Army officials in Germany removed a list of German-run food banks from a “Shutdown Guidance” webpage aimed at soldiers stationed in that country, hours after the list was met with outrage on social media.
A U.S. official told Task & Purpose the list had been posted mistakenly, and was aimed only at German employees on U.S. bases in the country, not at U.S. soldiers stationed there who needed food aid during the government shutdown. Like all U.S. military bases, Army installations in Germany employ thousands of local workers.
The “Shutdown Guidance” page was posted on the official website for U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria, the umbrella command over U.S. bases in Grafenwöhr, Vilseck, Hohenfels and Garmisch. The page listed dozens of resources available to soldiers and their families during the government shutdown, from seeking hardship loans to impacts on base schools.
But at the bottom of the page — as an archived version of the website confirms — was a list of four German food aid groups and one food aid app under the heading “Running list of German support organizations for your kit bags” with the word “German” in italics. The list of German organizations was removed by Wednesday morning when Task & Purpose checked.
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The list included three food relief organizations, including Tafel Deutschland, described as an “ umbrella organization [that] distributes food to people in poverty through its more than 970 locad banks,” and Foodsharing e.V., “a nationwide volunteer movement that shares surplus food.” The list also noted the “Too Good To Go” App, a service that collects and distributes bags of “unsellable but perfectly good food” from restaurants and stores, and a German-based telephone hotline for “questions about food and nutrition.”
Stars and Stripes first reported that the list of German organizations had been removed from the U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria’s website.
The federal government has been shut down since Oct. 1, prompting some troops and their families to turn to charities such as Army Emergency Relief for food assistance, especially with questions about whether Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits will continue. Other military charities have seen a surge in demand for help since the start of the shutdown, including the Air Force Aid Society, Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, and Coast Guard Mutual Assistance.
On Wednesday, the list was posted to the unofficial Army subreddit. Commenters reacted angrily, assuming that the Army was referring U.S. soldiers to German food banks.
List removed from ‘shutdown’ website
The information about German organizations was no longer available on the main Army Bavaria website when Task & Purpose checked later in the day. As of Wednesday afternoon, the website appears to be down.
The U.S. official said the Army took down the list after German media reported that the Army had provided U.S. troops with information on local foodbanks. It’s unclear if any U.S. troops actually sought help from the groups. Task & Purpose has reached out to the organizations on the list.
However, Task & Purpose found the same list still online Wednesday afternoon under a website for a garrison at Wiesbaden, under the title “German Organizations and points of contact.” That document did not specify if it was intended for German nationals or U.S. soldiers, but it was not clear if the list was linked to any Army website.
“The list of local food support was created weeks ago, when the U.S. Army was concerned that its German employees might not be getting paid during the lapse in appropriations, which could have caused them to need temporary assistance,” a spokesperson for U.S. Army Europe and Africa said. “It was released in guidance provided by the U.S. Army’s Installation Management Command-Europe under the heading ‘Germany Specific Resources and Legal/Rental Information and elsewhere it was listed on websites as ‘local national employee resources.’ It was not intended for use by Soldiers or American civilian employees, who have access to several support programs on their bases.”
The German government announced last month that it would pay about 11,000 local employees who work at U.S. military bases during the federal government shutdown.
