ArmyVegan

I read it daily, but seldom post.

Wow! Troy, you are wise beyond your years. You summed up exactly how I see it. I do understand and feel that the defense of our nation is needed, but it IS sad in its own right. I tell my husband everyday that I am going into the IRR; but then that darn tuition bill comes and/or I meet a service member who thinks they are along being Vegan.

Troy in response to your question, I did chose or rather my body choose to eat Vegan. So it would be from the nutritional stand point. I knew nothing of being Vegan or rather even heard of such term. The only thing I heard of was vegetarian. My body started to reject my favorite foods ie ribs, burgers, soul food This started a year ago. However Troy I refuse to give them up. I was totally miserable for that year (2007). The begininng of this year I went vegetarian and started doing research on it. That's when I ran across Veganism. I would try it one week on and one week off. My body never felt better or my mood never brighter as when I ate Vegan. Now you have to realize something; I am from the deep south--fried and sould food heaven. I was almost too embrassed to tell anyone, just my husband. But my body put up a fight. On March 3, 2008, a day after my birthday-I went Vegan. The Army part, well I love my country and it people, simple as that. And when you need to support your family while attending full time college, "humans killing humans" is a long ways away (even though it can happen in my profession). I do not believe in taking anybody's life regardless of what they've done, but I am now bound by duty. I just re-enlisted in the Army two months ago for 6 more years. I will make a difference in the lives and bring awareness to this issue for all military members and their families. Sometimes you have to change things form the inside out, little by little. And we (military) sometimes receive things alot better when its from family. Oh yeah you know. I can not thank you enough for the list that you gave me. I am not loving the support and wisdom of my Vegan family. You guys are so awesome. (kiss)

Thank you all for your posts. No the Army won't kick me out for being Vegan, they just won't make any special request out of way of mission for me. I have browsed the internet and found some packaged meals I can take. I will take along some powdered soymilk, and Vegan meal replacements to make shakes for most of my meals. I am starting to put together a 14 day menu that will consist of about 4 to 5 meals a day. I am just so shocked how the Army have no regards for Vegans or Vegetarians. I am starting to bring awareness to this issue with my command and the Nutrition command.

I am a soldier in the Army Reserves. We have a two week field exercise coming up at Ft. Gordon, GA. During the training meeting where they brief you on the details, I pulled our company's head nutritionalist asided and inquired about the eating situtation. She knows that I am a Vegan. She said that the Army would only provide a few vegetarian meals by the way of MREs (Meals Ready to Eat). I then told her that I would just bring my own meals because I don't consume meat or meat byproducts. She then gets annoyed and said, "We are not authorized to keep civilian meals in our freezers!" I said, (respectively because she was a high ranking officer) my meals don't need refrigeration. She thens blurbs out: "If you pass out, its not the Army's fault"! Okay, okay so she didn't per say mention eat meat but I could tell that she truly believes eating meat is part of a healthy diet. She has mentioned that several times. I was shocked at how she acted that day.