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Neither the drill instructors nor the base troops are ill. It makes you wonder if mess hall food is the culprit since they all eat in the same mess halls, follow the same daily menus, and eat food items being drawn from the same commercial vendors.

The question is “What would the recruits eat that drill instructors and base troops might not be eating?”

Well, a lot of drill instructors are married and draw commuted rations (COMRATS) allowance. If they do, they would have to pay for their meals in the messhall. The on-duty drill instructors do take the recruits to their meals and do eat with them. This duty rotates during the day and overnight, so the drill instructors are being exposed to the mess hall and its food. Base personnel are in a similar situation. Some draw COMRATS, some don’t. The ones that don’t, do eat at the mess hall. So there is some exposure for them as well.

However, if MREs were being served as the midday meal out at the firing ranges or during maintenance week, the drill instructors might choose not to eat the MREs to avoid having to pay for them. Base personnel might not eat them because they can rotate going to and from the mess hall or because the Marines drawing COMRATS may choose to get fast food/bring food from home/go hungry to avoid having to pay for them.

The recruits, on the other hand, will eat the MREs as they have no alternative.

I wonder if the vector is contaminated MRE meals?

BTW, like your tagline. Haven’t got a clue as to what the club is about but it sort of sounds like being a competitor for the Darwin Award. You have to be killed (or nearly killed) to find out you are a finalist.

Semper Fi!