Morale was in the dumps. Officers were living in converted garages, senior enlisted in even worse conditions.
General Curtis LeMay was having none of that. It was a new situation for the US military. A wartime footing mission during peacetime. He was determined to succeed, but he knew he'd need his people really on board to do that. He rammed through, with help of certain CongressCritters, better housing and better food. He'd check personally on the food. He'd also personally conduct "no quarter" ORIs. (You got the bad with the good, and liked it)
Later the policies went AF wide, and have now migrated to the other services at least to some degree. When I was an active duty junior officer, on periodic "additional duty" was Operations Duty Officer, aka "Peter the Greeter". But the important duty was to go eat in the mess hall, at least once, during your 24 hour tour as ODO. And turn in a report as to the condition of the mess hall, the quality of the food, and anything else you might want to comment on. When you got there, they knew who you were, because LTs didn't otherwise eat there, but they didn't know when you were coming, not even which meal for certain. This was every day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
A line got dropped there somehow:
All this started right after WW-II, when Strategic Air Command was established. It was also right at the birth of the US Air Force as a separate service from the Army.
"But the important duty was to go eat in the mess hall, at least once, during your 24 hour tour as ODO."
Back when I was a Lt. in the Army at Fort Hood and Korea (early 70s), we also had to eat in and report on the mess hall.