Most of us agree that the food provided to missile crews, maintainers, security forces, civil engineers, comm folks and everybody else who visited or “lived” on a missile site has run the gamut, from real gourmet meals to stuff we weren’t too sure of. Some folks had it really good - there was a site cook or two, a dining room and real, home cooked food. Others had to stop by and pick up the “rations” on the way to the site and prepare it themselves. Still others brownbagged - and most of us knew all the good local cafes and burger places in the boonies, like the Cove Cafe in Newell or the great cinnamon rolls in Michigan. You all had your favorites.

Those of you who served in Atlas and Titan II had a different problem- there was only you, the crew on site - maintenance folks brought their own food.

Matador, Mace, BOMARC, Thor, Jupiter and airlaunched had other options and not all meals were like Bob Bolton described in his “Tactical Pizza” article.

In Titan I we had it good - a real chow hall on the site, with a staff or tech sergeant cook and a young airman assistant on duty to fix our meals. A Titan I site was a busy place - up to 100 folks there during “normal” duty hours - so the two cooks had a big job preparing full meals for the mob at lunch, and other times during heavy maintenance. Breakfast, dinner and midnight chow were less busy - usually only the combat crew, powerhouse folks, security troops and cooks. The food was always good and there was lots of it.

Atlas foil packs, described by an Atlas E veteran, consisted of an entree, bread, one or two veggies (can’t recall exactly), and a dessert. Each item was packed into its own individual aluminum foil container with a lid crimped on. The entree was usually something like smothered steak, meat loaf, or roast beef with gravy. Anything that would lend itself to being cooled in a walk-in cooler overnight or since the very early morning, then reheated at the site during the day. The same for the veggies. Green beans, corn, succotash, peas, etc. The desserts were usually a helping of pie. Cherry and apple seem to have been the favorites. The bread was similar to toady’s brown and serve rolls, with two rolls in the container. One complete foil pack meal was packaged in a lightweight cardboard box, usually along with half-pints of milk, seasonal fruit, condiments, and plastic eating utensils. Each had two cigarettes in a little cardboard container about the size of a package of gum.  The procedure for obtaining these rations varied depending on the job to be done on the sites, the squadron section involved, etc. Those on the Mobile Checkout and Maintenance (MOCAM) crews, for example, would order our foil packs as soon as we arrived at the Missile Assembly Building (MAB). Sometimes people ordered individually, at other times one crewmember would order for the whole crew. Someone would call the foil pack kitchen and find out if choices of entree or dessert were available. An order was compiled, the kitchen notified.  The foil pack kitchen was the last stop on the way out of town.