>   Back in my day (late 60s-early 70s) the first class on my ship (USS Newpor
 > News, CA148, ComSecFlt) had their own mess and did eat off china and real
 > silver.  It was the same food from the same galley as the other "enlisted
 > swine" (TM-FS) but they had their private dining room (on their own steam
 > tables) and a servant.  (Me, when I mess cooked for them.  I did manage to g
 > cozy with some FC, which made life a little easier for me later on as well.)
 > 
 >   Now the CPO's had their not only their own dining room as well, but their 
 > cooks.

Actually they just changed that back so we all are 'open mess' meaning same
thing the rest of the crew gets.  The Fort McHenry was always 'open mess'
with a conjoined kitchen so it was no different except at breakfast they used
our grill (same eggs etc).  The difference there was we didnt have any steam
table eggs because the number to cook for was small enough they could do them
to order without a 'line' problem.

This shift is actually overall good.  It means even on the bigger decks, they
now have an ancillary kitchen to make up some special thing.  Like say, main
galley making up clam chowder and ours making up a veggie scrap soup so we
both had both.

We'd actually get a little jealous of the main gally as they had more room
for more 'stuff' at the salad bar and more steam table room so often had more
choices.  As I left the ESSEX, they were allowing us to pilfer the salad bar
at the main galley.  They normally had some 30 'things' and we had room for
only 10 or so at ours.

Now the Officers Mess?  Thats another story.  They vote on how much to spend
per month then pay in and they tend to be pretty cheap which shows.  Pretty
table cloths and china but the food is 'not so good'.  More than once the
CPO's have had to eat with the Officers when in a yard period.  The last
several times that happened to me, they went with the same rate I get per
meal and were loving the way the CPO mess knows how to shop for goodies.  I
recall a young ensign (who makes less than I do BTW) trying to budget in 278$
a month and scared the food would be pretty close to the same.  Imagine her
shock when it turned out lobster tail and shrimp with decent steaks were
showing up every other day.
              xxcarol
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