Fast food chains booted from war zone

[scandal 951]

Can you just imagine a headline like this during WWI, WWII, Korea, or even the Vietnam War eras? The very idea of having these kind of services in theater would have seemed absolutely incredible to the GIs of those generations.

Fast food chains booted from war zone

Posted: Monday, April 05, 2010 1:11 PM

Filed Under: Kabul, Afghanistan

By John Yang, NBC News Correspondent

KABUL -- At coalition military bases in Afghanistan, Burger King and Dairy Queen have been deposed, Pizza Hut is being shuttered and T.G.I. Friday's has run out of time.

The military won't be renewing the concession contracts for those fast food operators and others, according to Army Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Hall, commanding Gen. Stanley McChrystal's top enlisted advisor.

"This is a war zone -- not an amusement park," Hall wrote in his blog.

It's not that the military is worried about the troops' waistlines or cholesterol levels, they're worried about resources -- the water and power those facilities use and flight and convoy space it takes to ship in those Whopper, Blizzards and Jack Daniel's barbecue sauce.

"Supplying nonessential luxuries to big bases like Bagram and Kandahar makes it harder to get essential items to combat outposts and forward operating bases, where troops are in the fight each day need [to be] resupplied with ammunition, food and water," Hall wrote. "Closing these facilities will free up much-needed storage facilities at both Bagram and Kandahar, space which is critical as 30,000 additional American and up to 7,000 international troops flow into Afghanistan over the next several months."

There will also be fewer canned and bottled goods, first-run movie showings and non-USO entertainment.

War is hell.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Wasn't this part of the privatization of military services? The same thing happened in public school cafeterias - all part of the free market capitalist push for privatization.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

The same thing happened in public school cafeterias - all part of the free market capitalist push for privatization.

There are no BK's in any of the public schools I'm aware of.

[alienlovechild 75]

Can you just imagine a headline like this during WWI, WWII, Korea, or even the Vietnam War eras? The very idea of having these kind of services in theater would have seemed absolutely incredible to the GIs of those generations.

Not really as the American military was unusually well-supplied compared to its enemies. In Vietnam they dropped cans of beer wrapped in Stars and Stripes on American patrols. In WWWII, during the Battle of the Bulge, the Germans were stunned by the amount of stuff like iice cream while the Germans didn't even have enough gasoline.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

There are no BK's in any of the public schools I'm aware of.

It's been happening for years out here in Cal. - fast food served in the lunch cafeterias. Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Subway, etc.

[Calypso 464]

Did GIs during wars in the early and mid-20th century get visits from celebrities?

As we all know, MC made headlines for having military tour concerts. They also had Washington Redskins Cheerleaders.

I saw a Cats 101 feature about the feline named Kit. His owner initiated a project called "Jumping through hoops for our troops." The old lady sent thousands of postcards to the U.S. troops in Iraq. Each postcard has a photo of the cat.

A sample postcard of Kit:

Washington Redskins

[scandal 951]

Raquel Welch USO Tour, Vietnam 1967

[Deb+Steve 13]

Comfort breeds complacency. My husband put on weight while he was deployed. At first he tried to make out like he was constantly ducking bombs & stuff ... now I know it was Club Med thanks to articles like this. He'll get no more sympathy from me.

[Niels Bohr 72]

Last time I checked, more famous theorists and scientists came from Germany than any other country.

[Nina~ 431]

There are no BK's in any of the public schools I'm aware of.

There was a Little Ceasers and a Starbucks in the school I graduated from.

[The_Dude 1,142]

Last time I checked, more famous theorists and scientists came from Germany than any other country.

Wrong thread?

[SMOKE 1,426]

It's been happening for years out here in Cal. - fast food served in the lunch cafeterias. Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Subway, etc.

they did it here awhile back too. they closed all the campuses due to drugs & kids getting in accidents at lunch.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

If you've ever read the ingredients list on MRE's (I actually have, secondhand--through WaPo), then the stupidity of this move becomes even more apparent; the MRE's are no better nutritionally than the fast foods--and there is debate about whether they taste AS BAD AS (or WORSE THAN) Complan.

Considering the danger in which these soldiers have been placed, why are they being denied an at-least-possibly-pleasurable alternative to their rotten MRE's?

[Nagishkaw 510]

If you've ever read the ingredients list on MRE's (I actually have, secondhand--through WaPo), then the stupidity of this move becomes even more apparent; the MRE's are no better nutritionally than the fast foods--and there is debate about whether they taste AS BAD AS (or WORSE THAN) Complan.

Considering the danger in which these soldiers have been placed, why are they being denied an at-least-possibly-pleasurable alternative to their rotten MRE's?

Like everything else.....Control.

[Peikko 1,575]

Control? No, what it is is an insistence that everything be run by private enterprise, because competition ensures that what is 'best' wins out. When it comes to nutrition, what is best is not what gives us most sensory pleasure.