Soldiers assigned to the McGregor Range Complex, New Mexico, are missing meals because trying to eat at the base’s dining facility, or DFAC, often means waiting for an hour or more, two soldiers currently at the base told Task & Purpose.
The soldiers, speaking on the condition that their names not be used, said they have missed meals as a result of the long lines, which they say are a regular occurrence at the base, which is part of Fort Bliss, Texas.
Video of one such line began making the rounds on social media earlier this week.
Guy A. Volb, director of Fort Bliss garrison public affairs, told Task & Purpose in response to questions about the soldiers’ comments that the McGregor Range Complex chow hall has a “100% feeding policy.”
“No soldier is turned away,” Volb said on Friday. “If a soldier is in line before the DFAC closes they get fed.”
Since March, photos and video of the lines have been posted online by US Army WTF! Moments, a popular Army-centric social media community. The most recent video posted on Tuesday shows a line outside the chow hall that stretches for so long that the camera has to pan and zoom to show all the people waiting.
The soldiers who spoke to Task & Purpose said the lines have forced troops to buy meals at the base’s exchange and food trucks that are on post.
Volb told Task & Purpose that the dining hall’s hours of operation have already been extended and officials are working to stagger the times that units arrive at the chow hall.
“The current funding for the contract will not allow the DFAC to be open all day and meal prep time required for each meal will also not allow it,” Volb said. “We will evaluate after the expanded contract hours and staggered meal times have been fully implemented to understand if any further mitigations are needed.”
Junior enlisted soldiers who live in the barracks — and who are the most likely to rely on base dining facilities for meals — have a portion of their pay withheld to cover the costs of operating chowhalls. When they have to pay to eat at the base exchange, or at a chain restaurant, that money comes out of their own pocket.
The issues with the chow hall at the McGregor Range Complex underscore how serious it is when service members cannot use on-base dining facilities, said Rob Evans, an Army veteran who runs the Hots & Cots app on which military members post problems with on-base facilities.
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“Soldiers on a meal card don’t have a fallback,” Evans told Task & Purpose. “A closed DFAC isn’t an inconvenience for them like a closed restaurant is for everyone else; it’s their food access.”
This is not the first instance of soldiers having difficulties using on-base dining facilities, even though enlisted service members have a portion of their pay withheld to cover the cost of meals at chow halls.
A soldier assigned to Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, said during a January town hall event that one dining facility on base was often closed, and he asked if soldiers would be allowed to use their meal cards at restaurants off post.
“I don’t like seeing my Joes eating from Uber Eats every day,” the specialist said during the town hall, which was held by U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii.
Also in January, the Army issued a contract solicitation for food service workers at Fort Greely, Alaska, due to a “critical disruption” in operations resulting from dining facility staff shortages.
In April 2025, soldiers at Fort Johnson, Louisiana, ran into problems using their meal cards at an on-base dining facility. They later were told they needed to pay out of pocket for meals and would be reimbursed.
A similar meal card issue that February left soldiers at Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia, unable to use a dining facility, according to Hots & Cots posts at the time.
The complaints about food access in the Army come as the service touts an overhaul of its dining halls, including to-go kiosks and other flexible meal options; and new dining halls run by private contractors that are designed to resemble cafeterias on college campuses.
In February, the Army announced that soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, would receive $39 worth of “Freedom Dollars” at a new privatized chow hall that was set to open on base later that month.
