Contractors Doing Combat Service Support is a Bad, Bad Idea

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That could be a question not only about food, but just about anything in this war...
- Inflated awards (Bronze Stars for everyone!)
- Cushy accomodations (air conditioned huts with actual beds and mattresses)
- Outlandish amenities (PX, restaurants, movie theaters, KBR DFAC with Baskin Robbins sundaes made to order, etc)
- Misusing the supply system to order "nice to haves" rather than necessities (take a look at what you can order in a GSA catalog; it's insane, but many units order the stuff)

It isn't just this war I'm afraid. In 1974, I worked in the Makiminato Service Area (MSA) on Oki, a major transhipment point for "stuff" being retrograded from Viet Nam. All the warehouses were crammed full; so, a lot of the "stuff" was stored outside. During breaks, I used to walk around and see what was in the MSA. My favorite find was a 10x10X10 (1000 cubic feet) crate from Transportation Officer, Cam Ranh Bay that was labelled "Skis, Arctic." The amount of crates full of high end office furniture (couch, leather for example), steam tables, refrigerators, ice cream makers, etc was amazing to me.

I think we recognize that being out there is tough . We try to palliate the suffering as and where we can. We probably do as much Class VI kind of stuff as we think we can afford to do for those that we can get to. Of course opinions will vary about that. But I think we need to remember what opinions are like.