Sign of the Great Recession, Part 98: Prices Rising at Military Mess Halls, Academies

Flickr user army.arch

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God bless our troops, but goddamnit, they're having it tough right now. Between a military that's shrinking, a lack of proper care for vets who need it, the thankless job of serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a bunch of dirty hippies like me questioning why they had to go there in the first place, they don't get nearly enough love.

And the food! MREs, of course, need no explanation, but for those troops who want to eat edible food, they're going to have to pay more now.

Stars and Stripes is reporting that prices at all military dining facilities and academies rose 7.2 percent at the beginning of this year, to account for food inflation. "The price of breakfast increased to $2.45 from $2.30, lunch rose to $4.55 from $4.25 and weekend supper increased to $6.40 from $5.95," reads the report. And while that doesn't seem like much for those of us accustomed to splurging on bánh mìs, remember that most uniformed folks ain't exactly rolling in the dough.

Is that tired liberal canard coming true? Are we going to have to hold a bake sale to support the military--in this case, to feed it?

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