeah, I know it is part of wardroom tradition or whatnot, but it always made me feel weird letting them bus my table. I'd much rather those guys/gals be up in the hangar bay or flight deck actually learning their job/career rather than bussing some pilot's dishes.

 

[Birdbrain]

Wasn't trying to be an asshole, I legitimately couldn't figure out what exactly @Birdbrain was trying to ask. I tried to address it as best I could. It seemed like he was worried that he wouldn't get fed when he went to the boat, which isn't the case. If he has never been to sea then he doesn't have a reference for normal and all of our complaining can seem a bit daunting. It's not all bad but it also ain't Ruth's Chris.

It seems like you hit my question spot on, I don't have a reference and if all I see is posts about how the food sucks it's a big anti warm and fuzzy.

 

[Spekkio]

That's all about give-a-shit at the individual level. Which is about CSC, CS1, and SUPPO engagement.

We agree there. But you said above that they're hamstrung by red tape. I still don't follow what rules are stopping people in these positions from providing food that meets NAVSUP standards.

They need more access and freedom to use discretionary funds to buy stuff off of the economy or outside of the stock system. Most SUPPOs and ISICs are wary to use the command credit card for anything that's not immediately necessary. I understand that there are legal reasons why but my ice cream story is an excellent example.

But hard pack ice cream is available in the supply system. The thing that stopped your chop from getting ice cream was mismanaging the books or food order, not the fact that it's against the rules to order it in the catalog. Doing an MWR event is a different pot of money (and different officer); crossing the streams is a no no.

The FSO/Chop on a surface ship is a seasoned Supply officer who has done at least one operational tour and then a shore tour. They are department heads with at least 4 years of service and often more. There's no excuse for them not being able to reign in their CSs and FSAs. I could understand if the Disbursing Officer (DISBO) has trouble because he's often a wet-behind-the-ears ensign fresh out of Chop School but that's not who we're talking about.

Fair enough, we get first tour chops. Nevertheless, I think that you're overestimating the capabilities of new DHs regardless of community. If you think that your mk 1 mod 0 chop JO + a day has the bandwidth and leadership maturity to fix a poor performing CSC or CS1 in lieu of their other priorities, you're going to always be disappointed. As you aptly pointed out later, they have other priorities from the command.

 

[ABMD]

No love for the SUPPOs?

 

[HAL Pilot]

No love for the SUPPOs?

You should start SuppoWarriors.com

(Wasn't there once a WarChop website mentioned on AW that I mocked?)

 

[CommodoreMid]

laughs in MPRA

 

[ea6bflyr]

It seems like you hit my question spot on, I don't have a reference and if all I see is posts about how the food sucks it's a big anti warm and fuzzy.

The point of all of this, is to have LOW expectations of the ship's wardroom food. Maybe you'll get more than you expect, but most of the time you'll get less.

Sea Story time:
On USS LAST SHIP deployment (2006), the weekly menu was okay...nothing to write home about. But on Sundays, Wardroom 3 would go all out for brunch....and it was the highlight of the week.

Yes, all Officers bitch about paying more than their BAS for boat food. It's been a long standing tradition. Suck it up, pay your mess bills, and move along...

 

[Pags]

The point of all of this, is to have LOW expectations of the ship's wardroom food. Maybe you'll get more than you expect, but most of the time you'll get less.

Sea Story time:
On USS LAST SHIP deployment (2006), the weekly menu was okay...nothing to write home about. But on Sundays, Wardroom 3 would go all out for brunch....and it was the highlight of the week.

Yes, all Officers bitch about paying more than their BAS for boat food. It's been a long standing tradition. Suck it up, pay your mess bills, and move along...

As the Air Boss on BHR was fond of asking, "does it make poops?" His point being that boat food isn't there to be fine dining, it's there to check the "provide sustenance" box in the easy way possible for USN.

If you go expecting cafeteria food you'll be fine. I remember loving the galley and wardroom as a poor midshipman. Less so as a high faluting JO who had grown accustomed to the finer things in life. I actually always thought the mess was at its best when it admitted it was a cafeteria/diner and did cafeteria type food: meatloaf (and of course the meatloaf sandwich), sliders, fried eggs, bacon, tray rats, lasagna, etc. Things got dicey when they tried to try and inevitably underwhelmed on good sounding dishes.