Posted on 07/09/2007 4:51:51 PM PDT by World_Events
When Spc. Matthew Curll left basic training for Iraq nearly a year ago, he traded a bland diet of MREs for burgers, pie and Fudgsicles.
"You go from a lot of MREs and crappy stuff at the mess hall to prime rib on Sundays," said Curll, 21, of Lancaster, Mass., over a dinner of baked chicken followed by ice cream in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone.
"I wasn't expecting it at all," added Spc. Joe Reen, 23, of Norwood, Mass., finishing a turkey wrap and green salad. "You wanted to try everything."
The two indulged at first, but said they learned to resist most of the fried food and extra desserts that dominate the menu at U.S. dining facilities in Iraq. Others are not so careful, they said, including a few officers ahead of them in the chow line.
"There were three colonels in front of me who got double scoops and extra toppings," Reen said.
The Army has loaded the menu at the 70 chow halls, run by contractor KBR, with a buffet of fattening fare, from cheese steaks to tacos and Rocky Road ice cream. Many soldiers gain more than 15 pounds on a deployment, military dietitians say. They are also seeing soldiers return from Iraq with higher cholesterol, mostly due to their eating habits.
Lt. Col. Maggie Brandt, a surgeon at the 28th Combat Support Hospital who had just come from a swim, said she was dieting but couldn't resist the pistachio ice cream.
"I'm on a 'see food' diet. If I see food, I eat it," joked Brandt, 44, of Ypsilanti, Mich.
Soldiers are just as susceptible to overeating and packing on the pounds as anyone else, said Donald Williamson, a professor of nutrition at Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Funny...my nephew lost 20lbs while in Fallujah, Iraq...
Part of me wants to say that these men should enjoy and indulge...given that they could be a casualty at nearly any time...one rocket fired from a sand trough somewhere...a random mortar shell, etc.
But I understand the downside of it as well. Eating habits are tough to change, especially if they are bad ones.
On days when the temps go over 115, ice cream is the only way to go.
When I was in the service, the rule was, “Take all you want, but eat all you take.”
I take it your nephew is not a field grade officer or above...who probably have gained weight, vs. the warriors on the front.
:>)
Semper Fidelis,
fontman
I sure do hope if those grunts ARE losing weight, is isn’t because they have to eat lousy food...that should be the least of their worries...
Me too. A good and reasonable thing to ask, I might add.
I will say as well, having spent a fair amount of time in sculleries, that I didn’t see a lot of trays come through piled with half-eaten food.
Why are the liberals so worried about what everyone eats? This is just another example of the infantilization of the military — IMHO.
I just heard on the news of this one reservist who did 4 tours so far. (1 inAfghanistan and 3 in Iraq). Well—he was just called again to do another tour and he is suing. He said he is afriad he will lose his job, lose his house and that his wife and child need him now. Now, I work with a kid who went for One tour with the marines for like 6 months? And they sent him for all this training like a Navy Seal only for the marines.....and he came back to work today....no more tours? He went one and had like a year of intensive training. How come some guys get more than others?
Feed these brave men, feed them as well as we can. Give them the best food. Because they are the best Americans of all. We should never forget that armies run on their stomachs. Bon appetite, troops!
Only the REMFs get fat.
>>>>Why are the liberals so worried about what everyone eats?
They have to justify the grant monies from:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1563271/posts
Healthy People 2010
Well! La De Frickin Da! Our troops don't need the food Nazis on top of all the rest.
No. One thing that students of the military learned is privations make weaker soldiers, not better ones. If they want steak and ice cream, go for it!
Not true...I have seen a lot of fat grunts!
Semper Fidelis,
fontman
He lost nearly 10kg due to exercise.
Maybe fattening our soldiers so they’ll become too fat to fight.
Why not serve rice, pasta or bread with the MRE’s? They have higher carbohydrates and are lower in fat.
If the biggest complaint about Iraq that the LA Times can find is that the food is too fattening... things must be going pretty damn well over there, indeed.
Snoopscolds will tally your trash, count your calories, sort your stool and probe your entrails if they think they can divine the future.
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