In all, 160,000 service members struggled to provide food for themselves or their families, the group recently reported. A pair of Army studies found the problem was made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. One of those studies found that on one Army base, one in three reported being food insecure in 2019. The second study, done at a different Army base, saw that out of a sample of nearly 5,000 soldiers, the COVID-19 pandemic caused the percentage of food-insecure troops to almost double from 16% to 31%.
The term food-insecure means a person or family finds themselves unable to reliably get enough affordable and nutritious food. NOVEMBER 2021 | By Konstantin Toropin Military.com
Angela, an enlisted sailor, saw her baby daughter as a miracle when she was born two years ago. The little girl quickly took over her life, and the child’s love of “Frozen” means that Angela can recite both movies from memory.
Now, as a single mother on active duty, she’s fighting to put food on their table, doing battle with her chain of command.
The need to overdraft her bank account for baby formula, living off only chicken and rice, or applying for civilian low-income assistance, only to be rejected -- it all feels like a broken promise by the Navy, Angela, who has served for a decade, told Military.com in an interview.
“I have called my dad crying because I didn't even have money to buy bread or peanut butter and jelly because I was so broke,” said Angela, whose name has been changed to protect her identity due to concerns about retaliation.
But she says the Navy has offered little assistance. Instead, leaders have intensified her struggles and insisted she find some way to make do.
“I've pretty much figured out that the Navy is not here to help you," she said.
Angela is among thousands of service members on active duty who struggle daily with hunger related to financial hardship, though the true scope of the problem is not fully known. It’s a stark reality that some troops cannot feed their families while serving in America’s all-volunteer force, despite its commitments to welfare, support services and benefits.
The gap in support means some service members are forced to rely on outside help like food pantries and relief organizations like the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society.
About 14% of enlisted active-duty families reported “low” or “very low” food security in an annual 2020 survey, according to Denise Hollywood, the chief community and programs officer for Blue Star Families.
Enlisted troops appear to be suffering the most. A total of 29% of the most junior enlisted ranks of E1-E4, a segment that includes more than 570,000 people and more than half of all enlisted in the military, reported facing hunger over the past year, according to the advocacy group Feeding America, the largest hunger relief organization in the U.S.
