Hello, my name is Kent Whitaker and I am an author and cookbook writer as well as a proud Army Strong father and former Water Rescue / EMS worker in Tennessee.

I am working on a small book about military food memories from all service branches, all era and realized that I only had one Coast Guard memory so far. Hopefully when this book is done my wife and I can donate more items to our local VA clinic, which we already do. And give some money to the scholarship fund at our sons ROTC unit at North Georgia.

So, if you have a minute and would like to share a food related brief story please email me or post it here. If you have any questions feel free to email me as well.

And thanks to all of you for your service.

Kent Whitaker
thedeckchef@hotmail.com

Chipped beef on toast aka SOS was one memory,the cooks like to serve that a lot.

Grits (Cream of Wheat to us displaced yankees)and eggs.

Kool Aid

Greasy pork chops after getting underway for all the sea sick people went over good.

Monday; New England Boiled Dinner
Tuesday; Red Flannel Hash
Wednesday; Steak and French Fries
Thursday; Spaghetti and Meat Balls
Friday; Seafood

SOS with Hash Browns was a favorite. And Boston Cream Pie was always welcomed.

Grits? I love 'em, but I never had 'em while on Active Duty.

I was lucky, served on a Buoy tender in Mobile Ala,a cook from the South knew how to make Grits when he was sober,then we got a Chinese/American cook and that ended the Grits but he was a good cook,no complaints.

Group S.Portland,Me: Friday noon chow was always lobster. Limit two per man. Who got early liberty was determined on how many lobsters were voluntarily left at the 1st Class table. Alot of early libo was granted.

I wondered why it seemed that we always had "chicken" after a gun-shoot on a Cutter. Hmmm.......

But on a seriuos note, there was a time where, when I got off the Cutter, I honestly couldn't eat eggs for about a year.

First day of every patrol on a 100 WPB forlunch the menu read "Chili & Tracers"

New folks (The young and the more seasoned alike) wouls sit down to lunch and say "I don't get it. Why do you call Chili and whole kernal corn Chili and Tracers."

Unless they had already been on a 110, almost everybody would figure it out within 1 half hour after lunch.

I was fortunate that seasickness was not an issue with me. Enjoyed eating all that greasy food in bad WX watching the saltine crowd trying to keep it down.

In 20 years I must have been lucky. I can't think of anything that I walked away from.

Chow on a 180 noon meal chicken adboe starts 1115 for watch reliefs goes till 1300 when the last guy is rotated through from the Buoy deck.
Every thing is gone duty cook and messcook watching The Young and the Restless.

quote:

I was fortunate that seasickness was not an issue with me.

Any 110 time?

I was on three 82's. Keeping the plate on the mess deck table was always a problem. Had to eat with your elbows on the side of the plate to keep in down. Liquid coming up out of cups eye level and falling into food plate. Great boat.

I think the 110's fin stabalizer got most folks. It's one thing to overcome the natural movement of a boat. You can 'learn' that. Those damned fins threw that all out of wack! I was fine, unless I had to spend time in the Electronics Space in crap weather. Most folks seemed fine sometime in the middle of the patrol. Still - was funny as all heck to see someones face when they finally figured out how corn=tracers!

My first unit was aLoran station with a Philipino cook. Yakasobo(?) rice or fried rice with every meal.

As a brand new boot (first morning) on CGC Evergreen in late 86, the ship was on holiday routine. Having just returned from patrol and with most crew away over the Xmas/New Years there weren't but 10 or so onboard. Of course not knowing anybody and being a boot, I was a prime target.

I stepped up to the mess deck and felt like getting some eggs. Like all ships, of course there are certain protocols and routines to follow and I knew none. The cook on duty (if memory serves PO3 Frank Gable) gives me the "who the fug are you and what the fug do you want". I was 23yrs old, had a ton of life experiences, and in the world I would have hit him over the head with the tray, yet he scared the hell out of me to say the least. So I sheepishly ordered an omelette which was followed with "what the fug you want on it boot"? Not wanting to be picky I said "everything". PO Gable told me it would be done in a couple of minutes and he'd let me know when it was ready. So I made my toast, got some silverware, milked the milk machine, and waited.

When my omelette was done, I was called with a hearty "here's your ******* omelette". To say it was huge is an understatement. I was also served up some hashbrowns and sausage and thought to myself if I eat like this all the time I'll be 300lbs in no time. As I walked to a table I noticed that more of the crew had shown up, just sitting about, enjoying some coffee and having a good BS session. I was invited over, introduced myself, and sat down to have some breakfast. Of course I wanted to tear into that monster omelette first, so I grabbed a fork and went to town. I cut a peice off the end and damn that omelette was tasty. I went in for some more and my fork met with some resistance and I heard the distict "clink" of metal to metal contact. I noticed the crew taking an interest in my plight. I dug a bit deeper and to my dismay I found a can-opener, two potato peelers, a nasty dishrag, the top of a salt shaker, and other assorted sundries along with cheese, mushrooms, onions, greenpeppers etc. Of course my discomfort was met with hearty laughter on behalf of the crew.

I took the tray up to the chow line and PO Gable greeted me with "something wrong with your omelette with everything? I gave you everything that would fit"? He could no longer keep a straight face and busted out in laughter. He introduced himself, cooked me a "lighter" omelette, and gave me these words of wisdom. "Never **** of the Doc or he'll lose your shot records, never **** off the yeoman or he'll fug up your pay, and never **** off a cook or you'll starve". Truer words were never spoken and he and I became good friends that day.

quote:

I was on three 82's.

Yes, real men went to sea in 82's and we lived in them too!

I survived eighteen months living with three other non-rates in forward berthing on Point Barrow. Your rack was exactly that. A three inch foam rubber "mattress," layed on a sheet of canvas, laced to an aluminum rack, stacked three high, port and starboard in a space not much larger than a decent sized walk-in reefer. Everything you owned needed to fit into a 24" X 30" X 18" locker. The head was medieval. I developed a true appreciation for modern household plumbing during that time.

I remember Spoons shoveling out the reefer with a dust pan following our transits through the potato patch to come in under the Golden Gate to our moorings at YBI. Everything came in glass jars and bottles back in the day. Whenever he was asked "hey Cookie what's for chow," his stock reply was "c**k and cake and we're out of cake." It didn't matter who was asking either, up to and including the deputy Group Commander who never asked again.

These last two posts have brought back some food memories, kind of having to do with food. But more having to do with cooks.

Having served 21 yrs now, I can only remember one cook who was actually happy doing their job, or at least appeared that way. It seems that being a cook turns people into evil, knife wielding pain-in-the-arses. Again, this is just my experience. I've heard the canned excuse of cooks saying, "Everyone is a judge of your work." But at the stations I've been at, the cooks have every wknd off, come in at 0600 and go home at 1400, and yet are always angry, and unfortunately sometimes drunk.

So I guess my question is, have others noticed this throughout the CG?? If so, anyone care to post why that is??

You can please some of the people some of the time but you can't please all of the people all of the time. Tough job, nasty working conditions and people that *****, ***** and more *****ing. Who wouldn't drink.

Getting ready to deploy all cooks and messcooks off on liberty only the duty section and duty cook on board and here comes all the food for the trip.
Midrats cook asleep on messdeck frozen microwave buritos for midrats.
messcocking after midrats.