CAMP FOSTER, OKINAWA, Japan – Base Food Services Branch, Marine Corps Installations Pacific, partnered with Marine Corps Community Services to make two food trucks available to Marines and Sailors exclusively without additional costs on Camp Foster, Oct. 4.

According to the DoD Financial Management Regulation of the Food Service Program, Subsistence in Kind is defined as enlisted personnel who are entitled to meals at the expense of the government. However, these meals are not reimbursable if SIK Marines and Sailors decide to dine at other places besides the mess hall. If these service members decide to eat elsewhere, they would have to pay out-of-pocket for the meals.

With guidance from Marine Corps Installation Command, the Mobile Feeding Pilot program provides a variety of menu items for SIK Marines and Sailors, compared to the usual mess hall fare.

“This is the first ever opportunity where Marines and Sailors can use their meal entitlements somewhere besides mess halls,” said U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Arlie Miller, a food service officer with MCIPAC, MCB Camp Butler. “We want to enhance the quality of life for these service members by offering different menu items and variety for those who are looking for something else.”

Every Wednesday during the month of October, the La Cocina and Chef Shack food trucks are available for these meal swaps. All SIK service members looking to dine at these two locations just need to provide their military identification cards to the cashier before ordering.

Chef Shack offers a menu with a variety of hot dog styles, and La Cocina offers a variety of burritos, tacos, and chips.

“We are starting small to go big,” said Miller. “The current state of this mobile feeding platform is just a test pilot. The data we obtain from this experiment will determine if we continue to carry out and expand on this program.”

The Mobile Feeding Pilot Program is currently a trial run that is only exclusive to SIK Marines and Sailors on Camp Foster. Everyone who used this program was asked to fill out a survey upon receiving their food.

“All attendees need to show their ID cards for accountability,” said Warrant Officer Daniel Jensen, a base food service operations officer with MCIPAC, MCB Camp Butler. “This documentation will help fund the programs that support SIK Marines and Sailors.”

This test is the first initiative to grow this program. If the data collection shows positive results, base food service operations will move forward with expanding the program.

Development of the program would include more food trucks to choose from and more frequent availability to dine at these food trucks. This program is also looking to expand from Okinawa to all Marine Corps installations in the Pacific that would include Korea, mainland Japan, Guam, and Hawaii, for Marines and Sailors.

“We want to start here and begin to encompass all locations in the MCIPAC and MCB Camp Butler region,” said Jensen. “To achieve a better quality of life we want to establish a mobile feeding platform for all patrons in these areas.”