(Ken Silva, Headline USA) President Joe Biden announced on Monday that he’s sending another $200 million to Ukraine, even though it was reported last week that his own U.S. Army is now struggling to feed itself.
News about the Army’s culinary woes was reported last Tuesday from military.com. It follows Biden’s admission last month that the U.S. military is running low on ammunition due to its support for Ukraine.
According to the site, one of the Army’s largest bases, Fort Cavazos, “has been barely able to keep its food services up and running for months.”
“The situation at Fort Cavazos, Texas—previously known as Fort Hood—has left some junior enlisted with few options for meals, as top officials on base struggle to juggle logistics while most of its cooks are on deployments, missions or serving field training and other events,” military.com reported.
“The base had only two of its 10 major dining options open every day for much of the summer, with three others open only during limited times. The closures forced many soldiers to drive long distances across base, sometimes an hour round trip for their meals.”
Military.com said the Army’s problem stems from a shortage of cooks. Indeed, the Army Times reported in May that officials were looking to cut the number of cooks to promote “efficiency” amidst a recruiting shortage.
“Do we need to have 60 cooks [in a unit]?” Army Secretary Christine Wormuth reportedly said in May. “Or can we use 40 cooks?”
This move towards efficiency seems to be damaging troop morale. One officer reportedly said the situation is “unmanageable.”
“For months, one [dining facility] was open and was a more than 30-minute drive for my soldiers,” one noncommissioned officer told Military.com on the condition of anonymity.
“All the soldiers were going to that one. It’s unmanageable during the workday.”
While the Army’s cook problem persists, Biden continues to focus on improving Ukraine’s army. His announcement Monday marked the forty-fourth tranche of equipment to be provided from Defense Department inventories for Ukraine since August 2021.
The weapons package includes additional air defense munitions, artillery and tank ammunition, anti-armor weapons, and other equipment to help Ukraine counter Russia.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
