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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Entering the door of the barracks, 

 in the center of its long face, on the 

 left is a door leading into the mess 

 hall. This eating room occupies 

 about half of the lower floor and is 

 separated from the kitchen by a 

 broad serving" table. 



S £ WHAT THE SOLDIERS HAVE TO EAT 



At the meal hours — six, twelve, 

 and six for breakfast, dinner, and 

 supper — the men enter the hall in 

 line and pass around the serving 

 table, where the cooks and "kitchen 

 police," as the helpers are called, 

 pile the metal mess plates . with 

 steak, potatoes, rice, and fill the cups 

 with coffee as the men pass. This, 

 with the bread and butter already 

 on the tables, which fill the mess 

 hall, is the average breakfast. Din- 

 ner will be stew, with mashed pota- 

 toes, boiled onions, peas, bread and 

 butter, a pudding or pie for desert, 

 and tea, coffeee, or lemonade to 

 drink. Supper will consist of fried 

 bacon, cold canned salmon, potato 

 salad, a vegetable, bread and butter, 

 and peaches or some other pre- 

 served fruit with which to finish. 

 This is a typical menu for an ordi- 

 nary day. Whenever the occasion 

 warrants, some little extra is added 

 to the meal. The American soldier 

 is the best fed soldier in the world. 



Opposite the mess hall, on the 

 lower floor of the barracks, is the 

 first squad room or dormitory. 

 Here, along the walls and down the 

 center, iron cots are ranged, each 

 with its bed-tick filled with fresh 

 straw. Two olive-drab army blank- 

 ets cover the bed, and if these are 

 not enough, the soldier will throw 

 his army overcoat over the blankets. 



In the original building plans for 

 these sleeping quarters, each soldier 

 was to have a locker to hold his ex- 

 tra shoes, shirts, shaving outfit, and 

 other little knickknacks permitted 

 by the regulations. Being on a war 

 footing, these extras were few 

 enough, but the Surgeon General of 

 the Army struck off the lockers 

 from the barrack furnishings, pre- 

 smnablv on the ground thev were 



