For all those who have served in the Iraq War, what is the food like in the barracks? what do you guys eat?

Answer 1

Well, they don't serve food in the "barracks" There are dining facilities at almost every base, which are serviced by a contract dining service. Those small bases which don't have dining facilities have military cooks and the food is usually not as good.

Most dining facilities have a pretty good cafeteria-style setting, with a mainline of typical entrees and vegetables (for example, swiss steak or barbeque chicken - there's usually rice and potatoes of some kind - and maybe steamed broccoli or cabbage or something like that) then there's the short order line with maybe chicken wings or hot dogs or polish sausage, and hamburgers to order (i.e. single or double, with cheese or without - or even Swiss v. American cheese) There's also a taco line, a stir fry line and a deli-style sandwich line. And of course, a serve-yourself salad bar.

Most of the larger bases have typical American fast food like Burger King, KFC or Subway (among others) and some bases may have international style restaurants (i.e. Turkish or sometimes Arabic) but these choices cost more than their American counterparts, whereas the dining facility is provided free to military, contractors, and other employees.

For backup, I would usually keep a few packets of white albacore that I bought at the PX, and some crackers, but for people who have microwaves, there are a variety of convenience foods from the PX as well. Some PX's sell frozen meat, which I've seen guys get together and cookout in the housing areas.

In addition to that, people I never heard of before would send me boxes of snack foods once in a while.

It's easy for a US servicemember to gain weight in Iraq if you don't say active. :)

Answer 2

The food that you are served varries from location to location. If you work at one of the larger Forward Operating Bases (FOB) you tend to get a better supply of meals due to the large amount of troops that shuffle through them. FOBs will often have larger and better facilities to store food allowing a lot more options.

On the flip side, a Combat Out Post (COP) are a lot smaller the FOBs because they are more on the front lines. Due to limited storage facilities and refergration in some cases, they are limited to what food items they can store.

Having served on both a FOB and a COP, the food at FOBs is a lot better. You have a wide selection foods from grilled items such as hamburgers, steaks, stirfry, ect.. You also have a wide selection for fruits available and a lot of other items one would find in typical caffeteria. Chow halls (sometimes called a DFAC) are normally open 3-4 times a day.

A COP is completly different. You will get anywhere from one to three hot meals a day depending on location and facilities. You have no selection in what you eat, you typically get a mail dish, a thing of vegitables, a side items a dessert. This can range from spegatti, chicken, catfish, turky, ect.. The food typically isn't all that great.

Answer 3

Well today at the dining facility on my base we had crab legs, prime rib, roast pork, Cornish hens, 3 vegetables, soup, sandwich bar and several variates of cakes, pie and Baskin Robbins ice cream. Of course it was a Veteran's Day celebration but most of what I mentioned is pretty standard fare. The troops eat very well.


TO PACER: I work at one of the DFAC (dining facilities) and the menu I just described is accurate. The embassy (USMI) facilities can order a few different items that we can't but all and all the troops eat very well. Oh, and since I order the food it arrives to all the DFACs every 3 to 5 days. If you are in country and are at the embassy complex perhaps you should get out of your area and actually live and work with the troops. Otherwise keep you mouth shut as you obviously don't know how things actually operate at the troop level.

Answer 4

The military likes to keep morale high in times of war. Therefore, the food over in Iraq, at least in places where it is practical, will be pretty much like restaurant food. You see soliders eating slop in movies, but in real life, soldiers need lots of support to get through the trials of war. It only takes one bad thing to tip the scale, and food is just one less thing that will do it.

Answer 5

Well we do not have barracks, we have chu's. The dfac is better than home, but it gets old fast, my fob doesn't have any other places to eat.

We have everything crab legs once in a while, steak, grilled chicken, fried chicken, potatoes cooked every way, hot dogs, corn dogs, pasta bar, sandwich bar, salad bar, dessert bar with different kinds of cake, ice cream, and cookies

many more.....

***IRAQ51 got it right*****

Answer 6

Actually, the food over there is better than on the state-side bases. Only on the big bases though, if your in some little firm base or FOB, you're gonna be eating field chow which isn't much better than an MRE

Answer 7

The food in the DFAC is pretty good. On my FOB, Wednesdays are surf n turf. My only complaint is that it's pretty repetitive.

Answer 8

We eat real food like hamburgers steaks and hotdogs to name a few.

OIF 2003
US Army 15 years

Answer 9

irag51: why did you fudge your answer? The food you described is regularly delivered every 7 to 10 days only to the embassy complex.

Answer 10

GI's think cafeteria swill is gourmet! They wouldn't know decent food if it was force fed to them! Just feed them a block of lard and let them be ecstatic! They love food crammed with fat!