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Military wants to shut down Burger King in Afghanistan?

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TheVrolok said:
Being on a military base isn't about getting what you prefer. I can understand the morale boost for soldiers returning from FOBs, etc. but I think the brass is arguing against using military resources to supply a non-essential good for civilian contractors and base personnel (the most likely primary users of the BK). I can understand this argument. However, I can see it the other way as well.
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Yeah... but how is any of that cheaper (or more essential) then BK?
 
techs said:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100407/wl_csm/292986

No more Burger King on Afghanistan base? Soldiers grumble.

Kandahar Air Base, Afghanistan – The lines outside the burger and pizza joints dotting the “Boardwalk” at Kandahar Air Base remain defiantly long, despite recent reports that it may be shut down.

The air base in southern Afghanistan is NATO’s largest in the country and the main landing spot of the US troop surge. Its entertainment district – a square kilometer of fast food franchises, cafes, electronic stories, basketball courts, the occasional live rock concert, and a Thai massage parlor until it was shut down by authorities – serves some 25,000 military personnel and contractors on the outskirts of Kandahar.

“I think it’ll bring down morale,” says Sgt. Michael Masterton, a US soldier on leave from one of the frontline bases in Kandahar’s hinterland as he bites into a cheeseburger and fries at the Mamma Mia Pizzeria, an outpost of Italiana and red-and-white-checked tablecloths.

“For those of us who come down from the FOBs [forward operating bases] it gives us something to do.”

“Are people back home really upset over us being able to have a burger?” asks Col. Don Groves, head of operations at Kandahar Airport, shaking his head in disbelief. “Do they really consider that we have it easy in this war zone?

Essential goods?The Boardwalk came under scrutiny last year, when the top US commander in Afghanistan, the famously spartan Gen. Stanley McChrystal, dispatched a team here to investigate if it was essential for maintaining troop morale or if it was hampering shipments of fighting supplies such as Humvees and M-4 rifles.

The need for war materiel is set to grow in coming months, with some 5,000 additional troops and support staff due to arrive this summer to help carry out a major military campaign in Kandahar Province.

“This is a warzone, not an amusement park,” wrote Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Hall on a NATO blog posting in February.

“Supplying nonessential luxuries to big bases like Bagram and Kandahar makes it harder to get essential items to combat outposts and forward operating bases, where troops who are in the fight each day need resupply with ammunition, food and water.”

Fast food joints at risk include Burger King, Pizza Hut, and Dairy Queen, although burgers and such will still be available at military canteens.

Not just burgers The Boardwalk’s nightly patrons and workers, however, see additional benefits of the entertainment center.

With troops from so many countries, the Boardwalk is “a gathering place where you get to meet people from other nationalities,” says Donna Perry, a Canadian contractor who enjoys watching hockey games in the evening as she munches on pizza.

When it comes to food, though, she admits, there’s little cross-cultural experimentation. At the Canadian doughnut franchise where she works, Tim Horton’s, British soldiers overwhelmingly opt for the Toffee Coffee while the French flock to the French Vanilla flavorings, she says.

The Boardwalk offers a taste of local culture, too. Small shops, which will not be closed, sell Afghan memorabilia such as “war carpets” woven with fighter-jet and Kalashnikov patterns. “Business is good. The Boardwalk’s a very nice place,” says Wali Jan, a salesman at the Afghan Toys and Gift Shop.

An Indian employee at the metal container doubling as a Burger King temporarily stops taking orders when told the place might shut down. “I came all the way from India for this job,” he says, disconsolate. “I have no idea what I would do if the order came to shut us down.”

With its scent of greasy fries and burger meat, the Boardwalk may serve another vital purpose: covering up, when the winds are right, the smell of the nearby “Poo Pond” half a mile away where the base’s human waste is disposed.

“The smell, you become used to it quite quickly,” says one British soldier who did not want to give his name
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likely commander's apprehension is seeing too many soldiers on the front dying because of logistical gaffes of lacking combat necessities, which spurred the investigation and brought out the microscope on the burger king.

in order to sustain a large force like we have overseas, and to remain mobile and ready requires a lot of support which i can guess has been cut with the new administration.

to gain diplomatic presence in the middle east, the us cant afford to buy it right now with stationing a large standing force over there.

psychologically, in the solider's world; at the large base where everyone goes to have R&R weekend away from it all (short of going home to visit family and friends), the bk plays a role of relaxation that is intangible and may or may not have some meaning to the soldiers (us and abroad) while they are away where they are at a much higher risk to be taken out at any time in between whopper bites. they get hazard pay for a reason.
 
Spikesoldier said:
likely commander's apprehension is seeing too many soldiers on the front dying because of logistical gaffes of lacking combat necessities, which spurred the investigation and brought out the microscope on the burger king.

in order to sustain a large force like we have overseas, and to remain mobile and ready requires a lot of support which i can guess has been cut with the new administration.

to gain diplomatic presence in the middle east, the us cant afford to buy it right now with stationing a large standing force over there.

psychologically, in the solider's world; at the large base where everyone goes to have R&R weekend away from it all (short of going home to visit family and friends), the bk plays a role of relaxation that is intangible and may or may not have some meaning to the soldiers (us and abroad) while they are away where they are at a much higher risk to be taken out at any time in between whopper bites. they get hazard pay for a reason.
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You guessed wrong.
 
jjsole said:
Better yet, keep the Burger King and shut down the military in Afghanistan.
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This wasn't meant to be political.

If our soldiers are serving for long periods of time, in a dangerous area, then they deserve to treated as well as possible without jeopardizing the mission.
 
I'd say a lot of it comes from the hidden motive of slimming people down while they are there. So many people (of the ones who never leave major bases) come back overweight.

I'll say this, it'd be nice to be able to get a taste of home once in a while. Especially since I'll be out in FOBs most of the time.

Oh well, it'll suck for a year and then it'll be over. I'll manage w/o Burger King.
 
DainBramaged said:
I'd say a lot of it comes from the hidden motive of slimming people down while they are there. So many people (of the ones who never leave major bases) come back overweight.

I'll say this, it'd be nice to be able to get a taste of home once in a while. Especially since I'll be out in FOBs most of the time.

Oh well, it'll suck for a year and then it'll be over. I'll manage w/o Burger King.
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Call for Dominoes. Remember if they don't deliver in 20 minutes it's free.
 
We can't afford such luxuries like burger king for our soldiers. We're running trillions in debt. We gotta cut somewhere. Body Armor, Guns or Burger King. Choose two.
 
DainBramaged said:
I'd say a lot of it comes from the hidden motive of slimming people down while they are there. So many people (of the ones who never leave major bases) come back overweight.
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I sure as hell hope the .mil doesnt follow the rest of America's dumbass mindset that the problem is with the restaurants.

If someone is getting overweight, tell them to PT. Either they slim down to within height/weight regulations, they get written up, and eventually they lose rank (and money). Seriously, its that simple.

When returning from Iraq, got to stop at a McDonalds in Kuwait, it was like sex in my mouth, a Big Mac and fries is SOOO damn good when all you've had is chow hall or MRE for 8 months.

If it were feasible, maybe these places should only be for people going to/from the actual FOB's instead of air base permanent party, who by and large are the ones packing on pounds while never leaving the wire.

When people who have been at a shit FOB with no running water for months on end come back through a large base that has all kinds of USO accomodations, the way better phone/internet hookup, basketball and volleyball courts, and see all the people who look like they are on "vacation", it builds resentment among the forward units. Thats the "downside" or the morale issue.
 
Train said:
I sure as hell hope the .mil doesnt follow the rest of America's dumbass mindset that the problem is with the restaurants.

If someone is getting overweight, tell them to PT. Either they slim down to within height/weight regulations, they get written up, and eventually they lose rank (and money). Seriously, its that simple.

When returning from Iraq, got to stop at a McDonalds in Kuwait, it was like sex in my mouth, a Big Mac and fries is SOOO damn good when all you've had is chow hall or MRE for 8 months.

If it were feasible, maybe these places should only be for people going to/from the actual FOB's instead of air base permanent party, who by and large are the ones packing on pounds while never leaving the wire.

When people who have been at a shit FOB with no running water for months on end come back through a large base that has all kinds of USO accomodations, the way better phone/internet hookup, basketball and volleyball courts, and see all the people who look like they are on "vacation", it builds resentment among the forward units. Thats the "downside" or the morale issue.
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I hadn't initially considered the possibility of resentment when it comes to morale, good point.
 
I was also under the assumption that Bk's and other such places pay thier own way on these bases? Or subsidized by the USO and/or AAFES/NAVMCE
 
Train said:
I was also under the assumption that Bk's and other such places pay thier own way on these bases? Or subsidized by the USO and/or AAFES/NAVMCE
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It's interesting that apparently they are insourcing workers from India.

I guess BK is using it as a pilot program and hopes to eventually do the same in the US.

So, if you drive up to a Burger King in a couple of years, and the guy sounds like the Dell support technician you dealt with yesterday, it's probably the same guy.

"Hello and welcome to Burger King. First do the needful"
 
If it truly hampering the supply line, shut it down.
But, I had no idea that the military was supplying Burger King and I have been in many Burger Kings on military bases.
 
techs said:
It's interesting that apparently they are insourcing workers from India.
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Tons of contract work in Iraq/Afghanistan are done by "TCN's", aka Third Country Nationals. it's hardly BK specific, BK has to pull from the same pool of cleared civilian labor as all the other contracting companies in country that dont use westerners.
I guess BK is using it as a pilot program and hopes to eventually do the same in the US.
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You guessed wrong.
 
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Cuz I'm sure its very cheap to keep all those free-range Kandahar cattle. Obviously they ship in the patties. It can't be easy to do.
 
nakedfrog said:
I'd be curious to see this quantified. It sounds like this guy might just be a dick who forgot what it's like to be deployed.
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Or he's a dick who's never known what it was like to be deployed. Probably very short of stature with a complex to.
 
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