I was a cook for 20 years in the Marine Corps. The food wasn’t your mama’s home cooking, but it was decent. Probably one of the most thankless and underrated jobs in the military. Semper Fi brothers and Sisters. We aren’t the elite, but without us the elite don’t eat. Spoon Platoon.

When I was in the Marine Corps in the late 80s, early 90s cooks were regarded as the lowest of the low but they had a saying they used to utter. "You might be the elite, but without us you don't eat."

Judging by the lively atmosphere and looks of joy on the faces of these young men, that’s the career for me!

Retired Army MP veteran here. Three teams I always took care of.....Cooks, Motor Pool, and Supply. Much respect for all. Nothing like being on deployment knowing you had a dinning facility to look forward to!

When my dad was BCSM, he always made it a point to visit the cooks in the chow hall and make sure they knew how appreciated they were. He gave a coin to one private, who treated it like the medal of honor.

2:31 "This is nothing like Call of Duty"

“Chow was sufficient in quantity and and quality and fit for human consumption” - Marine Duty Logbook

Let me tell y'all something. Some of the best friends I had when I served were food service Marines. Most times when we did field training, there would be a mobile chow hall. Breakfast of powdered eggs(w/ a ketchup drizzle), corned beef hash, and a bread slice beats an MRE any day of the week. I always had something to look forward to when I was already drained with long hours ahead. Thanks fellas and Semper Fi!

2:30 When you graduate top of your class in boot camp and your first duty is to take the stems out of cherry tomatoes.

People making fun of these Marines, but try serving a day in uniform and being spent, sore and exhausted and walking into the chow hall and there's a hot fresh meal prepared for you. Every job is important and no one goes anywhere without food, fuel and logistics.

Thank you for feeding our soldiers.

I spent 21 years in the army. My hats off to these fine men and women, for doing an outstanding job on the cook line. Awesome.

2:33 that “wtf am I doing with my life” look

"The worse their food the stronger their army" Soviet Army: You guys get food?

Интересное видео. Помню служил солдатом в 1992 году в Советско-Российской армии. Развал СССР. Поставки нарушены, бардак.. Такой еды мы не видели. Всё было скромно. Но после тренировок, марширования, занятий сьедали всё, и постоянно хотелось есть в первые пол года. В принципе если духом сильный солдат, то он выполнит любую задачу. Тогда повара были с учебного центра такие же солдаты. Потом с 1993 года стали набирать гражданских. Сейчас не знаю кто там варит. На втором году службы я стал варить завтраки для личного состава роты, хотя я не учился на повара. Потому, что повариха гражданская не успевала с утра. Есть, что вспомнить Поварам респект и уважение!

I served in the US Army 1984-1987 as an infantryman. I can honestly say that I thought that everything that was served was very good and I for one appreciated every meal I had. I would thank every food specialist or cook everyday and when I was clearing the Army I would thank everyone of the cooks who fed us. They were appreciated.

I always had the utmost respect for the Food-Service Marines. Always on time, very gracious, and never complained. Thanks fellas!!

2:31 kid in the right remembering everything told by his recruiter was a lie and that he was gonna be head chef in the base...

As a veteran Chef of 30 years in the civilian industry my gratitude and thanks for feeding our beloved troops! I'd love to cook for these people any time! The deserve the best!!! Thank you cooks!!!! You are appreciated 💯👍

I was in the AF for 24 years, 18 years of it was in Combat Communications. Everytime I was deployed in combat zones. Always tried to eat at the Army bases dinning facilities. The food was actually way better than the AF ones. Was always nice to be able to enjoy good food while deployed. God Bless all military members still serving our Country.

2:31 when there’s still no word on your new Camaro that you were promised before enlisting

"Purple or blue crayon?" "Purple all the way." "Good choice, the blue ones don't taste the best today."

Servi ao Exercito brasileiro por 35 anos, sempre tive respeito e consideracao pelo pessoal do rancho, eram sempre os primeiros a acordar e os ultimos a ir dormir, Napoleao dizia " os exercitos marcham sob seus estomagos" parabens guerreiros da intendencia. From Brasil.

2:34 "I spent months getting yelled at for this..." respect to all jobs in the military, all are important!!! bless you all

4:41 “I only have one question, is there shrimp? No? Thank god.” Lol

2:31 dude looks like he's gonna get PTSD every time he walks into a kitchen.

I have nothing but fond memories of Navy chow, especially from shore stations. 🔥 🇺🇸💪🏻

A big shout out to all cook's in the Corps dinning facility's and chow halls! I ate many damn fine meals and I salute you all!🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲

02:31 why we're still here, just to suffer.

2:31 I don’t remember this level in Call of Duty

not on base chow hall at camp Lejeune, I never saw a marine working there, but deployed I Thank you very much for your dedication after going over 100 foot patrols and nothing but MRE"S go to a bigger FOB ; IT IS LIKE GOLD. THANKS.

My baby boy is leaving for the Marine’s in August once he graduates high school and watching this gives me a peace of mind that he’s going to get a full course meal. Thank you!

2:30 Tomato Marine: What am I doing with my life?

I never really minded chow when I was in the service (Army). At times it did not look the greatest, but I can honestly say that I never had a meal that tasted bad. I ALWAYS went back and paid my compliments to the cooks as their jobs are usually one of the more thankless jobs in the service.

It may not be glamorous or look exciting but this is one of the most important duties in the military no matter what group weather it is these guys the Marines or Army or Air Force or Navy even the Coast Guard. As one of History's greatest military figures Napoleon said it best "An Army marches on its stomach." These people not only earn a salute but our respect.

Back in 78 my brother taught the cooks how to cook on the sub. Alot of hard work. Looks good. Thank you for video.

Mad respect to the cooks. I truly appreciate what you guys do. Semper Fidelis Marines.

It’s really hardest thing to cook every 3 times a day. They have no rest day. They always cook even Sat. & Sun. They deserve to respect. Don’t ignore Cooking duties!

Shout out to the chefs, they do what they can and are appreciated

Amazing

3:38 Thats the most Marine looking food ever.

Hi my idol,Had to do this for 1 day while in Mujuk while waiting on the rest of 3/2 to get there and I gotta say... worst job in the corps. Literally worked from 03 to 2100 and it wasn't easy. Gotta respect these guys.

Lots of respect and thank you to all the cooks who fed me in the Army. I especially remember and still pray for the one Army guy who brought leftover food to us during the Gulf War. He brought food to the patriot missile troops I think, but we (MI) worked somewhere on his route back. Was so kind of him to stop by.

Everyday chow was better than good. Then there were the special days; Christmas, Thanksgiving when the Mess Hall went all out to give us a special day. Christmas, on base, without family sucks. You guys made it a bit more tolerable. And every once in a while a special weekend with steaks, baked potatoes, corn on the cob and all on the BBQ grill outside in the California sun. You guys did right by us other Marines. Semper Fi and Thank You.

A very belated thanks to all the Marine cooks I've met during my two enlistment tours. Was always to wrapped up in what I was doing to realize how hard of a job it was for you folks keeping us fed, healthy, and fighting strong. A shout out specifically to those of you who got sent out to the field all the time. A hot meal after a long day was always what we had to look forward too and in some cases, our only morale booster. Much appreciated. Semper Fi.

As a Marine infantryman i stand and salute all Cooks in the military, chowtime during combat is a stress reliever and the food was excellent (by military standards) Chicken cordon bleu was my fave!! Lol thanks for all the hard work! We are 1! Semper fi!!!!

This is what makes me proud! Salute to you all brothers and sisters! 🫡

There are times that I hated the dfac and I’ve had soldiers complained how bad the food were. But there are times that the food actually hits the spot even though you don’t have an appetite. I do respect the cooks, there’s times that I have long weekends and holidays while these guys are grinding, serving and making it happen. At the end of the day, especially on deployments these are the people that will give you that morale boost while you’re far from home.

2:32 everybody's cooking and this man is having an existential crisis XD

2:32 That's a deep life-reflection face right there. Wondering why did I end up here.

I'm a grunt and that's all I wanna be and I'm proud of it, but God bless the people making chow! Best part of my day!

After serving for 9 plus years,We all.ate great.Wished I could have thanked these folks.

Gordon Ramsey would scream at them all day

There is nothing in the world like a nice, heaping mound of "WTF IS THAT??!!" and "JESUS I THINK IT MOVED!!!"

Always appreciated your work, Sempre fi right back at you..

Excellent. I study food science and nutrition, and i have worked in restaurants before. These marines have perfect knife skills and cooking skills. Proud.

2:32 that look when you realize the recruiter lied to you.

2:31 When she texts you she's been pregnant for the last 3 months, but you been deployed for 5 months.

A big thank you to all the clerk's and cooks.

Spent many years as a Marine 03, I have a huge respect for our chow hall Marines. There is nothing finer than hot chow after a field op. Whether it was hot soup in the cold field or regular on base, it is greatly appreciated. The chow hall job may be “thankless” BUT, know this, it is just as important as any other MOS. Thank you to all of my brothers and sisters in food services! Semper Fi!

2:33 everyone talking about the kid on the right but forgetting about private tiggo biddies on the left over there.

Most important part of the military the cooks. Mad respect to them 🤘🏻

My hats to anyone in that trade it's very hard work and long hours..my uncle was in the RAF for 22yrs as a cook and my grandfather was a chef in the merchant navy..its one job where you'll never go hungry as they both used say.

Thanks for your service. You guys are all hero's. I wish I could cook for you guys. I'm not a Chef but cook pretty good. God bless you all.

Oh man I remember having to deliver food from the mess hall kitchen. The Sgt in charge and had the military and civilian staff so well tuned. Funny enough I can legit smell this entire video. Honestly you guys are the kings and lifeblood of any base. I was not a marine I was army but semper fi fellas! o7

I miss a good old army DFAC. Some of my best memories are getting done with PT and all you get those few guys you’re tight with and sit down in the morning and have breakfast. Very good times.

I was Infantry but always knew how to cook its a great trait and sometimes loved to help out at the Defac on details.

2:31 When you realized you forgot to delete your browser history before being deployed.

All joking aside, if I was a marine and had been out in the field training, this might have appealed to me since I'd be too hungry and too tired to care what it was I was eating. LOL

I have eaten in a lot of chow halls. Food was always decent and plentiful. More importantly, I never got sick from the food. Cleanliness and food safety were always top priority.

10 years in the Air Force and I never had a meal like this. Bless these Marines.

2:17 What a real marine looks like!

0:51 That stuff will look the same coming out as it did going in...

Before we lost contact, I used to play video games with a good friend in the army back when I was in middle school (8-9 yrs ago) and he taught me a lot about his modding softwares he’d create to tweak the ps3 games we played for hours. All this before he would head out to the chow hall and come right back. Just a little memory that came to me while watching this video 👍 and will always stick to me if you are out there Jason I hope we get to play a couple more games again! NiTeSwItCh

I was stationed at Marine Barracks Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in 1971 and the Navy chow was excellent. I had mess duty once while at Camp Lejeune and I hated it. The mess sergeant ran a tight ship. I was never so happy to get Westpac orders after 3 months at Lejeune. Didn't see a proper mess hall until I arrived back in the states.

I have eaten food prepared by Marine cooks, I wasn’t a Marine but was a boy scout on Okinawa and the Marines were kind enough to feed us when we had big camping trips. I found the food to be quite good tbh.

2:32 When you realise you should have joined the Air Force instead.

👏👏much respect to the brave men and women serving in the Marine Corps🙏💕

One of my fondest memories in my stint was mess hall duty on camp Hansen in 95 had the best cooks in the armed forces I learned a ton about cooking and sanitation while actually having a blast…….I can still here staff sgt. Say “when your in a jam break out the ham” and ham slices were born

2:33 The same face I have when I in the toliet contemplating about my life choices.

2:31 Vietnam flashbacks 😂

I worked MVSD for 6 months at camp wilson and the galley that would top out to 140 sometimes. Best believe we was sweating in the chow. That's where the flavor came from!

The excitement on their faces, says it all.

2:32 "Hello darkness my old friend....I've come to talk with you again....."

LOL 2:32 "WHAT AM I DOING HERE"

In the army the cook at basic wanted me to work with him cus he liked the way I cut vegetables. But this man made the best ribs in the world, and I'm from Chicago. But he would tell me it took him hours to break down the sauce from making it for thousands to less that a hundred. He did a great job. That's some cooking.

I got the pleasure to be TAD to work with the Marines in the chowhall. Best time I’ve ever had and met some lifelong friends there.

This was my job in the marine corps. I always tried my best to maintain optimism when i served food to the fellow brothers and sisters of the military. Who would want to be served by a military cook who is miserable? Shoot you be miserable too. Misery loves company. To negate misery, ALWAYS gotta maintain 100% positive attitude and the food is the primary source of motivation to keep the military brothers and sisters' day going strong. Those who are serving in the military, thank your brothers and sisters who are the cooks...we gotta wake up at 3am to prep and cook chow for yall. OORAHH! Semper fidelis!!

2:33 I joined the military for this??? Lol🤣🤣🤣

They’ll be thankful when they get out and have to cook food on their own. I appreciate it. Every meal. Especially out in the field “box lunch “ 💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯

It reminds me when I was stationed at Camp Pendleton or going through boot camp in San Diego I went through the chow hall as well Semper fi carry on

The Friday’s special is a purple crayon Risotto with a blue crayon purée

What did you do in your 20 year Marine Corps career sir? I made gravy.

May God bless them all.

They look so happy to be there. Love the enthusiasm.

I remember my cranking days in the Navy. I give the CS specialists respect for everything they do to feed the thousands of sailors on board.

I served 21 years in the Marine Corps with 3 years in combat. I was a Marine 2nd Lt infantry platoon command in Vietnam in 1068-1969. In April 1975, I was a company commander during the evacuation of Saigon. In late 1975, I was reassigned as the H&S Company commander afloat. One of my many responsibilities as H&S Company commander was the field mess while we were deployed. A field mess is like a mess hall only in the field. At Camp Fuji in Japan, the mess hall was a Quonset Hut and the cooking was primitive by today's standards. And the dish washing were garbage cans of boiling water that the Marines dipped their mess kits in to sanitize them. Don't get me wrong. I am so glad that today's Marines don't have the same slop and primitive conditions that I had in 1975. But, you know what? We didn't know the difference between 1975 and the future. It was the same in Vietnam. We didn't know that technology would be able to put ordinance on target within one yard or feed really good meals to those in the field. I love the fact that today's Marines are far superior to my day. But I remember when I was on a Navy ship that would deliver close support to troops in contact. The ship had computers capable of precise delivery but not nearly as precise as today, but the crew always practiced the old WW II method of manually computing the fire control to the target. My last deployment on a Navy ship was in 1975, so I don't know if the Navy totally relies on computers or if they still practice targeting without computers. If the former, then I pity them when damage takes out their computer targeting systems. I also don't know if Marines still practice land navigation with just a compass and map instead of GPS. If not, then I can assure you that navigation is a lost art and Marines will have no idea where they are without GPS. Bad dog--no bone. In Vietnam, I relied on my Marine's M-16 and M-60 as our primary defense. But the bayonet was our last defense. I digress because in the field in Vietnam there were no hot meals prepared by cooks. I have to tell you that these cooks are just as heroic as my Marines in combat. Why? Because it takes the entire team to win. The infantry is useless unless there is logistic support. We could be defeated in many cases without air support, artillery support, and naval gunfire support, but we weren't. The wounded couldn't survive without helicopters and doctors. My point is that every one in the military has a critical role to play to win. It doesn't matter what your job is, it is critical to winning.

Nice to see full portions. I would tare all that up!!

Those guys break their ass,…I was a 03 and I got a lot of respect for these guys

4:42 “I only have one question, is there shrimp? No? Thank God.”😂