“War is the supreme test of man in which he rises to heights never approached in any other activity.”
- General George S. Patton
It had been an unusually quiet morning – a very good thing when you’re in the middle of a war zone. The pilots and medic crew with the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Taskforce Shadow Dustoff MEDEVAC are anxiously waiting for the next emergency call to come in from the battlefield. They were well into watching their third movie of the day and luckily had eaten lunch when the radio silence was broken. “MEDEVAC ! MEDEVAC! MEDEVAC – First up report to pad for Cat Alpha.” Before the transmission is complete, two pilots, the medic and crew chief are sprinting out the door into the 120 degree heat to their Black Hawk helicopter. A Cat Alpha call is the highest priority emergency medical call and the goal is to be able to get to the aircraft, don all of their protective gear, ready weapons and go wheels up to the call within five to six minutes. It is truly amazing that they can pull this off.
For sixteen days I will be embedded with the 101st Airborne MEDEVAC unit – going where they go, seeing what they see and of course, eating their chow. A full day with these guys can be a pretty intense experience. The second that call comes over the radio your adrenaline is pumping and then you’re running your ass off like Usain Bolt. You don’t know what you will end up seeing or how dangerous the situation will be. The medics are often pulling people off the battlefield under enemy fire. Throw in the high heat and the weight of the flak jacket and helmet and you can build up a serious appetite after two or three of these missions.
The crew only had one call today and thankfully it was not a serious injury. We still had to run to the helicopter, gear up and go through the whole adrenaline rush so when we returned to the airfield, I was starving. I headed back to my room to drop off my gear and made a B-line to the DFAC Luxembourg. DFAC is short for dining facility, one of the many acronyms that you have to learn if you’re going to spend time with the military. DFAC Luxembourg is a relatively new building on the scrawling Kandahar Airfield where 0ver 20,000 U.S. and NATO forces reside along with contractors from around the globe. It is one of many dining halls on the base where food is provided for the troops at no charge. There are also a few mainstream restaurants like TGIFriday’s and the soon to be opened KFC for those who want to pay for a little taste of bad food from home.
Luxembourg is a huge dining room that has two hot food lines, salad bars, a dessert bar and a short order counter where you can get a burger during the lunch and dinner hours. I would love to show you what this place looks like but the military said it was not possible to take pictures in the dining hall. That was odd to me since I have taken pictures in many dining halls on military bases. The short order counter usually has a pretty long line and in addition to the burgers you can usually get fries or some other type of deep fried side like onion rings or calamari rings that have the flavor and consistency of an engine gasket.
As I wait in the long line, I watch as the cook plops down dozens of greyish half-thawed patties onto the smoking griddle. The sizzle can be heard throughout the dining hall. There are no proper buns so I find a sesame seed roll and cut it in half with a plastic knife. Once the burgers are tested with a thermometer for proper well-done cooking temperature, the patties are tossed into a chaffing tray and we all use tongs to grab one. There wasn’t much in the way of fresh veggies on this particular day so I dressed up my burger with some unidentified cheese, some cucumbers and a package of Thousand Island dressing. Since I couldn’t bring my camera in, I got my burger and fries to go and ate it in my room.
If salt is your thing, you would love this burger. It was so salty that it cancelled out any beef flavor that it may have once had. The taste was almost like a breakfast sausage with the texture of a rubbery hot dog. The roll that I used was a little dry and bready. If I had to point to one good thing about the burger, I would have to say that the cheese stood out as the best tasting element. Despite the excess salt and dryness, I ate the whole thing. I was in need of food and it really didn’t matter what it tasted like.
I had a few good meals at the DFAC during my time at Kandahar Airfield. The baked eggplant dishes were good as was the chicken gyros. You could always find me with a smile on my face when the chocolate soft serve was being served. If you ever find yourself at Kandahar Airfield, I would suggest that you steer clear of the burger at the Luxembourg and go straight to the soft serve machine and get a big bowl of chocolate ice cream.
RATING: 1
DFAC Luxembourg
Kandahar Airfield
Kandahar, Afghanistan
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Cool assignment. Where can your pictures (from this trip) be seen?
Stay safe!
You need to work on taking crappier photos. Even that burger looks pretty tasty!
I thought the repair-shop joint was impressive, but this moves you into sole possession of first place among burger blogs.
Quite simply, Hamblogger kicks major ass.
Best of luck for a successful assignment and tell the boys and girls burger-lovers everywhere appreciate all they are doing over there- we’ll have some real burgers waiting for ‘em when they come home.
Thanks Aaron! We appreciate your support. Tell a friend about us!
OK, I am curious if you wanted to try a hamburger that you did not go to one of the North American style dining halls at KAF as opposed to the European DFAC for a burger. Trust me, they are completely different – American Cheese/Burger Buns/Condiments… I have eaten there a few times considering that I was there for almost two years – and occasionally I would have a burger – the difference between the two places was significant. Now living in Europe I see the difference every day in trying to find a “real” North American burger.
I rate your reporting as 1 Burger – the food there is pretty dam good – you just have to be open minded that if you want a burger you don’t go to KFC!!!
hey john
I would have gone to one of the other DFACs if we would have been allowed to do so. we were limited to luxembourg due to some deal the msc had arranged with them. basically, members of the press could not sign in for a meal anywhere except luxembourg.
the burger that I had at the fourth of july bbq probably came from the american DFACs, it had the traditional bun, american cheese, etc. sadly wasn’t too much better than the thing I got at luxembourg.
OK Burger Boy, now the gloves are off….well let’s say that I have a beef with you, and at the very least, a bone to pick. Perhaps what you should have to have done was chew a few days of combat rations and then be open minded enough to appreciate that there are 10s of thousands of people being fed every meal – some who appreciate the fact that they are getting three squares a day. Yes, perhaps Kandahar should not be known for it’s burgers I will give you that but I for one, and one of the many believe the food at each of the DFACs is good wholesome well prepared fresh food. I am not burger guru, but I can tell you that I appreciated every meal I had there….beats combat rations any day!!!
I should have also said that you should not be publishing the hours of the facility for many reasons….I am sure you can understand the hint…suggest you remove that out of respect for those who are there.
Justin….my appologies man. I for one have eaten the burgers there and take a different approach. I put onions and the fixins on them and then stick them in the Panini Press for a minture or two…greatly improves the “burger” although at that point they may be more of a grilled cheese with onion and a beef (?) patty….but try it next time… Best Wishes!
Did you get a chance to get a slider at Southpark while you were there? I was on nights at the Role 3 and a treat was when mid-rats came from Southpark… mmm…