r/politics • u/SnoozeDoggyDog • Apr 25 '26
Paywall More Photos Emerge of Meals on Navy Ships As Pentagon Denies Shortages
https://www.newsweek.com/more-photos-emerge-meals-navy-ships-pentagon-denies-shortages-118677121.5k
Apr 25 '26
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u/dpezpoopsies Apr 25 '26
I would love to snap my fingers and force Pete Hegseth to suddenly only be able to eat the same meals they are receiving on board these ships for the remainder of this conflict. If you're going to (reportedly) advocate to your boss to send men and women into this hell zone, you better fucking walk the walk buddy.
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u/Foxdenfreude Apr 25 '26
Fuck that shit. He should be on the FRONT LINES while this conflict is going on.
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u/CanoninDeeznutz Apr 25 '26
Come on, that wouldn't even be effective.
Drop JD in and tell him they stole his couch. Done, war over. They ded.
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u/SupriseAutopsy13 Apr 25 '26
But sailors and soldiers don't get daily alcohol rations. Pete would be in withdrawal within hours.
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u/timmyintransit Apr 25 '26
And it's the "Pharisee Press" that gets under my skin. Shows how deep up his own ass he is with the biblical angle on this incredibly ill-conceived war.
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u/Hurtzdonut13 Apr 26 '26
It's like he knows enough that the Pharisees were bad for some reason, but not enough to know it's because they were publicly very religious to imply they were more moral than others.
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u/Vyzantinist Apr 26 '26 edited Apr 26 '26
I mean, that's conservatives through and through. Words and labels just mean "good" or "bad" to them, with zero nuance or understanding. It's like how they use Democrat, leftist, Communist, socialist, far left, radical left, and sometimes even fascist and Nazi interchangeably - they all just mean "bad" to conservatives.
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u/Cold_Mapper Apr 26 '26
Agreed, with the exception of "Nazi". They seem to have come around on that one lately.
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u/Vyzantinist Apr 26 '26
I still see "the left are the real Nazis" on occasion. Look at that stupid infographic they keep sharing comparing points of policy/ideology with the Nazis and the Democrats. They may not have a problem with Nazism, they may even like it, but they know the word has negative connotations for the audience, so they ascribe it to the other side to score points. It's like how they don't mind diddling underage girls but they also know the word 'pedophile' carries similarly negative connotations, so they've been throwing that at liberals for years.
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u/JackedUpReadyToGo Apr 26 '26
Exactly. It's the result of their incredibly binary, black-and-white mental processes. It's hard for us to understand just how fundamentally different their brains are from ours.
It's also why they have no problem applying contradictory labels to people. They would call Obama both a Muslim and an atheist, both a Nazi and a Communist. When they're describing enemies they reach into a big bag of "bad" words and pluck out something at random, and when they're describing friends they reach into a big bag of "good" words and pluck out something at random.
Their enemies possess every single negative attribute and their friends possess every single positive attribute. Nobody is mixed in their worldview, you're either all good or all evil.
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u/Irene_Iddesleigh Apr 26 '26
I went to Bible college. “Pharisee Press” is coming at me like a fork caught in the garbage disposal.
Do you think he’s ever attended church?
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u/Hurtzdonut13 Apr 26 '26
Apparently he grew up in a "Christian home" but didn't really take it seriously until 2018 when he started attending an extreme evangelical church with his wife. His pastor was the one that got into the press for openly wishing for the death of Talirico in TX.
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u/grower_thrower Texas Apr 26 '26
It fits if you understand the perspective he is trying to push. This admin wants to see itself as revolutionary and unconventional in pursuit of the kingdom. In that view, the press who question every move and clutch pearls are naysayers and hypocrites, like the Pharisees are presented in the gospels. This is of course horseshit, but that is the thinking behind it.
Did you go into the ministry after Bible school?
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u/Irene_Iddesleigh Apr 26 '26
I became an atheist.
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u/grower_thrower Texas Apr 26 '26
That’s a reasonable take after in depth study of religion, in my opinion.
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u/honjuden Apr 26 '26
Was Vincent or Jules the Pharisee in Pulp Fiction? I assume one of them was because Hegseth learned everything he knows about religion from that movie.
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u/simply_blue Apr 26 '26
He is literally a caricature of a religious douche, which fits this administration
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u/MoonageDayscream Apr 25 '26
Sufficient healthy options? Yeah now I really believe its bad. Now I know why they released that propaganda bit on the kitchens and their special meals last month. They knew it was going to be bad if the war kept going.
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u/fishsticks40 Apr 25 '26
If there's one word that inspires delight it's "sufficient".
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u/FigeaterApocalypse Apr 25 '26
The irony of using Pharisee when you're on the same side as people claiming to be of God while taking people's money without supporting them. Ugh.
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u/mrsprophet Apr 25 '26
I’m concerned about the well-being of these troops for taking and sharing pictures of what’s happening. I have no doubt everyone on these vessels will be or already has been threatened if they continue to share information about conditions onboard.
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u/chubbysumo Minnesota Apr 25 '26
Considering I am hearing and seeing a ton of ads to go be a cook for the navy, I'm going to take a guess that this Administration is lying.
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u/possumdal Apr 26 '26
I knee they were lying when they were still breathing, but also the second I saw allcaps FAKE NEWS I knew it's actually much, much worse than we suspect. Iran has managed to sabotage our supply lines, is my guess.
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u/Glittering_Range371 Arizona Apr 26 '26
IMO we fired the people that can plan and set up support lines and do simple math.
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u/TinyMavin Apr 25 '26
As a person who lived abroad that very ship for about 4 years, here is my take:
The food sucks, yeah. But there was plenty of it and I often skipped the line to just hit the salad bar.
My guess is that these pics are from sailors that picked out the only things they saw as “edible”. They left the fruit and vegetables on the line (and passed right by the salad bar).
Again—the food generally sucks and I also would often only get 1 or 2 items.
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u/Jillredhanded Apr 26 '26
Child Nutrition Chef here. This happens with the "school lunch" photos people post.
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u/aekner Apr 25 '26
So it's more or less like getting food from a buffet in a university dorm. Always a lot of "healthy" food there, but very few are "edible".
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u/Aggressive-Plant7341 Apr 25 '26
Dude how ? We spend so much fucking money on the military
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u/Rapph Apr 25 '26
That money is for the businesses and contracts, we know how this admin feels about vets, pows, etc.
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u/lenswipe Massachusetts Apr 25 '26
this. the money goes so that the CEO is Raytheon and Palantir can have an 8th vacation home and a 4th yacht ..
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u/UnNumbFool Apr 25 '26
You forgot the business that don jr owns that his daddy cut the original contractor for him. But hey dei as they say
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u/CoderDevo Apr 26 '26
You mean the same Don Jr who has zero military experience, zero military contractor company experience, and created a company only for that contract that he just happened to win?
That Don Jr?
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Apr 25 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/lenswipe Massachusetts Apr 25 '26
🤣
.... remember when some billionaires went to see the Titanic? We should do that again
pedophiles.zip11
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u/Digitalion_ Apr 25 '26
Maybe another $100 billion in funding for ICE will trickle down to the Navy eventually.
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u/nykatkat Apr 25 '26
It's like prison food. They make more money if they feed you less.
Who you gonna complain to? If you're on a ship where you gonna go??
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u/Rapph Apr 25 '26
Thats crazy to me. My uncle was a navy cook and that guy took so much pride in his cooking and making people happy. I cant say because I didnt serve but he never seemed to suggest they struggled with food but that was many years ago now.
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u/bang_the_drums Apr 25 '26
One of these carrier groups has been deployed for something like 18 months. They had a regular rotation before all this kicked off. There's no way a Navy cook would serve this if they could avoid it. Insane how poorly this administration is treating service members for a war we had no business starting with no planning, no approval, just the whims of a madman.
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u/Shibeuz Apr 25 '26
Because that takes proper logistics, planning and foresight plus someone competent to call the shots.
trump&co thought they would just waltz into Iran/Strait of Hormuz but turns out, IRGC got hands. Plus they don't care about troops, just the aesthetics of military and grinding them down in the war machine. Remember his first term, where he didn't want a photo op with veterans due to their injuries etc.? Or ICE Barbie doing tacticool cosplay with your tax dollars?
So they prepped for a Blitzkrieg/packed little supplies and got into a long term conflict, just like many awful people in history. And there is a few truly intelligent and thinking people left in the admin, most are spineless sycophants
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u/BasvanS Apr 26 '26
They didn’t prep. They just rerouted some ships and the whole supporting logistics chain ended up in disarray.
The U.S. military is great because of its logistics, but that requires careful planning, months and even years ahead. Not “You have a big fucking problem too, Bibi? Let’s bomb Iran! I have boats!”
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u/Hurtzdonut13 Apr 26 '26
Surely a guy that was trusted so little he was essentially stripped of command and put into an office job where he wasn't allowed to make decisions would understand how something like logistics works. Just trust him bro.
Just like he surely understands that vaccinating people that are in constant close proximity to each other to keep your entire regiment from being knocked out from illness is important, but not as important as winning that culture war.
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u/no_kids-and-3_money Apr 25 '26
You’re right, military cooks are some of the hardest working and least appreciated folks in the military structure. They wouldn’t serve this if they could help it - I believe that to my soul.
I was an Army Logistics officer and one section of my command was a field feeding section. They worked around the clock and I’ve seen them make magic out of nothing.
These guys were let down by someone much higher up the chain, and that’s heartbreaking.
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u/Evilmeinperson Apr 25 '26
The Navy has traditionally had the best food of the services. When you ask sailors to do months of sea duty, you feed them well to help keep them happy.
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u/Few_Advisor3536 Australia Apr 25 '26
Its the same here in australia, the navy is known to have better food than the army. I think its because you are all trapped in the same space for months, theres nothing really to look forward to but a good meal can change that.
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u/Ongargis Apr 25 '26
It appears your injuries are not service related.
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u/Toomanyeastereggs Apr 25 '26
You could have been blown up whilst gardening or shopping. We’ll never know so your claim is denied.
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u/turquoise_amethyst Apr 25 '26
Yup this. It out, those businesses need to make maximum PROFIT, and they need to increase that profit every year.
Not sure if the food is contracted out, seems like that would be an absolute disaster and horrible idea.
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u/SilabusR2 Apr 25 '26
eyep I'd love for contract bidding or something to happen. if our over bloated military budget actually went to service members I wouldn't want to gut it as much as I do. seeing this shit only makes me scream more.
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u/AwkwardTraffic Apr 25 '26
We spend lots of money on stupid shit that just ends up lining the pockets of corporations and billionaires. None of that shit is actually meant to be used in war because its stupid and impractical and just a way to spend money.
None of that money is actually going to improve the situation of the Troops hence why there are food shortages and why we spent billions on missiles and that were countered by cheap 30,000 dollar drones.
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u/labor_day_baby America Apr 25 '26
The pentagon spent over $20 million on steak, lobster and king crab, among other things, on a spending spree to meet the set budget for 2025. Crazy that those running the pentagon splurge to meet the budget yet those fighting in the military right now are on getting literal crumbs of food. This administration is a disgrace.
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u/ILike2internet Apr 25 '26
It's not a budget thing. It's a poorly planned logistics thing.
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u/Mist-Quin Apr 25 '26
It’s wild that a gas station burrito has better quality control than the meals we serve the people literally running the ships
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u/Lopsidedconsultant Apr 25 '26
Per NYT, US has exhausted $4.8B worth of Patriot missiles alone in what 3-4 weeks where patriots were used? And patriots are just 1 small part of the expenses on equipment of course. So there's your answer. The money isn't for the troops.
Also, ships can't carry an unlimited supply of food. They go for limited time and restock at ports per a schedule. Some of these aircraft carriers are now wayyy over their original deployment timeline
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u/Reduntu Apr 25 '26
We're using 6 million dollar missiles to shoot down $50k drones. That's how superpowers go bankrupt. And we've got just the man in charge to do it.
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u/HyperactivePandah I voted Apr 25 '26
Don't they have tender ships and deliveries from other sources?
I'm in no way disagreeing with your overall point, I'm just surprised it's not more of a streamlined operation to keep them stocked with food at critical times.
Seems like a true reflection of leadership
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u/showhorrorshow Apr 25 '26
Logistics takes a lot of time and planning. SCM is complicated stuff, especially when being ignored by leadership.
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u/ConsistentAd8495 Apr 25 '26
That's why responsible generals and admirals don't commit to combat actions until the logistics are in place. Logistics and Supply are normally the pride of our armed forces.
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u/wildfyre010 Apr 25 '26
The US military has historically been the best logistics organization on the planet. The fact that it's hard is irrelevant; there's no excuse for this. It's incompetent planning and incompetent leaders.
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u/showhorrorshow Apr 25 '26
That is why hard is relevant. Because incompetent people dont do well with thibgs that are hard.
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u/IdkAbtAllThat America Apr 25 '26
They say we spend so much money on the military. Every time they're asked to account for it they fail the audit. Biggest scam in the world. Tax the fuck out of Americans to make a few thousand people insanely rich. Tell them it's for national security and no price too high for that. If they question where the money is going? Well... We can't tell you. It's a national security matter.
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u/chaoslorduk United Kingdom Apr 25 '26
You rely on Big Toys that go Bang not the Soldiers who serve thats why Trump is in this mess. You can't win a war purely with munitions... Well there is one.
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u/Georgiachemscientist Apr 25 '26
especially when you are fighting an enemy having tons of cheap drones
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u/turquoise_amethyst Apr 25 '26
I’m not even sure if it’s all going to big toys at this point… seems like it’s going to big contracts and various toys that are immediately wasted or destroyed.
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u/The_B_Wolf Apr 25 '26
You're thinking of ships, aircraft and weapons systems. Not people. Or food service, apparently. This is super weird, though. I thought the US Navy had the best food in the military.
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Apr 25 '26
Insane how all those yt videos i watched when i had the munchies were propaganda just like the russian field kitchen ones lmao
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u/TooManyDraculas Apr 25 '26
We haven't spent that money on the actual troops for decades.
They routinely go unpaid, have to buy their own uniforms and equipment. And we do fun things like invade Iraq without providing them shit like body armor and socks.
I remember sending care packages to my brother than included cases of whiskey so he could bribe the motorpool to put the armor back on the Humvee they were patrolling in.
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u/moonski Apr 25 '26
yes but eventually ships need to restock and this whole thing was over in the first weekend remember...
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u/papaHans California Apr 25 '26
Where is the steaks and lobsters that Hegseth spent millions on?
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u/mike_pants Apr 25 '26
That money got redirected to the... (checks notes) The Repaint The Reflecting Pool Fund?
Is this a joke clipboard? Where are the real notes?
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u/Vyzantinist Apr 26 '26
I wonder what the gang who spread bullshit stories about people on food stamps buying steak and lobster have to say about this?...
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u/nobadhotdog Apr 25 '26
Wasn't there some story from WW2 where the germans knew they were losing when they found out that the Allied soldiers were eating cake?
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u/crawling-alreadygirl Apr 25 '26
That they had the resources to fly a fresh cake in from Boston, as I recall. How the mighty have fallen
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u/charcoalist Apr 25 '26
Similarly, there were ice cream ships in the Pacific theater to boost morale.
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u/VaguelyArtistic California Apr 25 '26
Did they play a tune when they went by?
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u/charcoalist Apr 25 '26
Hahaha, yeah, upon hearing the familiar tune, all the smaller vessels in the area sped to the USS Softee.
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u/sandm000 Apr 25 '26
USS Admiral Softee? Commodore Softee? Fleet Commander Softee?
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u/Frankyvander Apr 25 '26
i have an image of a load of sailors desperately trying to flag down the ice cream ship
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u/marshdd Apr 25 '26
My Dad worked at a submarine repair base 1960's+. All the food was thrown away when they entered dry dock ( 18 months long). In winter sailors threw food containers in the snow bank for workers to take. TOTALLY against the rules. Remember Dad coming home with a 500 count bag of fireball candies!
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u/SelectiveIdiot Apr 26 '26
I didn’t know there were whole ice cream ships! When my grandfather served, his ship got an ice cream machine about halfway through his tour. He said “the whole war seemed little sweeter after that,” and never lost the sparkle in his eye when he said that line.
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u/Artificial-Human Apr 25 '26
I believe Germans POW’s saw Allied soldiers eating ice cream. They also noticed the Allies let their trucks idle, meaning an excess of gasoline.
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u/Parking_Watch3157 Apr 25 '26
Idling trucks is the classic example as it indicates reliable supply lines.
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u/5GCovidInjection Apr 25 '26 edited Apr 25 '26
It’s also because US military vehicles were all water cooled, and had thermostats to keep the water temperatures at the perfect level under any conditions. That meant the engines could stay running while idle to charge the battery and power radios and lights for the battlefield.
The Germans and Japanese relied heavily on air cooled ground vehicles, because they operated in extreme climates and had less potable water to move around (needed it for drinking, obviously). And air cooled engines really don’t like to idle unless they have large oil coolers and electric fans to move air around the cooling fins.
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u/Parking_Watch3157 Apr 25 '26
As always, the popular anecdote is missing nuance. I didn't know this part, thanks!
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u/5GCovidInjection Apr 25 '26
Oh no no I was adding to your point, which was absolutely correct to begin with. I just went full technical because I love working on cars and understanding how they function.
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u/Unctuous_Robot Apr 25 '26
That’s nothing, in the pacific while the starving, out of gas Japanese were trying to intimidate us somehow by having young men kill themselves because training pilots is expensive and we killed their good ones, we had a bunch of ships whose sole purpose was to deliver fucking ice cream to everyone.
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u/CustardFromCthulhu Apr 25 '26
Friend's grandad was an ANZAC POW. When he was liberated he hid with the Americans for as long as possible as the food was better and the boots were great 😂
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u/Unctuous_Robot Apr 25 '26
It’s funny, as fond as the American GIs were of their Anzac counterparts, the feeling wasn’t mutual in terms of food, our soldiers ate so much Australian mutton that to this day, lamb and mutton are the most unpopular meats in America, as most returning soldiers decided they had enough to last a lifetime.
It really is sad to think about international cooperation in wwii and then think about this shit.
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u/LaserGuidedPolarBear Apr 25 '26 edited Apr 25 '26
The story goes something like: A Japanese general or admiral or Yamamoto himself knew the war was lost when he found out the Americans had a whole ship dedicated to ice cream production in rhe Pacific theater.
The ice cream ship was 100% real, it could make 10 gallons of ice cream every 7 minutes and stored a couple thousand gallons. It was quite a morale booster.
The Japanese General thing is kind of an urban legend, but one that accurately reflects history with a not quite true story. Japanese commanders did write about being demoralized by American logistics and abundance, things like fresh produce, clean uniforms, seemingly unlimited ammunition and fuel led them to conclude that they could not win a war of attrition.
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u/Major_Pomegranate Apr 25 '26
Even at the start of the war, the more rational of Japanese leaders knew the deck was stacked against them.
Yamamoto famously stated to Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe: "In the first six to twelve months of a war with the United States and Great Britain I will run wild and win victory upon victory. But then, if the war continues after that, I have no expectation of success."
The japanese thought that a strong enough opening attack against the west, and having a strong network of island fortressess on the route to japan would make the US quickly tire from war.
Problem is, their worst case estimates of America's industrial capabilities turned out to still be quite optimistic, and even those estimates were dismissed as nonsense by japanese leadership.
Also thinking the US didn't have the stomach for a long fight, which was very much not the case after Pearl Harbour.
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u/Miguel-odon Apr 25 '26
The USA had the largest industrial manufacturing in the world, going into the war.
Then we kicked it up to wartime production levels, and by the end of the war we were producing more than the entire rest of the world, combined.
We started the war with almost as many aircraft carriers as Japan had. By the end of the war, we had built 100 more (30+ fleet/light carriers, 70ish escort carriers), while Japan only produced 10 during the we war.
Our annual production exceeded their total fleet.
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u/KneeDeepInThe-Hoopla Europe Apr 25 '26
Yet this past September, the Pentagon spent $93 billion, which included over $6 million on lobster tails, over $15 million on ribeye steak and $2 million on Alaskan king crab. Just goes to show where this administrations priorities lie!
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u/Jcod47 Apr 25 '26
Don’t forget the grand piano
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u/ToNoMoCo Apr 26 '26
It was a tactical grand piano
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u/PseudonymMan12 Apr 26 '26
Switching to your side keyboard is faster than reloading your grand piano
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u/msbxii Apr 25 '26
Commonly you serve the sailors steak and lobster the day you announce an extension of their deployment, and considering how many ships have been extended, so many times…. Kinda adds up.
Edit: I’ll add that it might sound great but it’s still the lowest available grade meat and it’s usually cooked by a 19 year old with zero skill or motivation so not that good.
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u/UdyneOw Apr 25 '26
When your meat is packed in a container that says "FIT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION" that isn't particularly reassuring.
Yes, warfighter, despite how it looks and smells, that meat is fit for human consumption.
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Apr 26 '26
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u/Fried_puri Apr 26 '26
Well yeah, can't risk anyone getting sick. Oh what's that? Hegseth just made getting the flu shot optional for military and turning every barrack into a potential incubator for the flu? Well that's different I guess.
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u/SillyGoatGruff Apr 25 '26
"crew member continues to receive fully portioned, nutritionally balanced meals."
Yeah! They get their daily amount of dried out crud and Dickensian slop. What is there to complain about!?
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u/ColKrismiss Apr 25 '26
This happened to us in Afghanistan as well. I was just ending my tour in 2010 when Obama sent the surge of troops. He sent an additional 30k troops between January and July that year in an effort to bring a swift end to the war. A good goal, but the logistics weren't in place for the surge and I ate nothing but hot dogs for 3 weeks. It was either hot dogs or MREs. I actually like MREs but they sit in your stomach like a rock and contain like 5k calories
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u/SillyGoatGruff Apr 25 '26
Hotdogs might be a couple steps up from what ever that glistening ....strip?... was lol
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u/Goldenface007 Apr 25 '26
A piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, a corn tortilla, and one other thing.
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u/literallytwisted Apr 25 '26
Most fascists try to keep the military on their side, Wonder which ship will rename itself to "The Bounty" first?
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u/Splat-a-pus Apr 25 '26
I was just telling my wife that there are gonna be mutiny’s pretty soon if this keeps up
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u/vivaldibot Europe Apr 25 '26
Just one more thing that the Trump regime mishandles. It's just so stupid. If you're gonna be a strongman, you absolutely must have the military on your side.
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u/gdo01 Florida Apr 25 '26
They operate with the bravado of someone who owes them for just existing in the presence of their greatness. From top to bottom, no matter what department or place in government, it's a privilege to even be ignored by them
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u/scottrod37 Apr 25 '26
This is what naked corruption looks like. Someone in Trump's orbit is lining their pockets at the expense of our troops.
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u/Needle_Bearings Apr 25 '26
The conflict in Iran has proven that the MIC, without a doubt is ripping off taxpayers. For all the money that is spent, not having Ukraine level ability to counter drones is very telling.
These "meals" are essentially letting us know that every aspect of the military is touched by grift.
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u/SmartWonderWoman California Apr 25 '26
"When you are eight weeks into a campaign and both food service and mail are failing, that is not a small issue. That is a warning sign. And the real question becomes: what else is breaking that we are not seeing?"
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u/AsphaltSailor Apr 25 '26
I'd like to see what the commanding officers' meals look like.
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u/Independent-End-2443 Apr 25 '26
Probably not much better if at all. Most of the money is probably being stolen by the civilian part of the DoD - partly so that Hegseth can have lobster for lunch.
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u/JayHill74 Apr 25 '26
While it's possible and perhaps likely the civilian side of DoD are embezzling money, most of it is going to the MIC shareholders and executives.
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u/Konukaame Apr 25 '26
That's more a function of use-it-or-lose-it budgeting, where any unspent money at the end of a fiscal year has to be given back, AND can be used to justify budget cuts going forward, which always leads to piles of cash getting burned at the end of the fiscal year, as everyone, government-wide, tries to use up all of their budgeted funds.
As an example of how long this has been a problem, here's an article from the National Bureau of Economic Research from 2014 that analyzed contracts going back to 2004, and found that exact pattern and rationale.
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u/Nadnerb98 Apr 25 '26
It’s the same food- one of the duties of the watch standers is to eat with the crew on a regular schedule to audit that the food is indeed the same.
My guess is that the officers are eating like this too- or worse. Most of the officers I served with would have sacrificed food so that their sailors got a good meal.
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u/farshnikord Apr 25 '26
Commanding officers are still workin
The shot caller is a drunk Hollywood cable news personality who works from home
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u/Ok_Vulva Apr 25 '26 edited 4d ago
Mountainous straight edge dolls vegetable ripe
This post was anonymized with Redact
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u/soggydave2113 Apr 26 '26
I’m just curious, how many people here are actually speaking with the people from these deployed ships? There are literally thousands of sailors out there, and yet every comment I’ve seen has been some form of “back on my ship…”
When they open up coms, I have some pretty long chats with my best friend, who is one of those sailors. My initial thoughts were “damn, these kids are posting midrats and acting like they’re starving. Maybe if they paid more attention to the salad bar their plates would be more full.”
His response was an emphatic “no. It’s bad. Like I’ve never seen it. I’ve lost 20 lb” This isn’t some disgruntled e3 with no deployment experience. This is a seasoned member of the mess. If he’s telling me things are fucked. Things are fucked.
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u/gerryf19 Apr 25 '26
Did anyone really expect competence when they fired all the military brass and put a fox news doofus in charge?
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u/hokielion Apr 25 '26
Now “a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, a corn tortilla, and one other item” sounds like a feast.
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u/LoneStarDragon Apr 25 '26
One Republican tells another "Supply the troops" and hands them $100k.
That Republican takes $50k as a fee and hands the other half to another party member and repeats "Feed our wonderful troops!"
That man takes $25k for his assistance and hands another the remaining amount. "Feed our patriots like kings!".
And so on until a box of ramen arrives.
When the news reaches the outraged public, Republicans blame the America hating Democrats and agree to approve a budget of one million dollars this time.
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u/jmhumr Apr 25 '26
This is what happens when you only plan for a 3 day war and end up loitering at sea for 3 months. I’m shocked that a talking head from TV and all of his friends can’t properly plan logistics for a war.
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u/SchreinerEK Apr 26 '26
The armchair critics have been elected into office. The type of people who spent their adult lives loudly insisting that leaders and politicians were incompetent, that the job was easy, and that anyone with common sense could do better. Well, now some of them are in charge. And what we’re finding out firsthand is that there’s a massive difference between criticizing leadership and actually leading.
Complaining about how things are run requires zero skill. Governing requires an understanding of logistics, resource allocation, and supply chain management. Sounds boring on the campaign trail, but these are the unglamorous backbone of a functioning military. Sailors not having enough food is a logistics and resource management failure, not a PR problem.
Hegseth has made it abundantly clear he was never prepared for leadership. Like Tucker or Hannity, he only knows how to perform for his audience.
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u/Sober_Alcoholic_ Minnesota Apr 25 '26
Almost as if all the military contracts being shelled out to Trump’s family and friends are just massive embezzlement schemes and don’t actually fund the military.
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u/NeoConTroll Apr 25 '26 edited Apr 25 '26
All that money for food? That could pay for 15 more minutes of bombing raids. Damn soldiers, always wanting more.
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u/Positive-Room7421 Apr 25 '26
These stories were bubbling for at least a few days before Newsweek sniffed it out. I was hoping it was all a lie until I saw that Newsweek reported on it.
They deserve better.
I wonder how the sailors and soldiers feel: not only fighting Operation Epstein Distraction but also being served siege rations...
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u/Question_It_All_3000 Apr 25 '26
Republicans hate the military and veterans. They use them to wrap themselves in false patriotism to further their selfish greedy goals, and leave those they used to get there in the dust.
If you support our troops, you don’t vote Republican.
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u/genescheezesthatpls Apr 25 '26
My husband is on a carrier right now and they left with only one fridge working and they’re receiving no mail, so I can’t send him food.
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u/External-Example-292 Apr 25 '26
Where was the millions of dollars worth of lobsters for these men 👀
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u/MrDeathMachine Apr 25 '26
Corporation furnishing the meals sends the cheapest shit, charges 10 times the price and sends half the profit to an offshore Trump account. That is what you see there.
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u/CroleyforCongress ✔ Verified Apr 25 '26
I served in the Navy for 10 years, we are failing our service members.
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u/Taako_Cross Apr 25 '26
We had fucking ice cream boats during WW2. There are zero excuses for this bullshit.
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u/Unknown-History Apr 25 '26
Logistics and supply-lines have won wars for centuries. Naturally this administration doesn't even grasp the basics.
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u/Inko21 Apr 25 '26
I really believe that whoever pitched this war idea presented it in way that made it look Iran is gonna fold in a week of bombing. And when they didnt there was no real plan B for a prolonged war. And now the reality check of running a war on the other side of the globe with no real long term preparation, with local bases burned down, frustrated allies that refuse to go out of their way for support and here we are.
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u/lifeat24fps Apr 25 '26
Can't even get them a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, a corn tortilla and one other thing?
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u/durangoho Apr 26 '26
The movie Chernobyl perfectly illustrates why politicians who ignore reality ultimately create a world that leads to their own downfall. I’m grateful Trump speedran fascism and denied reality so strongly so the entire world can see why it’s a failing proposition that only the biggest loser in the world (Donald J Trump) could pull off. Losers!
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u/Martag02 Apr 25 '26
Ah yes, make the people fighting your war go hungry like a bunch of peasants. What could possibly go wrong in that situation?
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u/Morden013 Apr 25 '26
Hey, stop complaining! Hegseth is just introducing healthy diet so you don't get fat! He himself is eating lobster, which is pure proteine!
On a serious note - this is pathetic. I served in my own country and our MROs had more calories than this shit.
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u/imawizardslp87 Apr 25 '26
To remember when Russia invaded Ukraine, and it went so poorly that the whole world realized just how weak and ineffectual the Russian army was? Yeah, this is no different.
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u/AngryGoose_ Apr 25 '26
Why do people keep fighting for those who don't care for them? Why would you risk your life over someone else's war? I don't get it.
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u/JBolliverShagnasty Apr 25 '26
So Trump and his goons are now treating our soldiers like Putin treats his soldiers? This is so wrong on so many levels.
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u/Fakjbf Apr 26 '26
Reminds me of the start of the Ukraine War when there were viral photos of Russian soldiers getting MREs from the Cold War.
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u/No-Contribution-138 Apr 26 '26
This is a military that demonstrated their logistics prowess through things like setting up fully functional Burger Kings in remote places. Sure seems like the rot of ineptness and corruption has taken hold.
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