[04-Bravo]

Probably every U.S. Army duty station is different, but I liked the S.O.S. at our mess hall. The powdered eggs, however, were pretty bad.

I liked C-Ration fruit cake, and beanies-and-weenies. The lima beans and ham made me gag.

[patton]

Next, you will tell us you liked the chocolate pound cake!

[AnAmericanMother]

A lot depends on the skills of the chef in charge . . . but NOTHING can make powdered eggs good. (You can make them worse, however, by leaving little pockets of inadequately mixed powder for unsuspecting soldiers to find . . .)

If you started with good beef and had a chef who knew how to make a decent cream sauce (THAT is something that is difficult to do well - even in small quantities), no reason the SOS shouldn't turn out just fine. It's the dry, tough, stringy beef and the curdled white sauce that gave it the bad reputation (burning the toast doesn't help either).

I enjoyed looking over the shoulder of my husband's unit's cook. They were a very laid-back reserve unit up in N.J. at the tail end of the Vietnam era . . . lots of talented men in that organization. They were always under strength but scored high in the summer camp tests . . . through sheer inventiveness and good will.

[BobS]

I was at a half dozen AF bases. The best meal was breakfast about 5-6AM in the chow hall. You can't screw up eggs, french toast, home fries, SOS, pancakes, bacon and sausages and simpler stuff. The midnight breakfast was good too for guys that had duty on those shifts.

All those bases had base contracts with local farmers/suppliers in Spain, Holland, England and in states here to provide eggs, milk, bread and every other thing you need for breakfast. Standard stuff all over the place in Europe. And fruits too.