What’s the first hit on drawdown? A hot meal, of course

“The tactical reason for the cooking scale-down is that the people who are assigned to ‘support services’ — such as food workers — ‘need to go home before the people who provide the security which enables those services,’ Gilmore wrote.”

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/31/18592339-the-drawdown-diet-marines-steamed-by-loss-of-hot-meal-at-afghanistan-base?lite

(OK, cooks leave before shooters. That’s understandable. Probably the Corps could have done a better job explaining what was going to happen. That’s the usual way things go south in a unit – somebody didn’t make an adequate explanation. “All right, guys. We’re going to have to tough it out for a while.”)

“’MREs are an alternative for when you can’t get to healthy food. They're supposed to be for desperation,’ said Babette Maxwell, founder and executive director of Military Spouse Magazine, the wife of a Navy pilot and an advocate for service members and their families. ‘These guys have six to nine months left on their deployment. These are highly athletic and highly physical people, toting guns, not working any less now than before — and not working out any less either. Now, they’re short a meal and they don’t have any healthy alternatives.’’

(MREs are an “alternative” to healthy food? So, MREs are not healthy, and also are a “desperation” food? Not to belittle Ms. Maxwell’s service as a Navy wife, nor her aviator husband’s, but I wonder how many MREs aviator Maxwell has eaten?)

Packaged at http://www.ritely.com/


That is one take – Life sucks, especially in Afghanistan, especially in the Corps in Afghanistan. But you raised your and you took an oath, so put on your Big Boy shirt and do your job.

Another take – WTF did Marine Corps leadership think it was doing, taking away a hot meal and relax-talk things out time? USMC leaders took away one of the most important morale aspects. Oh, well. They are Marines.