Feeding an Army at West Point

The United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, is the elite college for army officer candidates. It has at least 4,000 cadets, all who go through both academic and physical training at the same time. Feeding these students and the faculty means preparing around 13,000 meals a day. That much food requires huge vats and advance planning. But what makes the West Point food service notable is its efficiency. All the cadets arrive for meals in formation at the same time, and must finish eating within 25 minutes. The schedule allows for no lags or screwups, and every member of the kitchen staff and the cadets themselves have specific duties to get it all accomplished in time. The plan goes off like clockwork, three times a day.     

The dietician said that they provide between 1,200 and 1,500 calories a day to each student. That will certainly keep them on the skinny side, as the average American adult consumes more than 3,000 calories a day! But most likely she actually meant for each meal, since they are eating hearty portions.

People ask why the cadets don't clean up their own tables. There are several reasons: that would be inefficient, they don't have time before their next class, and perhaps most importantly, they are officer candidates learning to be officers.