The Marine Corps Chow Hall - Page 4
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  1. #46
    Quote Originally Posted by Tennessee Top View Post
    The best messhall I remember was at Henderson Hall in Arlington, VA. HQMC is right across the street and the Pentagon is just down the road so you never know when the Commandant or the SgtMaj of the USMC might walk in. Besides the great chow, there were always nice decorations set out around the dining facility. I remember it won lots of small dining facility awards.

    There was another thing I noticed about Henderson Hall while I was there for MSG School back in 1974. That's where they sent the majority of the good-looking Women Marines. Guess they worked at HQMC or the Pentagon too. Never saw so many good-looking WM's in one place before or since.
    Hell ya -- that's where I was, both Pentagon then HQMC. Not in '74, of course, and I really don't think you want to know where I was. But ya, Henderson Hall did have a great chow hall. Quantico wasn't so bad, but Yuma's sucked -- except for breakfast but hard to screw up breakfast.


  2. #47
    Quote Originally Posted by 06yz125 View Post
    Since when did civilians start cooking/serving chow in the Marines??
    It has been that way since I joined in 2005. I believe it is actually part of community program. I have talked to a couple of the people that work there, and they say that the workers are either mentally handicapped or recently incarcerated. I don't think that is the cooks, but the other employees that work there. They had the same type of workers at the Air Force base in Little Rock, Arkansas as well. We had one guy that was responsible for picking up the trays after people were finished, but he was a bit over zealous about the job and would either hover over you and mouth breath into your ear, or he would snatch up your tray when you got up to refill your cup or grab an apple.


  3. #48
    I suppose the civilian cook/server thing works. Always wondered why Marines
    were doing kitchen/cook duty. Now that I think about it though..

    Marine cooks were some tough ****ers. They were loyal, trustworthy, hardworking and would cover another Marines ass at the expense of his own.

    I watched one cook kill a cat with a pot. The poor kitty wandered into the
    kitchen looking for food...LOLOL

    He had a zero tolerance policy for unsanitary conditions.


  4. #49
    Well I never had a problem with the quantity of food given at the chow hall. We were encouraged to eat as much as needed. I did however have one experience of poor preparation, it came on a day when we had just returned from the field for a few days and were really looking forward to a hot meal. My squad and I went up to the chow hall and after getting our trays sat together at the same table, we were having roasted chicken (very sizable portions) and every single piece of chicken was way undercooked! No one wanted to eat it. Being the squad leader put me in the position of having to go to the NCO in charge of the line who was a corporal and show him the undercooked chicken and ask for something that wasn't bleeding. The CPL. was very polite and went to the SNCO in charge of the place who came out looked at the food then told me to shut up and eat HIS wonderfully prepared meal. At this I lost my cool and threw the chicken on the floor in front of him and unleashed a few choice words. He promptly kicked me out of HIS chow hall, so I left and taking a full tray of one of my squad members with me went to the Bn. Sgt. Majors office and respectfully submitted it for his inspection. Needless to say the Sgt.Major after thoroughly inspecting the tray marched me back to the chow hall and proceeded to inspect the chow line, then he called out the previously mentioned SNCO and chewed him out so hard I thought he was going to cry. I was greatly impressed with the Sgt. Majors concern over the quality of the food we were being served.

    Semper Fi...


  5. #50
    Quote Originally Posted by charm1110 View Post
    Well I never had a problem with the quantity of food given at the chow hall. We were encouraged to eat as much as needed. I did however have one experience of poor preparation, it came on a day when we had just returned from the field for a few days and were really looking forward to a hot meal. My squad and I went up to the chow hall and after getting our trays sat together at the same table, we were having roasted chicken (very sizable portions) and every single piece of chicken was way undercooked! No one wanted to eat it. Being the squad leader put me in the position of having to go to the NCO in charge of the line who was a corporal and show him the undercooked chicken and ask for something that wasn't bleeding. The CPL. was very polite and went to the SNCO in charge of the place who came out looked at the food then told me to shut up and eat HIS wonderfully prepared meal. At this I lost my cool and threw the chicken on the floor in front of him and unleashed a few choice words. He promptly kicked me out of HIS chow hall, so I left and taking a full tray of one of my squad members with me went to the Bn. Sgt. Majors office and respectfully submitted it for his inspection. Needless to say the Sgt.Major after thoroughly inspecting the tray marched me back to the chow hall and proceeded to inspect the chow line, then he called out the previously mentioned SNCO and chewed him out so hard I thought he was going to cry. I was greatly impressed with the Sgt. Majors concern over the quality of the food we were being served.

    Semper Fi...
    Think you handled exactly the way you should have, and the SNCO got exactly what he deserved...no excuse for ill prepared food being put out on the chow line (speaking as a proud Marine Cook)


  6. #51
    Marine Free Member sparkie's Avatar
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    Just be glad 'soul food nite' is no more. Fridays had no food for us average 'white guys'.


  7. #52
    Quote Originally Posted by sparkie View Post
    Just be glad 'soul food nite' is no more. Fridays had no food for us average 'white guys'.
    Soul Food Nite.....thats a new one on me, but we did fix a variety of seafood on Fridays...hated having to bread oysters...ugh !


  8. #53
    I have always remembered Friday evening chow as being Fish Eaters Heaven.


  9. #54
    Marine Free Member sparkie's Avatar
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    It was to appease during the race wars of '70-'71. It stunk. Chiltins filled all the breathable air.


  10. #55
    For most of my reserve year, I was an MP with my Lafayette, Louisiana unit. For the summer months off from college, I transferred to my Tampa, Florida Amtrac unit to work construction with my dad.

    Since I could not drive or fix a tractor, they made me a cook. Great duty except for waking up at 3:00am to start cooking bacon. I even got a meritorious promotion to E-4.



  11. #56
    I can't say that Marine Corps chow was bad at all. In fact, it was pretty darn good. I spent my fair share of time on mess duty and got in with the cooks as good as I could. There wasn't anyone better to know in the field than a cook. Like 06yz125 said, Cooks are tough and loyal and they could throw down with the best of them. Some of them were even a little crazy if you ask me but not a better bunch of guys to know and have your back. Back to the original post though. I know one of the reasons that you're limited as far as what you can get each time through the chow line is so the people cooking the chow can keep up. Take for instance, grilled cheese sandwiches, they are cooked on usually only one (maybe two but probably only one) grill with a limited amount of space so only a certain amount can be cooked at once. If they let everybody get 2 grilled cheese sandwiches when they went through the line the cooks wouldn't be able to keep up with the demand and they would run out. Marine Corps chow halls don't run out of a listed menu item. Ever. And if they do it's a pretty serious thing. At least when I was in it was. Put yourself in the shoes of the people tasked with preparing the food.


  12. #57
    Quote Originally Posted by Old Marine View Post
    I have always remembered Friday evening chow as being Fish Eaters Heaven.
    They were indeed


  13. #58
    Quote Originally Posted by Swampfox View Post
    I can't say that Marine Corps chow was bad at all. In fact, it was pretty darn good. I spent my fair share of time on mess duty and got in with the cooks as good as I could. There wasn't anyone better to know in the field than a cook. Like 06yz125 said, Cooks are tough and loyal and they could throw down with the best of them. Some of them were even a little crazy if you ask me but not a better bunch of guys to know and have your back. Back to the original post though. I know one of the reasons that you're limited as far as what you can get each time through the chow line is so the people cooking the chow can keep up. Take for instance, grilled cheese sandwiches, they are cooked on usually only one (maybe two but probably only one) grill with a limited amount of space so only a certain amount can be cooked at once. If they let everybody get 2 grilled cheese sandwiches when they went through the line the cooks wouldn't be able to keep up with the demand and they would run out. Marine Corps chow halls don't run out of a listed menu item. Ever. And if they do it's a pretty serious thing. At least when I was in it was. Put yourself in the shoes of the people tasked with preparing the food.
    Swampfox, we cooks thank you for your kind words !


  14. #59
    Quote Originally Posted by leprechaun9544 View Post
    Swampfox, we cooks thank you for your kind words !
    Semper Fi Devil Dog. Thank you for your service!


  15. #60
    Belly Robbers were always the best friends of Supply personnel.


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