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Rediscovered stove helps Meade relive food history
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Today’s soldier can cook a three-course meal in 45 minutes without using fire or electricity.
“In past wars, we have lost more service members to disease and sanitary conditions than to enemy fire,” said Lt. Col. David Allen, director of the Army’s Quartermaster Center and School at Fort Lee, Va.
It has been said the Army marches on its stomach, and Fort Meade officials received a taste of military food service history this week when it dedicated a recently found 50-year-old cast iron stove.
The dedication also comes as the Army celebrates its 233rd anniversary today. An Army veteran will throw out the first pitch at today’s Orioles game.
The stove was used at the fort’s former Bakers and Cooks School, which was started shortly after the fort was built in 1917 and was the longest-running service school in the Army until it closed in 1955.
The building now houses the fort’s human resource department.
“But they still say you can smell baking bread on a summer day in that building,” said Robert Johnson, curator of Fort Meade’s museum.
The stove was found in the basement of a building on post and was sent to Aberdeen Proving Ground in Harford to be refurbished.
It is now on display in the building where enlisted service members learn how to cook and bake. The school graduated 214,000 service members in 36 years.
While cooking is still taught to soldiers, contractors provide most of the food service at installations.
The Army now sends soldiers in remote locations large boxes with nutritional meals that use chemical reactions to heat the food.
“Thank God for cooks, because sometimes that’s all that kept us going,” said Carlo DePorto, an 88-year-old World War II veteran.
jflanagan@baltimoreexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
7:40 PM MST on Mon., Jul. 21, 2008 re: "Army, EPA clash on how to handle Fort Meade cleanup"
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3:33 PM MST on Mon., Jul. 14, 2008
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Examiner Reader said:
I moved on post in 2006. My husband was an instructor at Fort Meade. My kids were sick with high fevers EVERY week!!! I spent hours upon hours sanitizing my house constantly. My 6 month old son contracted botulism because of Fort Meade. Col. McCreedy came into my home and told me that the BRAC merger was coming and that NOTHING was going to stop the building of new houses on base!!!! I guess his concern for the people living aboard his base came last on his priority list!!!!
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Examiner Reader said:
COL McCreedy is someone I will be glad to see go away and far away from this base. He is someone that will do anything to make the community happy but for the Soldiers underneath him for years and years before retiring I know the truth. And many other unfortunatetely, its no surprise the Army saw it too and that is why he will retire an 0-6 and not an 0-7 like most his peers with the same grade & rank- we reap what we sow in life Col! Take care!
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Examiner Reader said:
As I work in the field (UXO) and hear about certain things.. I know that the EPA (which has no knowledge of Unexploded Ordnance nor can they spell it) is only in this for the money. That is correct, they receive money for their pockets when they get involved in what they call "Superfund Sites". I worked on Ft. Meade clearing UXO during the 90's and we were not under the EPA's control and performed our tasks just fine thank you. Let the personnel who do the work for a living get it done. An example, an EPA offical stated that UXO is hazardous waste because "It performed its intended function and therefore can be moved to another location to be disposed of as hazardous waste". Well needless to say, I handed the individual a hammer and asked him if he was so sure it had functioned to please feel free to apply the hammer to the shiny aluminum object in the nose of the projectile, but to wait until I and the rest of the team had moved to a safe distance. He is still alive.
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DINFOS Student said:
I am currently attending this school and LIVE in these deplorable conditions. This story does not even begin to scratch the surface of the very unhealthy mold that has attached itself to every crevice of each of these buildings. Also, it was not mentioned that in at least one building, they have already "renovated" the same way they are "renovating" the other two buildings. Guess what -- there is STILL mold.
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Barracks Survivor said:
While attending the MARDET from 2005-2006 I became severely sick multiple times, once I ended up in the ER with a 105 temp after resting in bed for four days straight. Many times my classmates and I had a cold or the flu. In my case, at least once every two weeks. After completion of the course and moving on from Ft. Meade I can recall becoming ill maybe 3-4 times at most durring the last several years.
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DINFOS Examiner Reader said:
I've pulled staff duty over there several times during my tour here. What the MTL is showing is not nearly the nastiest areas (and there are many). There's carpet that literally squishes with humidity and water pooling. The stench on the first floor at times is unbearable. Some students tell me they sleep on their stomach for fear of something dropping on their face while they sleep. Let's not even discuss the pest problem such as the brown recluse spiders that were found in two other service dorms. I've been in tropical environments that had far fewer mold problems than this (and the MarDet) dorm. The solution is complete renovation, not paint and a bottle of Tilex. I understand the commanders' budgetary concerns, but CPT Chung hit it on the head: would you want your kids to live here? If the commanders and top enlisted folks had to endure this standard of living, wouldn't they raise hell? But some find it easier to tell their troops to "suck it up and drive on." That's leade
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DTruss said:
I lived in the USAF barracks at Ft. Meade, and the picture shown is the least of the building's problems. There is a room that is also uninhabitable in the Air Force barracks due to the excessive amount of mold growing on the walls, and I wouldn't even force an animal to bathe in the conditions that were in the bathroom I used for a majority of the time I was there. The common areas have seen enough paint to make them liveable, but the rooms and bathrooms alone call for the facility to be condemned immeditately. Living at that location for 6 months gave me plenty of time to see the ins and outs of the building, and I pity anyone who has to live there for any length of time.
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Examiner Reader said:
As one who has been in command, I know that the Public Works Office seldom has a "nice" day. Government housing, barrack space, and operations facilities have lifetimes and upkeep demands attention relentlessly. A commander must not overspend his/her budget nor spend money for what it is not intended; those rules are underpinned by Law and their breach can result in the end of an otherwise stellar career. Yet, facilities' maintenace demands attention always. Which is better: armor-up HumVees for war duty or wage chemical warfare on dormitory mold? Attack the Mahdi army or the barrack plumbing? Such questions plague responsible leaders especially when monies are deferred or ordered used for other priorities. Then is when the CO has to make hard choices or have them levied upon him/her from above. Sometimes, accountable leaders figure out a way to have guns and butter both, but such luxury is temporary -- and always cedes to a thing called "war." Steve M
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Examiner Reader said:
I'm an instructor at this school and the conditions were not as bad as they were when I went through. However, that was EIGHT years ago. A couple cans of paint is not going to do the trick. They need to build new barracks and move our young servicemembers. This is NOT the first impression we should be giving our troops.
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Examiner Reader said:
With BRAC, there is an influx of money into Ft. Meade - this is a fact. Coupled with the fact that OUR troops are living in filthy, mold-infested barracks equates to CRIMINAL ACTS. We cannot tolerate this lack of concern for our troops. Congress must allocate funding. Military leaders must be held accountable when their failure to plan leads to troops living in urine and mold. Troops deserve better... much better.
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Examiner Reader said:
I got very ill from living in a home with indoor mold and I am sure this place is worse. I was very healthy before this and now disabled. It ruins your life so I would consider this situation verys serious and put it on the front burner. They are spending so much money in Iraq and these soldiers have to deal with these terrible conditions. And paint doesn't do the trick. It is mostly political why this mold problem is not a concern for our polititians even though there have been several governor's mansions including Bush's in the 90's and millions were spent on these governors. Some how they found the money for them. Disgusting. Linda
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