Coast Guard Chow

[Chef Randy]

What is the chow like where you are at? How are my fellow cooks doing out there in the fleet?

[army_engineer]

I don't know about Coast Guard, but the Navy took good care of us Army Reserve in San Diego and Coronado. They messed us up in Stockton however. Also, thumbs up to Air Force at Edwards, and Marines at Camp Pendleton!

[vftb]

Hey Chief (Chef) chow up here in Santa Rosa is great; just took some chops off of the bbq.  Been out for a long time so can't give a response to your question, but glad to see another Coastie here.  As far as chow went when I was in, I had the best of both worlds; cooks and open galley  , if you didn't like what was for chow, you just waited until normal mess hours were over and cooked your own steak (no kidding!! This was only at one duty station though).  All BS aside, welcome aboard.

[Chef Randy]

  Doesn't seem to be that many coasties on here, but hopefully that will change.
I think that the  open galley  has changed since then, but I do think that the Coast Guards Food service program is one of the best out there and will only get better with the dedicated professionals that we have serving our sailors out in the fleet






* edited to repair emoticon

[fishnfanatic]

Compared to what I was getting while I was on Active Duty, my chow sucks.

Course, I'm doin the cookin.   

Frankly, I never had a bad meal in the Coast Guard.  It was tasty, hot, and plenty of it.  I think all the cooks in the Guard did an outstanding job, while doing a thankless job for long hours at a time.

Good job guys.   

[army_engineer]

Long hours - no kidding! I'd help set up the MKT's and whatever else any mess section needed a hand with. Those guys get up at least an hour before we did, and go to sleep after us. Plenty of perks with helping mess sections: got to BS with them during down-time (met several different units both Active and Reserve), get to bypass the chow line, get extra goodies, and we got the pleasure of hooking them up with stuff that they needed. Once at Ft. Irwin, one section needed a pallet of MRE's ASAP at 11PM. We made it happen - over and done with in less than half an hour. 

[ollie]

My answer would be that it depends on the unit. At Sea (USCGC Tamaroa), our food was great, Jonsie and Lenny made sure we were well fed to make up for those Christmas or Thanksgiving patrols. The chow on Governors Island was what I'd call adequate. My last duty station at Fire Island Radio Annex, the food was very good or very bad. We had no cook there were 13 of us maintaining the site and we took turns cooking. When I cooked the food was awful. Some of the other guys were great cooks though.

ollie

[vftb]

The chow on Governors Island was what I'd call adequate.

  Speaking of Governors Island, I returned to Government Island in Alameda (TRACUPCEN) as a recruit instructor in late 1970.  One of the things that I remember most about the chow hall was that once or twice a year lobster fishermen in Maine donnated a bunch of lobsters to the Coast Guard in appreciation of their services.  The Guard distributed the lobsters somehow and the mess hall at Government Island was the grateful recipient of loads.  Man, I loved those all you can eat lobster nights.  I wonder if anything like that still goes on.   

[fishnfanatic]

The chow on Governors Island was what I'd call adequate.

  Speaking of Governors Island, I returned to Government Island in Alameda (TRACUPCEN) as a recruit instructor in late 1970.  One of the things that I remember most about the chow hall was that once or twice a year lobster fishermen in Maine donnated a bunch of lobsters to the Coast Guard in appreciation of their services.  The Guard distributed the lobsters somehow and the mess hall at Government Island was the grateful recipient of loads.  Man, I loved those all you can eat lobster nights.  I wonder if anything like that still goes on.   

I don't remember that happening, perhaps it did.  I do remember at times, we were served lobster of "Fish Fridays".

I gave up on lobster permanently when I watched lobstermen pull their traps out of Boston Harbor.  No way in hell will I eat a lobster now.   

[vftb]

I do remember at times, we were served lobster of "Fish Fridays

My memory could be off, but I believe those were donated lobsters.

[fishnfanatic]

I do remember at times, we were served lobster of "Fish Fridays

My memory could be off, but I believe those were donated lobsters.

Most of the time we were served just the tail, not the whole lobster.  I can only remember one time when I got a whole lobster.

[vftb]

Most of the time we were served just the tail

You're exercising the one brain cell that I have left  , but I believe you're right.   

[JoryGMC]

Speaking of lobster. I was stationed on a 95 footer out of West Palm Beach, FL. We'd pull a 6 day patrol once a month down through the FLA Keys. On one patrol we stopped at Dry Tortugas where there is a US Park Service operation at the old fort. Well, the Park Rangers caught a bunch of Cuban lobstermen inside the boundary waters of the fort with around 200 Florida lobsters (no big pincer claws), arrested them and sent them to Key West. They then put all of the lobsters in two big cages and hung them off of the dock in front of the fort to keep for evidence. We pulled in and spotted the cages and started asking if we could have some. Initially the Rangers said no, but we convinced them that a lot of the catch was going to die from being in such close quarters.....eventually we sanitized a 30 gallon garbage can, filled it with lobster and cooked and ate every last one of them. Best meal I ever had in the Coast Guard. What a service!

[army_engineer]

Jory, you guys made out on that patrol. During one rotation out in NTC (National Training Center, Ft. Irwin), we ordered several thousand tails for a special meal to celebrate the end of that exercise. I didn't get to stay for that meal, my part of that rotation was in the middle of it.

[Synovio]

I don't know about Coast Guard, but the Navy took good care of us Army Reserve in San Diego and Coronado. They messed us up in Stockton however. Also, thumbs up to Air Force at Edwards, and Marines at Camp Pendleton!

Yah..Way back when in San Diego (Circa 1980) there was a great chow hall @ 32nd st. NAVSTA.."Mercer Hall" dining facility if my memory serves..Always great..and particularly so on the holidays..

The on base enlisted chow hall @ Phiily sucked out loud tho'..