Food on Base

"The way to a man's heart is through his stomach" Of course that old adage needs can be adapted to my current circumstances "The best way to keep a service man or woman happy is through his or her stomach." There is lots of truth to that statement. Morale is directly linked to the availability of warm food and the quality of that food. A significant portion of discontentment that is noted at the end of a field exercise for example can be attributed to the meal situation.
The government has taken the rations issue to heart and allegedly
spends $90 per day per soldier on food here in theatre. Large bases
like Kandahar benefit more than smaller forward operating bases due to
being closer to the supply chain. Kandahar Air Field (KAF) boasts
four (and a half) dining halls. These facilities are free to service
members and all contractors on base. Unlike Iraq and Kuwait where the
food is the same regardless of the dining hall you visit, here on KAF
the dining halls have culinary themes. 'The Cambridge' features
cuisine from the UK, 'Niagara' has American/Canadian food, 'The
Luxembourg' has mainland European food, and the 'Asian DFAC' features
of course Asian food.
It is not hard to predict that most troops tend to gravitate towards
the DFAC that features the cuisine they are used to back home. The
Asian DFAC is a draw for the Third Country Nationals (TCN) on base and
those seeking stir-fry. (As an aside the title TCN is meant to be a
PC term for hired laborers. These workers are mainly from the
Philippines, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. They perform food
service tasks, laundry, housekeeping, and sewage jobs.) A menu is
sent out weekly via email to all personnel on base. Depending on the
day and meal time you can enjoy such dishes as Beef Bourginone, Lamb
Jhalfhrezi, Makhani Dal, Chicken and Fresh Mushrooms, or Prawn Chow
Mien. The American food is frequently an uninspired Burger with Fries
or BBQ Beef. In each DFAC you will have several entrée choices and a
soup and salad to chose from not to mention several deserts. Of
course the enticing names of the food can't really detract from the
fact that the meet is poor quality and everything is smothered in some
sort of generic sauce. In addition, the serving sizes are large and
you can tell that there is not an emphasis on calorie counting.
Unless you are intensely physically active (like soldiers out in the
field) you can easily gain weight (see picture). Four meals are
offered per day. The fourth meal time is 'midnight rations' for those
on night shift or night owls.
As I mentioned before, this base is significantly overmanned (and with
the recent announcement of troop increases it will be even more so in
the upcoming year) and this reality is most evident in the DFACs.
Overcrowding is rampant and utensil shortages are not uncommon.
However, with a little research peak times can be avoided and with a
little forethought you can stock up on items that can spare you a trip
to the DFAC for a meal every now and then.
Ultimately, despite all of the complaints listed above, the eating is
great here for military standards. I would rather be here than out on
a small FOB eating meals-ready-to-eat (MREs).