Military food may not be the first issue people think about when they talk about readiness. Robert Irvine thinks that’s a mistake. The celebrity chef says how America feeds its troops affects far more than morale, touching readiness, retention, military families and even long-term health.
This is my fight, and it's the most important thing I do in my life.
In an exclusive interview with Military.com, Irvine spoke passionately about what he sees as one of the military’s most overlooked quality-of-life challenges: how America fuels the men and women it asks to serve. And for soldiers at installations like Fort Carson, where the Army recently opened one of its revamped dining concepts, those changes are already becoming visible. The Army spends roughly $3 billion annually on food procurement and has been expanding a campus-style dining modernization effort designed to improve quality, access and flexibility for soldiers. Irvine says the transformation is long overdue. “You can't expect these guys and girls to be fed garbage and go and do a job, right?” For many troops, food frustrations are practical, not theoretical. Limited dining hours, inconsistent quality and meal deductions have long pushed some junior enlisted service members to spend money out of pocket—turning food into both a quality-of-life and financial issue.
