There is a Thread here at Free Republic about this story.
The drawdown diet: Marines steamed
by loss of hot meal at Afghanistan base
By Bill Briggs, NBC News contributor
May 31, 2013
Marines at Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan will lose a key daily meal starting Saturday, causing some to forgo a hot breakfast and others to work six-plus hours without refueling on cooked food, according to Marines at the base and Marine Corps officials.
The midnight ration service - known there as "midrats" - supplies breakfast to Marines on midnight-to-noon shifts and dinner to Marines who are ending noon-to-midnight work periods. It's described as one of the few times the Marines at Leatherneck can be together in one place.
While no Marine at Camp Leatherneck agreed to speak on the record, many are privately angry about the hit on base morale.
"This boils my skin. One of my entire shifts will go 6.5 hours without a meal. If we need to cut back on money I could come up with 100 other places," one Leatherneck-based Marine wrote in an email this week to his wife and shared with NBC News. (The Marine declined to speak on the record.) "Instead, we will target the biggest contributor to morale. I must be losing my mind. What is our senior leadership thinking? I just got back from flying my ass off and in a few days, I will not have a meal to replenish me after being away for over 9 hours."
Back home, spouses and friends of the troops in Afghanistan are criticizing the loss of hot meals as a poor logistical choice that will impact the service members' overall nutrition, energy and spirits.
Your typical MRE provides nutrition, but no tasteYour typical MRE provides nutrition, but no taste, but a care package from home gives a soldier goodies that taste great and the personal care items that make deployment a little easier. Even more importantly, a care package provides moral support and the morale boost from knowing that someone back home cares and appreciates their service. DoD is doing the best they can to provide for our troops, but it's simply not good enough. We can do better!
