Tweet shows two chicken wings as dinner for military personnel in Ceuta

## Two chicken wings for dinner in Ceuta: what the troop menu costs

A user circulated an image on social media of the dinner served to military personnel stationed in Ceuta after, according to the account, 14 hours of work. On the tray were two chicken wings. According to one message in the thread, it was not a bad day: this would be the standard menu of the contracting system that feeds much of the troops. The photograph brought into sharp focus a question rarely answered publicly: what is the true value of the meal for those who guard a border or a barracks.

## What is served in a Spanish barracks mess hall

According to one of the testimonies in the thread, troop feeding is outsourced. Catering companies compete for the contract and provide a fixed-price menu with limited portions and inexpensive ingredients. The serviceman pays only part of the cost: in this case, two euros per meal, with the rest covered by public funds. With that margin, the menu resembles a rundown bar in an industrial estate rather than the diet of someone on duty.

The quality, adds the same account, depends on the day and the unit. Some dinners pass muster, while other trays arrive burned, tough, with lumps or clumped together. The Ceuta meal, consisting of two wings and little else, falls into the latter category according to these descriptions. The full breakdown of what each ration costs, item by item, is precisely what never appears in the official report.

## From preserved rations to emergency meal

When logistics fail, the resource is non-perishable food: instant coffee, soup, beef preserves, Fabada (a slow-cooked bean stew). This is the menu of those who eat what is available, according to some messages. The other part of the system consists of individual combat rations, called 'bricks,' designed to survive without a cold chain and not for dining at a table.

## Prison, dining hall, and uncomfortable comparisons

The most repeated complaint is not about hunger, but comparative grievance. Some reactions argue that a penitentiary center provides more and better, and that in a social dining hall, the tray is fuller. These are claims circulated without verification, but they point to the same thing: the soldier's ration is measured against that of the inmate, not against the average citizen.

## Latvia, Romania, and who pays for dinner

Another calculation is on the table. Some argue that if Spanish personnel cover positions in Latvia and Romania, the cost of daily sustenance should be shared with the countries benefiting from the deployment. Shared defense, they argue, is shared down to the plate.

## Those who believe the troops deserve it

The reaction is not unanimous in defending the serviceman. One current views the two wings as a deserved punishment: it considers the troops pawns who obey, endure, and only object in writing. The other, opposing view points higher up: the failure is not the soldier's but of the contract and of commanders who, it is said, do not eat from that tray.

Both positions agree on one uncomfortable point: almost no one discusses the price, only who has to bear it.

How much should the dinner of someone on 14-hour duty cost, and who should pay for it?