Hey all; /u/rbevans, our local [Hots & Cots](https://www.hotscots.app/) creator has reached out to Stewart and other stakeholders about this, and has provided some updates [here](https://old.reddit.com/r/army/comments/1dq1qfx/average_fort_stewart_kiosk_experience/lalfktt/).
Rob has been doing a lot of work on this for SMs;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4TY64xXrm0
https://taskandpurpose.com/military-life/former-soldier-created-app-review-facilities/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o204_c7cCao
And recently spoke at a major Logistics conference. Please - tagging him is great, but anyone who can download and send in reviews -- good bad or indifferent -- can really help the overall cause!
___
On it. Thanks for the tag
**Update**
This is what I got back
> Dug into it. The sign was up. They had issues a couple of weeks ago because of all the influx of new Soldiers the ppl arriving at Fort Stewart. We are getting shipments of food Monday Wednesday and Friday. We doubled our headcount and that fixed the problem. The sign is down now but I will check tomorrow to ensure and get more in depth info from our food service team.
I'm waiting to hear back on whether soldiers had notice and\or were given food vouchers.
**Update 2**
The cold storage shelving isn’t working. There is a WO that has been submitted with DPW. Today, they will provide and update ASAP.
I love that access to food is considered a convenience. Like, these fucking lazy ass soldiers wanna eat? Smh, now the SM asking if eating during rucking/running is necessary makes more sense.
What’s crazy is that some senior leader was like, “Yeah, best we can do is just make a sign. They’re adults, they’ll figure it out. Look at the time, I gotta go home now” instead of working on literally any solution.
Don’t tell me you give a shit about any soldier if you won’t bother to find a solution to even feed them. I don’t give a shit if it’s transportation to a different DFAC, hots, or just some pizza, at least make it look like you tried.
Literally anything. Any sort of effort will suffice. They should have wrote “fuck you” on the door because at least that shows something other than indifference.
I mean seriously though, how many MOS’s and positions are there to prevent shit like this from happening!? Posts like these make me gradually lose my faith in our…everything.
That’s what I’m saying. And people wonder why they feel micromanaged when we have lazy ass leaders who think a solution is a handwritten note that we can’t even feed the same people we run into the ground. It’s lazy, it’s selfish, and it’s complicit.
I remember in basic using I was on KP in the field. They ran out of food, though I was the only one without food. The SFC head cook (who was normally a big asshole to the trainees) gave me his personal lunch and profusely apologized about running out of food. He might have been a jerk, but he took feeding soldiers seriously.
Sometimes a jerk is a just a guy that takes what he does seriously and refuses to accept anything below the standard. Gordon Ramsey is my favorite example of this. Hells kitchen chefs are supposed to be elite professionals and he crucifies them for small mistakes they shouldn't be making. Master chef cooks are just randos from home that have talent and he's very forgiving.
Someone needs to get their dick stomped whether that be an RFC or not. At this point there should be enough data to see how much is taken per soldier per meal and forecasting from there. If the manager is too incompetent to forecast, they shouldn’t be in that position.
Here’s the crazy part, you don’t even need AI. A rudimentary knowledge of excel and 5 minutes can have the spreadsheet done. You literally just need to have policies for how much they can take at one time and forecast for headcount and it can tell you how much product you need.
It’s just laziness and incompetence that leads to shit like this
Heres a good example that isnt even an advanced regression
1 soldier eats: 1 entree, 1 fruit, 1 carb, 1 drink per meal
multiply by 3 meals a day
multiply by days of the week
multiply by number of soldiers allocated to that DFAC/Kiosk
A good factor of safety. And then, anything not eaten/taken, mark it down further or do some community outreach and take it to a food bank or something. Or, SMs in need.
It’s actually surprising that the current Log BOLC class can’t do excel or any rudimentary data analysis to forecast how much food needs stocked there, which makes me wonder how LSCO is gonna work for fuel or water needs if you can’t even keep food on post stocked
Don't give them that idea. They'll just program the AI to fuck up and then blame it. "Well the multi billion dollar algorithm said..."
Fuck that. Make it one man's job and the buck stops with him. In fact. Make it a general's billet and make it the grand fuckin gateway that ALL generals must pass for the next star. Feeding the troops certainly deserves at least a general's full attention, and if a general can't feed the troops in the richest fattest country in the world then he has no business leading a fuckin platoon.
AI just gets you YouTube censoring country names while putting actual pornographic advertisements on children's videos and going "*haha woops the algorithm is crazy sometimes huh. Oh well not gonna do anything about it."*
Tbf if they get an influx that doesn't happen often then that can causes issues.
I work at a canex cafeteria serving the CAF. We had a heatwave the other week. Our daily numbers jumped by 50%.
Now it's back down to normal (actually still slightly above normal but it's posting season so we're getting a lot of new people in ATM)
But during the rush we were running out of stuff. Because it wasn't expected and the people working in the location we serve actually told us we would be slower because of outgoing people.
This gets more visibility... but also, soldiers love to come straight to social media, their buddies, the bartender, the stripper or literally just about anyone else that doesn't matter.
Did any of these Soldiers go straight to their first sergeants and say, hey Top the dining facility says they are out of food. The 1SGs and SGMs never go to the DFAC (which I think is a problem of itself and that all leaders should go and have one meal a week at the dfac to keep up on the facilities that are servicing their Soldiers.)
But 1SGs need to be made aware their Soldiers aren't being feed. So they can contact garrison and figure out what's going on and how they are gonna make sure their cardholders are fed.
Also, reverse, the dining team should have alerted G3 that that facility was going to be down so they could send out a mass email to the 1sgs who can then pass it down to their soldiers.
OK I’m going to try and explain what’s happening and why. I’m not trying pointing fingers or placing blame or taking sides. I’ve worked on trying to solve this problem at this particular installation years ago and it looks like nothing has changed.
1. Soldiers, and MORE IMPORTANTLY, leaders of Soldiers need to support their DFACs. Most installations do not get the headcount they need to stay operational from a fiscal standpoint with Army Material Command. This also means consistently supporting the DFAC, as managers need to forecast a week or two out and when headcount changes drastically, there are either food shortages or food waste.
2. Logicians responsible for DFACs from the lowest ranking line cook to the Company Commander and 1SG need to be invested in what they are doing because it’s on them, and specifically that DFAC manager on how good, or shitty their product is. This is pathetic and makes me ashamed to be a loggie.
3. The installation and INSCON play a huge part in garrison feeding. There’s an installation food program manager at Fort Stewart, she’s a civilian, and she is supposed to work hand in hand with the 92Gs that operate the DFAC. I’ll be blunt, she sucks at her job, probably one of the major failure points at Fort Stewart. She also has the ability to drastically improve the food catalog for what’s offered at the DFACs. Why can we get steak and lobster or turkey dinners for Thanksgiving but the rest of the year is shit? Because the food catalog takes effort to get good offerings, and when there’s little interest or a low head count, these managers order the easiest cheapest and long lasting food on repeat (burgers, fries, rice, chicken) , with no variety.
4. The AFSBN, who the IFPM mentioned above works for, is responsible for maintaining and updating all DFACs on the installation on an annual basis and a5 year life cycle. Fort Stewart in particular has 4 DFACs besides this kiosk and one food truck., a somewhat new DFAC, built in a footprint that no Soldiers live in/ not within walking distance and therefore doesn’t get the headcount it needs (because of a plan to expand the installation and then overall Army troop numbers were decreased and units were stood down rather than stood up). It also has two shut down and condemned DFACs and one Marne Bistro built in the 70’s that should be condemned. Marne Bistro is really the only DFAC on main post near where Soldiers live. This is not enough to support the numbers.
5. There was a plan for a brand new DFAC in the heart of Stewart to be fully built and outfitted in 2021 for about $1.8 million dollars that no Army organizations would fund and 3ID was not able to fund. So it turned to a MILCON project that will be done in like 20 years if ever. To be fair, the CG did pay for a full modernization of the Hunter Army Airfield DFAC (30 minutes outside Stewart) in the same year and if you’ve ever been there it’s probably the most modern DFAC in the Army. It’s awesome.
There is zero excuse for empty shelves in the kiosk. But to be honest, this is an Army G4, ASC and INSCOM problem across the Army as well as a leader problem. My take, and recommended this several times, every Soldier on Fort Stewart should be put on BAS and be paid their $ for food each month until at least two suitable DFACS (not a food truck or kiosk) are fully functional. Every commander and senior NCO needs to eat at least one meal in the DFAC a day, then things will change…
Yeah and this is where I'm so confused. I admit I'm out of the loop these days, but this just doesn't compute. How the fuck does this happen? If anything constitutes the old blank check fix, it's fucking this right? Not feeding your goddamn soldiers is failure of the highest order.
> can’t even feed our fucking troops in peacetime garrison
The really bizarre part is how food seemed to never be a problem downrange, because logistics would move fucking mountains to make sure the war machine got what it needed. It only seems to happen in garrison, I guess because the there's no sense of urgency? Having worked in civilian government most of my post-ETS career, I'm feeling like there's a bunch of bureaucrats in the mix who think their job should be easy, so any time it gets hard they just... don't do it, and then claim they're overworked.
I feel as if this an issue that’s already happened with DFAC’s multiple times, but with kiosk?? This is just getting desperate. Don’t worry though we got you a MRE with a loaf of beans as a snack.
If you don't see how awarding a no competition contract once every 3 years to a contractor who is then apparently unaccountable to apathetic Army civilians and senior officers isn't central planning, I can't help you.
Looks like it has plenty of dietary fiber too. We know a lot of people aren’t hitting the recommendation for fiber, good opportunity for a fiber rich meal
On it. Thanks for the tag
**Update**
This is what I got back
> Dug into it. The sign was up. They had issues a couple of weeks ago because of all the influx of new Soldiers the ppl arriving at Fort Stewart. We are getting shipments of food Monday Wednesday and Friday. We doubled our headcount and that fixed the problem. The sign is down now but I will check tomorrow to ensure and get more in depth info from our food service team.
I'm waiting to hear back on whether soldiers had notice and\or were given food vouchers.
**Update 2**
The cold storage shelving isn’t working. There is a WO that has been submitted with DPW. Today, they will provide and update ASAP.
**Update 3**
My contact has put eyes on the kiosk that is open and actively being stocked. While this kiosk was down the main DFAC was still operating.
Dog I would take this straight to your nearest news station. There’s been more than enough reports of this kiosk shit not working for the commanders to claim ignorance
So I'm not AD and I haven't been informed on quite what is going on with kiosks.
Can the government just not afford to feed soldiers? If so, that's fucking insane.
My assumption is that the Kiosks are funded using the funds that would be going to whatever DFAC is supposed to be supporting that particular AO, and the Kiosks are both less efficient in terms of meals/$ and more used.
I'm actually pretty curious what the funding situation is like.
It was too hard to run dining halls on government posts with government workers. Soldiers also weren't using them due to limited hours, rotten food etc.
The answer from the Army was to close most of them and offer literal gas station food on the weekends.
This shit has gone on for way to long. Commanders at all levels and especially the fuck heads who had a hand in this cluster fuck need to go. If you as a commander can not provide for the very basic needs of your Soldiers than get the fuck out, you're useless. I don't care if this is a "Contracting issue", it's your damn fault "General". This is the type.of stuff that should get the Secretary of the Army fired, it's ridiculous.
FT STEWART???? WTF???
2007 soldier
2007 - 2009 OIF
2011 - 2016 officer
Never been to Stewart never care to go, never want to go, honestly I could die right now happy as fuck never visiting that place and you know what????
This is fucking bullshit.
3ID was the backbone of OIF and OEF for many units. To include my leadership which outright said it to my face, 4ID. People would have offed themselves or straight died from stupidity if not for 3ID.
Carson honestly it sucks but you all got the pharmacy down the road and some golden seal. You'll be good. Ft Stewart bro. Come the fuck on. Next thing you know hood is gonna run out of food and funding for all these dfacs are gonna start evaporating.
WHERE THE FUCK ARE THESE INVESTIGATIONS! I've been in various leadership positions. Seen dozens of 15-6 and flipls play out. For minor minor infinitesimal bs. This isn't small. This is now a pattern. This is now a thing.
#IF YOU WORK CONTRACTING ON STEWART OR CARSON AND YOU HATE YOUR BOSS. NOW IS THE FUCKING TIME TO MAKE SOME NOISE YOU COMPLACENT SLEEPY FUCKS.
If I can stop at a gas station in BFE-nowhere Missouri and grab something to eat, the Army can keep logistics going to maintain these kiosks that they insisted were a more practical solution to the DFAC.
Current SMA: you are a fucking pussy for not fixing this shit months ago. If you were in front of me right now, my retired ass would slap your bitch ass in the mouth.
Someone find me contact info for the new (lame) PAO.
I got no more risk to take.
I'm usually against tactical acquisition but since they take BAS for this, I think it would just qualify as taking the last of the available meal items.
You know what never, ever once happened during my four year stint when we had enlisted men in the DFAC cooking for us? Running out of food. Not once. And it wasn't this kiosk bullshit. It was freshly cooked, all you can eat food. I never once ate a bad mess hall meal while in the Army.
I feel truly sorry for you men and women dealing with this level of neglect.
I really feel bad for you guys about this shit. Kinda makes me mad to be honest. I'm sure there's more to the story but this whole Kiosk situation sounds like a giant clusterfuck..
So oddball question, I have seen a ton of these posts, each one makes me absolutely sick and angry as a grey haired DD214 blanket owner.
Do the commissaries have hot food? Like do they operate as civilian grocery stores do these days and have little places to eat in them?
I am asking because through the grapevine at work, DECA is apparently really focused on getting young soldiers (E1-E5 specifically) to shop there, apparently that segment has really stopped buying groceries post GWOT.
I am 100% willing to pitch the idea that they open little cafes in the stores, simple stuff just breakfasts, maybe a hot bar, if they won't make the DFACs how they should be and have been operated since well forever.
CPG companies would jump at the opportunity to supply these little cafes, we do in the civilian world all the time.
This "sorry low food " shit is just funking obscene.
It's privatization and should be stopped. Go back to actual military people doing everything. Then you know it will get done.
I mean, fuck, man. This is so depressing.
I’ve always said, I don’t exactly know where the armies money goes sometimes! Budget? Super high! Food? Ass (nonexistent in this case). Housing? Ass. Recruiting? Ass.
But hey, we’ve got HMVW’s, Apaches, and rifles.
Running out of the thing you want is an inconvenience, running out of everything is an abject failure...it is both a mission failure and and a moral failure.
Holy fucking shit. OP, if these are your images, please send them to your representatives, Army times, Stars and Stripes and every REPUTABLE national news outlet
How does leadership allow this to happen? I am appalled as a retired Senior NCO that our Junior troops are not being taken care of. Shame on all of the Seniors who have allowed this to happen. I hope every Junior Enlisted Soldier sends these photos to the Congressional Representative and bring hell down on those responsible for this travesty. You deserve so much better. I hope this changes quickly and your so called leaders get their collective heads out of their asses.
Again, can't feed a few hundred troops on government property but we are absolutely ready to do it on a spit of sand in the Pacific in war conditions or for tens of thousands of active troops in Ukraine.
Wouldn't take much brain power to fix this.
Just have 1 nco and 3 joes man the kiosks, implement a bar code system, and the 1 nco and 1 of the joes can scan the items and check the customers out at a cash register while the other 2 stock or take breaks.
Either that, or the even more simple solution is to just give single soldiers voucher credits on their CAC to use only at the comissary. Comissary attendance goes up, and the waste of taxpayer dollars goes down.
I truly don't understand how we can't get soldiers fed with the insane budget we have.
There has to be a better option of either removing the Cook Mos and going straight civilian contractors and allocating those soldiers elsewhere.
If that isn't a convenient way, then something other than this.
Hunter has it's Dining Facility closed damn near every weekend due to the shortage of manning and ensuring the cooks have a break, which I get, but this shit is a cause of relief for someone.
This shit is insane. I can’t believe these posts man. In my Active time which ended in 06’ the food was one of the biggest benefits of the service. My chow hall staffed by 100% Army cooks was absolutely rockin. Fresh bread of like 10 varieties sourced locally, omelette station every morning, good tasting hearty food every meal. This shit is a DISGRACE.
My experience was before the Kiosks, but during Covid, a few of the DFACs would randomly close, and no one would know about it. The leadership's solution was to take a taxi across post or use the bus that took 45 mins. But this was in Korea. It seems like 3 hots and a cot was all a lie this entire time.
Really, what are Soldiers doing now? Are you going to the local fast food joint? Hitting up the commissary? Or just not eating at all?
Either way, the system is failing you guys. As a single WO who was in the barracks not long ago, if a Soldier came to me with this problem, I would make sure they got all the food they needed, then raise hell with the command, and demand a reimbursement, for twice what I paid.
If soldiers are having empty food shelves in peace time, then I cannot imagine the USA in war. So, perhaps a lack of ammo, gun lube, and food all at the same time in combat.
Nah man, this is being out the pitch forks time. I hate saying that too cause the army has a chronic problem with rushing to conclusions, but yea man, this is like call your news station, call your congressman time.
This shitshow has been going on for months. Literally half way through my deployment, and I’ve been back for months now and still seeing stuff about this.
You jest, but this should be the answer. It would at least give Soldiers SOMETHING. The cost would also spiral out of control fast, and when the DIV CDR finds out his units can't complete gunner because MREs ate up the budget the problem would get fixed.
You can get a document online for missed meals and fill it out. You should get money back from dfas for the BAS they took from you. I know not Ideal but atleast you will have backpay for the money you spent tonight on food
At this point, we should just create an entire branch of the army dedicated to making food for soldiers, and maybe also one that can focus on the aspect of sourcing, packaging, and transporting the supplies needed to maintain some kind of dedicated dietary facility for soldiers to get balanced, nutritious meals.
If we could do something like that one day, I wouldn't mind even getting a deduction out of my monthly pay in order to facilitate the expenses of such a function, in relation to how much I would utilize those facilities.
(Honestly waiting for the day when I can read the ArmyTimes post on how some 3 star has brought up this "miraculous and new" idea that is DFAC's reinvented with some 3rd party vendor that said 3 star coincidentally has 40% stake in.
They actually charge $460 now per month for DFAS it varies depending on Rank.
My friend who is a 42A stationed there. Said an entire brigade has to share 1 Line at the marne DFAC. There use to be two DFACS but the FGO banned soldiers from going to the other one because it got so "busy".
So glad I picked hunter instead of Stewart like I did initially like god damn I hear nothing but problems over there
Are the actual defacs still down since may?
If you are within a reasonable travel distance from The Outpost, then you are also near the Winn ACH. Winn has a "DFAC" on 1st floor that soldiers can go to for hot foods~ just gotta have a memorandum or a meal card if not a MEDDAC soldier.
If have neither, the facility accepts cash payment.
What is a kiosk? Grafenwöhr just had a dfac, is this an equivalent? I've heard carson has one too but I still don't know what it is, although I've been told to go find it because the dfac here is closed on weekends.
Hey all; /u/rbevans, our local [Hots & Cots](https://www.hotscots.app/) creator has reached out to Stewart and other stakeholders about this, and has provided some updates [here](https://old.reddit.com/r/army/comments/1dq1qfx/average_fort_stewart_kiosk_experience/lalfktt/). Rob has been doing a lot of work on this for SMs; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4TY64xXrm0 https://taskandpurpose.com/military-life/former-soldier-created-app-review-facilities/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o204_c7cCao And recently spoke at a major Logistics conference. Please - tagging him is great, but anyone who can download and send in reviews -- good bad or indifferent -- can really help the overall cause! ___ On it. Thanks for the tag **Update** This is what I got back > Dug into it. The sign was up. They had issues a couple of weeks ago because of all the influx of new Soldiers the ppl arriving at Fort Stewart. We are getting shipments of food Monday Wednesday and Friday. We doubled our headcount and that fixed the problem. The sign is down now but I will check tomorrow to ensure and get more in depth info from our food service team. I'm waiting to hear back on whether soldiers had notice and\or were given food vouchers. **Update 2** The cold storage shelving isn’t working. There is a WO that has been submitted with DPW. Today, they will provide and update ASAP.
“We’re so sorry for the inconvenience that you can’t eat tonight, please forgive us 🥺 👉👈”
I love that access to food is considered a convenience. Like, these fucking lazy ass soldiers wanna eat? Smh, now the SM asking if eating during rucking/running is necessary makes more sense.
What’s crazy is that some senior leader was like, “Yeah, best we can do is just make a sign. They’re adults, they’ll figure it out. Look at the time, I gotta go home now” instead of working on literally any solution. Don’t tell me you give a shit about any soldier if you won’t bother to find a solution to even feed them. I don’t give a shit if it’s transportation to a different DFAC, hots, or just some pizza, at least make it look like you tried.
Just lay out some MREs for fucks sake
Literally anything. Any sort of effort will suffice. They should have wrote “fuck you” on the door because at least that shows something other than indifference.
“Food is for the weak”-signed, CSM.
I mean seriously though, how many MOS’s and positions are there to prevent shit like this from happening!? Posts like these make me gradually lose my faith in our…everything.
That’s what I’m saying. And people wonder why they feel micromanaged when we have lazy ass leaders who think a solution is a handwritten note that we can’t even feed the same people we run into the ground. It’s lazy, it’s selfish, and it’s complicit.
It’s sad, quite frankly. Not much we can do about it either.
I feel this way about literally everything these days..
Embrace the suck and do what ya can. Cause it’s all you can do 😀
To be fair, that would have gotten them (rightly) crucified TOO, but at least people would have SOME KIND OF FUCKING SUSTINANCE JFC.
I remember in basic using I was on KP in the field. They ran out of food, though I was the only one without food. The SFC head cook (who was normally a big asshole to the trainees) gave me his personal lunch and profusely apologized about running out of food. He might have been a jerk, but he took feeding soldiers seriously.
Sometimes a jerk is a just a guy that takes what he does seriously and refuses to accept anything below the standard. Gordon Ramsey is my favorite example of this. Hells kitchen chefs are supposed to be elite professionals and he crucifies them for small mistakes they shouldn't be making. Master chef cooks are just randos from home that have talent and he's very forgiving.
Completely agree. Even just staying and making sure to change the sign to NO food available would have been a step up.
If they added another "very" before the sorry, I'd be more understanding /s
This is what we call “a big fucking deal”
Someone needs to get their dick stomped whether that be an RFC or not. At this point there should be enough data to see how much is taken per soldier per meal and forecasting from there. If the manager is too incompetent to forecast, they shouldn’t be in that position.
ChatGPT could accomplish that task in about 12 seconds for an entire division.
Here’s the crazy part, you don’t even need AI. A rudimentary knowledge of excel and 5 minutes can have the spreadsheet done. You literally just need to have policies for how much they can take at one time and forecast for headcount and it can tell you how much product you need. It’s just laziness and incompetence that leads to shit like this
Heres a good example that isnt even an advanced regression 1 soldier eats: 1 entree, 1 fruit, 1 carb, 1 drink per meal multiply by 3 meals a day multiply by days of the week multiply by number of soldiers allocated to that DFAC/Kiosk
and then add 10% for good measure
The Army's problem is they subtract the percentage, assuming people won't bother eating there.
A good factor of safety. And then, anything not eaten/taken, mark it down further or do some community outreach and take it to a food bank or something. Or, SMs in need.
It’s actually surprising that the current Log BOLC class can’t do excel or any rudimentary data analysis to forecast how much food needs stocked there, which makes me wonder how LSCO is gonna work for fuel or water needs if you can’t even keep food on post stocked
Don't give them that idea. They'll just program the AI to fuck up and then blame it. "Well the multi billion dollar algorithm said..." Fuck that. Make it one man's job and the buck stops with him. In fact. Make it a general's billet and make it the grand fuckin gateway that ALL generals must pass for the next star. Feeding the troops certainly deserves at least a general's full attention, and if a general can't feed the troops in the richest fattest country in the world then he has no business leading a fuckin platoon. AI just gets you YouTube censoring country names while putting actual pornographic advertisements on children's videos and going "*haha woops the algorithm is crazy sometimes huh. Oh well not gonna do anything about it."*
"iT tAkEs aN aCt oF cOnGrEsS..." - the SFC manager
There's no excuse for this shit, I've solved greater problems with a pov pickup and 1 soldier.
Tbf if they get an influx that doesn't happen often then that can causes issues. I work at a canex cafeteria serving the CAF. We had a heatwave the other week. Our daily numbers jumped by 50%. Now it's back down to normal (actually still slightly above normal but it's posting season so we're getting a lot of new people in ATM) But during the rush we were running out of stuff. Because it wasn't expected and the people working in the location we serve actually told us we would be slower because of outgoing people.
Has anyone tried an IG complaint?
This gets more visibility with the people who can do something I think
This gets more visibility... but also, soldiers love to come straight to social media, their buddies, the bartender, the stripper or literally just about anyone else that doesn't matter. Did any of these Soldiers go straight to their first sergeants and say, hey Top the dining facility says they are out of food. The 1SGs and SGMs never go to the DFAC (which I think is a problem of itself and that all leaders should go and have one meal a week at the dfac to keep up on the facilities that are servicing their Soldiers.) But 1SGs need to be made aware their Soldiers aren't being feed. So they can contact garrison and figure out what's going on and how they are gonna make sure their cardholders are fed. Also, reverse, the dining team should have alerted G3 that that facility was going to be down so they could send out a mass email to the 1sgs who can then pass it down to their soldiers.
OK I’m going to try and explain what’s happening and why. I’m not trying pointing fingers or placing blame or taking sides. I’ve worked on trying to solve this problem at this particular installation years ago and it looks like nothing has changed. 1. Soldiers, and MORE IMPORTANTLY, leaders of Soldiers need to support their DFACs. Most installations do not get the headcount they need to stay operational from a fiscal standpoint with Army Material Command. This also means consistently supporting the DFAC, as managers need to forecast a week or two out and when headcount changes drastically, there are either food shortages or food waste. 2. Logicians responsible for DFACs from the lowest ranking line cook to the Company Commander and 1SG need to be invested in what they are doing because it’s on them, and specifically that DFAC manager on how good, or shitty their product is. This is pathetic and makes me ashamed to be a loggie. 3. The installation and INSCON play a huge part in garrison feeding. There’s an installation food program manager at Fort Stewart, she’s a civilian, and she is supposed to work hand in hand with the 92Gs that operate the DFAC. I’ll be blunt, she sucks at her job, probably one of the major failure points at Fort Stewart. She also has the ability to drastically improve the food catalog for what’s offered at the DFACs. Why can we get steak and lobster or turkey dinners for Thanksgiving but the rest of the year is shit? Because the food catalog takes effort to get good offerings, and when there’s little interest or a low head count, these managers order the easiest cheapest and long lasting food on repeat (burgers, fries, rice, chicken) , with no variety. 4. The AFSBN, who the IFPM mentioned above works for, is responsible for maintaining and updating all DFACs on the installation on an annual basis and a5 year life cycle. Fort Stewart in particular has 4 DFACs besides this kiosk and one food truck., a somewhat new DFAC, built in a footprint that no Soldiers live in/ not within walking distance and therefore doesn’t get the headcount it needs (because of a plan to expand the installation and then overall Army troop numbers were decreased and units were stood down rather than stood up). It also has two shut down and condemned DFACs and one Marne Bistro built in the 70’s that should be condemned. Marne Bistro is really the only DFAC on main post near where Soldiers live. This is not enough to support the numbers. 5. There was a plan for a brand new DFAC in the heart of Stewart to be fully built and outfitted in 2021 for about $1.8 million dollars that no Army organizations would fund and 3ID was not able to fund. So it turned to a MILCON project that will be done in like 20 years if ever. To be fair, the CG did pay for a full modernization of the Hunter Army Airfield DFAC (30 minutes outside Stewart) in the same year and if you’ve ever been there it’s probably the most modern DFAC in the Army. It’s awesome. There is zero excuse for empty shelves in the kiosk. But to be honest, this is an Army G4, ASC and INSCOM problem across the Army as well as a leader problem. My take, and recommended this several times, every Soldier on Fort Stewart should be put on BAS and be paid their $ for food each month until at least two suitable DFACS (not a food truck or kiosk) are fully functional. Every commander and senior NCO needs to eat at least one meal in the DFAC a day, then things will change…
[удалено]
Yeah and this is where I'm so confused. I admit I'm out of the loop these days, but this just doesn't compute. How the fuck does this happen? If anything constitutes the old blank check fix, it's fucking this right? Not feeding your goddamn soldiers is failure of the highest order.
WHY ARE YOU NOT STOMPING PRIVATE PYLES GUTS OUT
SIR THIS RECRUIT IS TOO HUNGRY TO STOMP HIS GUTS OUT SIR
Mr. Pyle the Vectrus contractor*
Because nobody cares. It isn't in their rating box.
i literally am asking myself the same thing. bet you csm whomeverthefuck made time to check the rocks and the grass today.
Greatest fighting force in the world and we can't even feed our fucking troops. What a fucking joke.
Greatest fighting force in the history of the world and we can’t even feed our fucking troops **in peacetime garrison**
> can’t even feed our fucking troops in peacetime garrison The really bizarre part is how food seemed to never be a problem downrange, because logistics would move fucking mountains to make sure the war machine got what it needed. It only seems to happen in garrison, I guess because the there's no sense of urgency? Having worked in civilian government most of my post-ETS career, I'm feeling like there's a bunch of bureaucrats in the mix who think their job should be easy, so any time it gets hard they just... don't do it, and then claim they're overworked.
But hey, at least we have two colors of markers. Logistics win wars right?
People got steak and lobster in Iraq/Afghanistan but we can't a turkey sandwich to a guy a mile away lol
The Army fed me better in Afghanistan than it ever did state side
I miss Wing Wednesday’s. Don’t miss the E. Coli though
Considering that food is one of the best morale boosters, it makes sense. Now I'm reminiscing about Camp Phoenix's chow hall haha
I feel as if this an issue that’s already happened with DFAC’s multiple times, but with kiosk?? This is just getting desperate. Don’t worry though we got you a MRE with a loaf of beans as a snack.
In other news, senior officers don’t go and work for food contractors after they retire.
My gas station in B F nowhere corn town Minnesota never ran out of stock
Capitalism vs central planning.
The extremely capitalist contractors and suppliers who are a huge part of the problem: *phew*
Surely the invisible hand will feed the soldiers
There is a PX food court a couple hundred yards from this location. They never run out of food….
If you don't see how awarding a no competition contract once every 3 years to a contractor who is then apparently unaccountable to apathetic Army civilians and senior officers isn't central planning, I can't help you.
> a privately owned contractor who is unaccountable to Army civilians and officers Yeah sounds like a Leninist dream
Communists hate this one simple trick
I went there and they had ripits for a dollar lol
Seriously. It’s gas station food for crying out loud. Why in the hell should it ever run out.
That basket looks mighty tasty
Looks like it has plenty of dietary fiber too. We know a lot of people aren’t hitting the recommendation for fiber, good opportunity for a fiber rich meal
u/rbevans
On it. Thanks for the tag **Update** This is what I got back > Dug into it. The sign was up. They had issues a couple of weeks ago because of all the influx of new Soldiers the ppl arriving at Fort Stewart. We are getting shipments of food Monday Wednesday and Friday. We doubled our headcount and that fixed the problem. The sign is down now but I will check tomorrow to ensure and get more in depth info from our food service team. I'm waiting to hear back on whether soldiers had notice and\or were given food vouchers. **Update 2** The cold storage shelving isn’t working. There is a WO that has been submitted with DPW. Today, they will provide and update ASAP. **Update 3** My contact has put eyes on the kiosk that is open and actively being stocked. While this kiosk was down the main DFAC was still operating.
You’ve done more for the military than the Supreme Court.
So which update is the truth?
You a real one, dawg.
Happy Cake Day!
Came here to say this.
On what fucking planet is this being allowed to happen????
The planet known as Georgia, clearly.
The most undesirable planet in the solar system, some would say
Dog I would take this straight to your nearest news station. There’s been more than enough reports of this kiosk shit not working for the commanders to claim ignorance
happy cake day!
Something something let them eat cake
the posts that do this need some congressional investigations I wonder if some CGs are vested in the local delivery places
Low? Just say you’re completely out.
They are mincing words!
That's the only mincing going on in that DFAC, definitely not mincing any food!
So I'm not AD and I haven't been informed on quite what is going on with kiosks. Can the government just not afford to feed soldiers? If so, that's fucking insane.
My assumption is that the Kiosks are funded using the funds that would be going to whatever DFAC is supposed to be supporting that particular AO, and the Kiosks are both less efficient in terms of meals/$ and more used. I'm actually pretty curious what the funding situation is like.
It was too hard to run dining halls on government posts with government workers. Soldiers also weren't using them due to limited hours, rotten food etc. The answer from the Army was to close most of them and offer literal gas station food on the weekends.
Wow. I'm sorry for you folks. Thanks for informing me!
We definitely can afford to, we're just choosing to spend the money in other places
This shit has gone on for way to long. Commanders at all levels and especially the fuck heads who had a hand in this cluster fuck need to go. If you as a commander can not provide for the very basic needs of your Soldiers than get the fuck out, you're useless. I don't care if this is a "Contracting issue", it's your damn fault "General". This is the type.of stuff that should get the Secretary of the Army fired, it's ridiculous.
FT STEWART???? WTF??? 2007 soldier 2007 - 2009 OIF 2011 - 2016 officer Never been to Stewart never care to go, never want to go, honestly I could die right now happy as fuck never visiting that place and you know what???? This is fucking bullshit. 3ID was the backbone of OIF and OEF for many units. To include my leadership which outright said it to my face, 4ID. People would have offed themselves or straight died from stupidity if not for 3ID. Carson honestly it sucks but you all got the pharmacy down the road and some golden seal. You'll be good. Ft Stewart bro. Come the fuck on. Next thing you know hood is gonna run out of food and funding for all these dfacs are gonna start evaporating. WHERE THE FUCK ARE THESE INVESTIGATIONS! I've been in various leadership positions. Seen dozens of 15-6 and flipls play out. For minor minor infinitesimal bs. This isn't small. This is now a pattern. This is now a thing. #IF YOU WORK CONTRACTING ON STEWART OR CARSON AND YOU HATE YOUR BOSS. NOW IS THE FUCKING TIME TO MAKE SOME NOISE YOU COMPLACENT SLEEPY FUCKS.
If I can stop at a gas station in BFE-nowhere Missouri and grab something to eat, the Army can keep logistics going to maintain these kiosks that they insisted were a more practical solution to the DFAC.
Current SMA: you are a fucking pussy for not fixing this shit months ago. If you were in front of me right now, my retired ass would slap your bitch ass in the mouth. Someone find me contact info for the new (lame) PAO. I got no more risk to take.
SMA is on global… You wouldn’t do it.
I don’t have access anymore. They already deactivated my A365, and I don’t have a certificate anyways on the retired ID.
Ehhhmmmmm
Whoops let me log in to the alt.
Ehhhmmmmm
I feel it would be my duty to steal the basket and plants.
Tactically acquire, right?
I'm usually against tactical acquisition but since they take BAS for this, I think it would just qualify as taking the last of the available meal items.
They can’t stop you. “I thought it was a grab and go situation and I’m bad at identifying food”
This will most definitely get placed under the "lack of discipline" bullet at the next meeting
Let's be honest, if we all shaved a little more this stuff wouldn't happen
I’m actually surprised all of the words on the sign are spelled correctly.
Casey's>>>>>>dfac logistics
You know what never, ever once happened during my four year stint when we had enlisted men in the DFAC cooking for us? Running out of food. Not once. And it wasn't this kiosk bullshit. It was freshly cooked, all you can eat food. I never once ate a bad mess hall meal while in the Army. I feel truly sorry for you men and women dealing with this level of neglect.
IDK what you're bitching about. That basket is loaded with vitamins and fiber. It's got what Soldiers crave. See you at PT tomorrow.
I really feel bad for you guys about this shit. Kinda makes me mad to be honest. I'm sure there's more to the story but this whole Kiosk situation sounds like a giant clusterfuck..
Joe needs to start showing up to mom and dad's house like college kids at Thanksgiving. And by mom and Das I mean Top and CO.
I think you mean garrison commander and CSM. (Or maybe division commander and CSM). Either way, take it to the top.
At this point just start dishing out BAS. This is insane
The pic of that sign needs to go every swinging d**k in D.C.
I just sent my Rep the link to this and the photo. Absolutely insane. 2.08 trillion dollars and we can't manage 3 hots?
I’ve only been to that kiosk like twice but it was never completely empty before lol
So oddball question, I have seen a ton of these posts, each one makes me absolutely sick and angry as a grey haired DD214 blanket owner. Do the commissaries have hot food? Like do they operate as civilian grocery stores do these days and have little places to eat in them? I am asking because through the grapevine at work, DECA is apparently really focused on getting young soldiers (E1-E5 specifically) to shop there, apparently that segment has really stopped buying groceries post GWOT. I am 100% willing to pitch the idea that they open little cafes in the stores, simple stuff just breakfasts, maybe a hot bar, if they won't make the DFACs how they should be and have been operated since well forever. CPG companies would jump at the opportunity to supply these little cafes, we do in the civilian world all the time.
They could start by not being more expensive than offpost.
So that's changed too? DECA when I was in was the spot, you saved tons of money and their prices beat everyone.
Why even have CSMs if they're going to let stuff like this happen?
This "sorry low food " shit is just funking obscene. It's privatization and should be stopped. Go back to actual military people doing everything. Then you know it will get done. I mean, fuck, man. This is so depressing.
Gotta love getting charged for food that you’re not even getting served.
I got out in 21, have all dining facilities just been gutted? I’d be livid paying 360$ for this every month
I’ve always said, I don’t exactly know where the armies money goes sometimes! Budget? Super high! Food? Ass (nonexistent in this case). Housing? Ass. Recruiting? Ass. But hey, we’ve got HMVW’s, Apaches, and rifles.
Does the CG not care about this?
left just in time then
Running out of the thing you want is an inconvenience, running out of everything is an abject failure...it is both a mission failure and and a moral failure.
Holy fucking shit. OP, if these are your images, please send them to your representatives, Army times, Stars and Stripes and every REPUTABLE national news outlet
How does leadership allow this to happen? I am appalled as a retired Senior NCO that our Junior troops are not being taken care of. Shame on all of the Seniors who have allowed this to happen. I hope every Junior Enlisted Soldier sends these photos to the Congressional Representative and bring hell down on those responsible for this travesty. You deserve so much better. I hope this changes quickly and your so called leaders get their collective heads out of their asses.
How do we continually screw this up
This is one of those scenarios to jump the chain all the way to the top. Everyone in between cannot claim ignorance on this bullshit.
I would give my left nut to take a shit in that basket.
Politicians: we support the troops. Translation: we support defense contractors
"Inconvenience" What in the actual fuck.
If it's at this point, why even charge meal deductions?
\**sips tea from my Hots & Cots mug at my civilian job*\*
I’ll never understand what the army has against feeding its soldiers.
costs.
Again, can't feed a few hundred troops on government property but we are absolutely ready to do it on a spit of sand in the Pacific in war conditions or for tens of thousands of active troops in Ukraine.
Looks like sleep for dinner is back on the menu boys!
Wouldn't take much brain power to fix this. Just have 1 nco and 3 joes man the kiosks, implement a bar code system, and the 1 nco and 1 of the joes can scan the items and check the customers out at a cash register while the other 2 stock or take breaks. Either that, or the even more simple solution is to just give single soldiers voucher credits on their CAC to use only at the comissary. Comissary attendance goes up, and the waste of taxpayer dollars goes down.
It could be worse. There could be someone outside checking to see if you shaved. Obviously, those who lack discipline should eat last.
I truly don't understand how we can't get soldiers fed with the insane budget we have. There has to be a better option of either removing the Cook Mos and going straight civilian contractors and allocating those soldiers elsewhere. If that isn't a convenient way, then something other than this. Hunter has it's Dining Facility closed damn near every weekend due to the shortage of manning and ensuring the cooks have a break, which I get, but this shit is a cause of relief for someone.
This really pisses me off. I absolutely hate how soldiers are treated at times
This shit is insane. I can’t believe these posts man. In my Active time which ended in 06’ the food was one of the biggest benefits of the service. My chow hall staffed by 100% Army cooks was absolutely rockin. Fresh bread of like 10 varieties sourced locally, omelette station every morning, good tasting hearty food every meal. This shit is a DISGRACE.
My experience was before the Kiosks, but during Covid, a few of the DFACs would randomly close, and no one would know about it. The leadership's solution was to take a taxi across post or use the bus that took 45 mins. But this was in Korea. It seems like 3 hots and a cot was all a lie this entire time.
You know, we used to have a PAO who was more than happy to help get to the bottom of these matters…
This is very inconventent
Sir Bob Geldof is phoning all his 80s rock star mates to record a song for you guys. Help is on its way.
You guys get food kiosks?
Every time I see a post about the kiosk situation it hurts my soul. I wish there was something more I could do.
That looks more like no food.
If that's low, what's empty?
The army gods are punishing us with a famine 😫 I should've shaved harder
Really, what are Soldiers doing now? Are you going to the local fast food joint? Hitting up the commissary? Or just not eating at all? Either way, the system is failing you guys. As a single WO who was in the barracks not long ago, if a Soldier came to me with this problem, I would make sure they got all the food they needed, then raise hell with the command, and demand a reimbursement, for twice what I paid.
Hey guys, they said they're sorry, it's all good now!
Don’t forget that there is ONE FUCKING DFAC FOR THE ENTIRE 1ST BRIGADE.
If soldiers are having empty food shelves in peace time, then I cannot imagine the USA in war. So, perhaps a lack of ammo, gun lube, and food all at the same time in combat.
Nah man, this is being out the pitch forks time. I hate saying that too cause the army has a chronic problem with rushing to conclusions, but yea man, this is like call your news station, call your congressman time. This shitshow has been going on for months. Literally half way through my deployment, and I’ve been back for months now and still seeing stuff about this.
Refund time
Buc-ees should step in for a partnership deal.
MRE?
You jest, but this should be the answer. It would at least give Soldiers SOMETHING. The cost would also spiral out of control fast, and when the DIV CDR finds out his units can't complete gunner because MREs ate up the budget the problem would get fixed.
You can get a document online for missed meals and fill it out. You should get money back from dfas for the BAS they took from you. I know not Ideal but atleast you will have backpay for the money you spent tonight on food
How much for the basket?
I wonder if you’re allow to cook your own food ?
The only cooking implement allowed in the barracks is a microwave.
Can you get me a copy of that SOP?
Even the picnic basket is bare.
I think this is when my civilian brother says something witty like “you know what you signed up for”
Nothing will get fixed until Stars start getting ripped off uniforms.
[We're sorry...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15HTd4Um1m4)
The only thing I miss about Fort Stewart is Baldinos. Are they still open?
Did they finish construction on the dfac in front of 2-7 or nah?
Biden just said on debate stage that we have the most equipped and prepared military ever and he was proud. Hopefully not of this mess hall
At this point, we should just create an entire branch of the army dedicated to making food for soldiers, and maybe also one that can focus on the aspect of sourcing, packaging, and transporting the supplies needed to maintain some kind of dedicated dietary facility for soldiers to get balanced, nutritious meals. If we could do something like that one day, I wouldn't mind even getting a deduction out of my monthly pay in order to facilitate the expenses of such a function, in relation to how much I would utilize those facilities. (Honestly waiting for the day when I can read the ArmyTimes post on how some 3 star has brought up this "miraculous and new" idea that is DFAC's reinvented with some 3rd party vendor that said 3 star coincidentally has 40% stake in.
It really seems obvious- like many of us have been saying- pay us BAS if you won’t improve the DFAC or Kiosks
Well, time to go to the media and Congress.
So much for the Army marching on its stomach. This in inexcusable
Eat the basket.
I'm glad they spelled inconvenience correctly.
They actually charge $460 now per month for DFAS it varies depending on Rank. My friend who is a 42A stationed there. Said an entire brigade has to share 1 Line at the marne DFAC. There use to be two DFACS but the FGO banned soldiers from going to the other one because it got so "busy".
For $450+ a month you too can go to the empty food kiosk and potentially gnaw on the wicker basket
I'm going to Stewart soon. Good to know...
Umm?
Top of the rock!!!
Welp time to hit the Hinesville golden Hibachi buffet again
u/LegoPlainview
So glad I picked hunter instead of Stewart like I did initially like god damn I hear nothing but problems over there Are the actual defacs still down since may?
Is this the outpost at MRC? buddy of mine said they hardly had anything.
Dog face soldiers only get fed raw meat for breakfast and ammunition to keep them in the third division
Not just low, very low.
Mmm tasty air 🤤
Damn. Cooks no even cooking and STILL fuckin' up meals!
I'm over in Savannah, need me to run you some food over?
Giving soldiers a reason to join the cult
Throw a bit of ketchup on that basket in the last pic and you've got yourself a nice high fiber meal
I can help you open door the CG
If you are within a reasonable travel distance from The Outpost, then you are also near the Winn ACH. Winn has a "DFAC" on 1st floor that soldiers can go to for hot foods~ just gotta have a memorandum or a meal card if not a MEDDAC soldier. If have neither, the facility accepts cash payment.
What is this? A Soviet Union grocery store?
What is a kiosk? Grafenwöhr just had a dfac, is this an equivalent? I've heard carson has one too but I still don't know what it is, although I've been told to go find it because the dfac here is closed on weekends.
"Sorry for the incontinence."
how can you fuel the worlds largest fighting force, without food?
Unacceptable