West Point separates Corp squad athletes from regular cadets. We still had training during our CBT, so the mess hall gave us the opportunity to get more food because we had to keep the weight we were at for the season. Usually regular cadets get enough to eat, and if they don’t it is on the squad leader.
Can any Old Grads put my mind at ease?
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Classof83
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From my time in CBT to having two DDs as cadets over the last several years, my impression is that food quality and quantity have diminished. There is an emphasis on fat and calorie reduction. I've heard many reports of multiple meals during a week in the academic year featuring monk fish (yuk!). With that said, usually food is better over the summer given the reduced number of cadets that eat at each meal.
Sometimes the squad leader uses food as reward/punishment. That happened to me during my CBT. I still have a copy of a letter sent by the cadet CBT commander at the time (he went on to 4 stars) admonishing the cadre for this practice ("...new cadets are training hard and need sufficient calorie intake..."). Wiithholding food under these circumstances demonstrates poor leadership.
During the academic year, I send additional $s to my cadet every month to allow additional food from off post to be ordered. Several cadets usually join in to share the delivery expense.
Sometimes the squad leader uses food as reward/punishment. That happened to me during my CBT. I still have a copy of a letter sent by the cadet CBT commander at the time (he went on to 4 stars) admonishing the cadre for this practice ("...new cadets are training hard and need sufficient calorie intake..."). Wiithholding food under these circumstances demonstrates poor leadership.
During the academic year, I send additional $s to my cadet every month to allow additional food from off post to be ordered. Several cadets usually join in to share the delivery expense.
Thank you for your insight. The replies on this forum, and letters led me that direction. Thank you for confirming!
DD reports many cadets eating the gobs of PB too. However, DD asked for crunchy and was asked if she was a communist? LOL. Apparently you are considered strange if you eat the crunchy PB. Other than that, echo much of what's in this thread that they are eating many MRE's (eating a cold, beef-stew MRE in a hum-vee for breakfast....yum) but get plenty of food if you learn to eat fast and not be as picky as you use to. BTW, DD is an NCAA athlete and is not at an all athlete table, albeit some revenue sports might be different, just providing one data point.
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Corps squad tables will start up when the cadets all roll back in...then it will be a good time.
My son is at CBT and said he eats a lot. He is vegan and still managed to gain almost 8 pounds. He said he’s running less there than he was before he left. He said there’s tons of food. he also said his cadre makes sure he gets tofu whenever possible.
aa-ttention
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Love this "tofu" cadre
I actually laughed out loud when you asked old grads this question as it would best be answered by recent graduates and parents. When Dinosaurs walked the Plain, Beast was a 6 week haze session where meals were the worse part of the day. Most new cadets lost 15-25 pounds as we were not allowed to eat. The Army and West Point have evolved and this practice has been moved to the old corps stories. As others have said, COVID caused quite a few issues in the mess hall and things are getting better.
I’m sure the poster was asking this of “new” Old Grads. I know a few “old” Old Grads and one of them ate toothpaste he was so hungry. My 21 year old son is an Old Grad and he was never hungry during beast. He’s pretty picky and hates vegetables but the entrees were always sufficient. This was prior to the monkfish at every meal initiative though.
Once the academic portion of plebe year started he’d order himself a giant carb bomb meal from Schades as a treat on Sundays. Glad to hear that this was resolved. DD is an AOG sponsored prep at Marion this year so I’m hoping when she gets to WP the food will still be adequate. Big brother already told her that mom and dad will feel sorry for her and comp the weekend gut bomb meals from highland falls. 
Once the academic portion of plebe year started he’d order himself a giant carb bomb meal from Schades as a treat on Sundays. Glad to hear that this was resolved. DD is an AOG sponsored prep at Marion this year so I’m hoping when she gets to WP the food will still be adequate. Big brother already told her that mom and dad will feel sorry for her and comp the weekend gut bomb meals from highland falls. I haven't visited this website in over 8 years, but I searched for my admin details to log on and answer this question.
USMA 16 here, so things may have changed since, but below is my experience.
Table duties certainly play a factor into whether or not the table has enough time to eat; but cadre are directed to ensure that table duties are not enforced at times to allow the NC's to eat food. All tables are served appropriate portions. If there is a time where there is 3 chicken wings for a table of 10, the kitchen staff bring out more. (If they didn't, it was certainly by accident). They always cook way more than what's needed because things happen (server drops food, etc.). They run a QA process on this with every meal to ensure nutritional guidelines are being adhered to.
Corps Squad teams are served larger portions.
Everyone will mostly lose weight. From the level of training/activity done to the tight timelines cadre must adhere to, there are times when NCs will not eat enough calories to sustain their weight. I do know that they have tried to improve that over the years (hence the deliberate relaxing of table duties during certain meals).
Hope that helps. Best of luck.
USMA 16 here, so things may have changed since, but below is my experience.
Table duties certainly play a factor into whether or not the table has enough time to eat; but cadre are directed to ensure that table duties are not enforced at times to allow the NC's to eat food. All tables are served appropriate portions. If there is a time where there is 3 chicken wings for a table of 10, the kitchen staff bring out more. (If they didn't, it was certainly by accident). They always cook way more than what's needed because things happen (server drops food, etc.). They run a QA process on this with every meal to ensure nutritional guidelines are being adhered to.
Corps Squad teams are served larger portions.
Everyone will mostly lose weight. From the level of training/activity done to the tight timelines cadre must adhere to, there are times when NCs will not eat enough calories to sustain their weight. I do know that they have tried to improve that over the years (hence the deliberate relaxing of table duties during certain meals).
Hope that helps. Best of luck.
candor
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Hey everyone, I know this is super late in the thread and basically irrelevant at this point in the semester, but I just wanted to point out a key reason for small portions in the mess hall. I was cadre for CBT last summer (summer 2020) and we had the same issue for a few weeks in the mess hall. No one was taking my squad's portions - we were literally handed 3 pieces of chicken for the whole table. We passed it up and I constantly brought my NCs more food/supplements, but it turns out, there was a problem with the mess hall contracts as well as the fact that some of the inner facilities such as ovens broke down within the mess hall. They couldn't churn out that much food. I guess it happened again this summer which is absolutely no excuse, but we all get through it, and it can only get better.