According to a source, the United States Army is redistributing millions of dollars that it has earned from the Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS) pay for soldiers who are living in quarters that are physically separated from food services operations.
Despite the fact that the money is intended to assist soldiers with the price of food, an investigation conducted by Military.com discovered that out of the $225 million collected from the BAS pay of enlisted soldiers at 11 of the Army’s largest sites in the previous year, $151 million was diverted to other purposes.
According to the website of the United States Army, enlisted soldiers earn approximately $465 dollars in Basic Allowance for Service (BAS) each month. The BAS, which is essentially a tax on troops, is removed from that amount, as stated by the outlet.
During an interview that was planned by the Army public affairs office, an official explained the redirected BAS pay by saying, “It’s just returned to the big pool of Army funds, and it’s used somewhere else.”
The interview was conducted in reference to the matter.
The official, who demanded to remain unnamed, was in possession of first-hand knowledge regarding the circumstance.
According to the findings of the research conducted by the source, all of the sites that were investigated, with the exception of two of them (Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska and Fort Bliss in Texas), had diverted more than fifty percent of the funds away from feeding the soldiers.
It is not entirely apparent what the money that has been redirected is being used for.
Rep. Jill Tokuda, a Democrat from Hawaii, remarked that the facts ought to be looked into.
“Stealing food money from our soldiers is not how we achieve military readiness,” Tokuda stated. “The fact that at least $151 million was collected from soldiers and not spent on food as required demands not just an immediate investigation, but swift accountability.”
At a budget hearing in 2020, Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democrat from Ohio, brought up the matter with then-Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, claiming that the Army is either “wasting half the food, or the money is not being spent on the soldiers’ food and it’s being spent on something it’s not appropriated for.”
The inquiry, which was made shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, was not investigated further.
According to the site, funding for dining hall infrastructure and compensation for food service employees come from different sources.
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According to the outlet, the Army has had difficulty feeding its troops in recent years.
It stated that last November, Fort Carson in Colorado was forced to serve soldiers meals consisting solely of toast and lima beans, and that in the summer of 2023, only two of the ten dining halls at its largest base, Fort Cavazos in Texas, were operational.
As a less expensive option to prepared dining hall meals, several bases have also begun providing prepackaged meals from kiosks, which the outlet discovered were typically rich in sugar and lacking in protein.
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The amount of meals was determined “based on previous head counts” at base dining halls, spokeswoman Maj. Andrea Kelly told the newspaper.
In the past, officials have cited troops’ frequent complaints of overcooked meat, a shortage of fresh supplies, and unseasoned meals being served in the dining hall as reasons for the decreased interest in these meals.
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