January 20, 2006

• Okay, so here’s a new entry, because Pravda9 reminded me of something.  If you remember my entries from late December, then you’ll remember the Major that would bother the hell out of me over stupid things.  Well, praise Cthulhu, because he left 2 weeks ago, and my life has been filled with almost meaningful work.

  Anyway, the other day, we had one of our operational meetings, and I put out my stuff dealing with supply and logistics issues.  A few minutes later, when a Master Sergeant (the PRT Sergeant Major) was briefing his part, he asked “and who’s in charge of the mess hall?”  Being the S-4, somehow that also becomes my area (because of Class I?), so I pipe up.

  “Yesterday, there were cold hot dog buns out.”
  “45 minutes into the meal.”  A major chimes in.  This major is the other Major’s replacement, but this one is not nearly as annoying.

  WTF?!!?  Here’s the deal: hot buns are put out and people grab them.  The more we put out, the more they grab.  The cooks then go to the storage container to get more.  The first time that I got a complaint about cold buns, I told the cooks not to put out more once the hot ones were done.  Apparently, this was forgotten, and people again had to touch frozen buns.

  I look right at the MSG, and say “Well, we do have a microwave, so that could be used to warm your buns.”  I’ll admit, I said it in a slightly smart ass way.  You would have thought I had told them to heat them on a burning cross.  The look they gave me was worse than the time that I told them that I was planning to serve MRE’s for lunch if we lost another cook.  I think that they wanted to cry.  There was just silence.  Then I said, “I’ll look into it,” which means that I will tell the cooks not to put out cold buns after the hot ones are gone.

  After the meeting, I was talking with another 1LT who had been up at Anaconda, a FOB that is in a more deserted place than we are.

  “Did you see the look that they gave me when I told them to warm their own buns?”
  “Yeah.”
  “These people are spoiled.  A few weeks ago, I told them that we may have to go to an MRE for lunch, and they nearly cried.”
  “Seriously.  They should go up to Anaconda.  We had hot dogs everyday for 3 straight weeks.”
  “Damn.”

  I think that I’ll bring that up at the next meeting.  “We received a huge Class I shipment of food this morning, but it’s nothing but wieners.  In order to make a dent in this, we’re going to have to cook wieners everyday for the next 2-3 weeks.  The more wieners that you take, the faster we can get through this ordeal, but everyone should try and grab their fair share of wieners.”

  Too bad I can’t say “wieners” that many times with a straight face, ESPECIALLY once I see the look on their faces.

  Black 6, out.

  • 5:50 am
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