In its first update on efforts to address food insecurity^[1] among active-duty troops, the Pentagon said it's taking steps to make on-base food options more usable and attractive, but officials also noted that the department is just starting to gather the data it needs to learn how to fully root out the problem of some troops not getting enough to eat or worrying where their next meal might come from.

In addition to the pay^[2] increases and new allowances that have been passed by Congress this year -- measures that are expected to help service members with families -- a senior defense department official told Military.com making food easier to get on base is "something the services are leaned into very heavily."

"They have been doing a lot of work trying to make sure that the way service members, the single service members, who live on the installations, in the barracks, have access to food," the official said in an interview Wednesday.

Read Next: What Does the Space Force Do? 4 Years After Its Birth, Glimpses of the Service's Mission Emerge^[3]

For years, the issue of troops struggling to put food on the table has been a topic of study and^[4] conversation^[5] among military support organizations and advocacy groups, but the Pentagon had avoided taking major action to address the issue until recent years. Service members told Military.com in past reports^[6] that they saw leaders as part of the problem rather than a solution.

But as COVID-19 made food insecurity worse for troops, it also brought a growing amount of attention^[7] and effort -- largely from Congress^[8] -- to combat the issue.

One study^[9], conducted at an unnamed Army^[10] base by Army Public Health Center, found 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%.

A 2020 DoD survey showed^[11] that 24% of active-duty service members experienced food insecurity at some point in 2019. Since then, those numbers have not decreased.

The senior defense official, who was granted anonymity as a condition for discussing the report, said a 2022 survey found that low food security increased from 14% to 21% and very low food security increased from 10% to 20%.

The USDA's definitions say^[12] "low food security" is when a family's lack of money leads to "reductions in dietary quality and variety," while "very low food security" is when that financial hardship leads to skipped meals or a drop in the amount of food being eaten.

The official stressed that this data doesn't show any impact of many of the several pay raises^[13] enacted by Congress, as well as the creation of a "Basic Needs Allowance"^[14] and an increase in housing allowances in expensive markets^[15].

Many of these measures, like the Basic Needs Allowance^[16] and boosted housing allowance, almost exclusively benefit troops with families -- one of two broad groups that are impacted by food insecurity.

The other group is single service members who may be able to afford the food but either struggle to find it nearby or are turned off by what is available at a dining facility and instead turn to less healthy options.

"Among single enlisted service members living on base, those who are food insecure were less likely to eat in the dining facilities than food secure members," the defense official explained, before adding the top reasons given in the survey were "not liking the food or bringing food from or eating at the residence."

This is an issue that has plagued the services for years and goes beyond troops simply being unhappy with a dining hall's offerings that day.

After one Army reservist set up a food review app^[17] for military dining facilities, service members posted one-star reviews that featured pictures of moldy vents and undercooked chicken. In other cases, such as sailors aboard a ship undergoing maintenance at Virginia's Newport News Shipyard, the logistics of the location were the main issue.

Several scathing Navy^[18] reports revealed that sailors faced such long commutes to and from the shipyard that they barely had time left to sleep, much less seek out proper food. Meanwhile, sailors who were housed at the one barracks on the shipyard were basically stuck in the middle of an industrial area with few options available to them.

Last month, as part of the Navy's response, Rear Adm. Christopher Gray told reporters that his "Quality of Service" team^[19] was checking "sailors' access to healthy food options within 20 minutes of their homes and work."

Gray added that his team made improvements to existing shipyard facilities that included an increase to sailor bussing options and planned to make an existing, contractor-run canteen on the shipyard into a 24/7, unmanned market.

"We're also reviewing unaccompanied housing cooking policy," Gray said.

The report released Wednesday said that all the services are pursuing pilot or trial programs that seek to give service members easier access to food at any time.

The Navy's Exchange command is exploring the idea of mini-marts that have a section that stays open 24 hours a day. The first one is set to open at the Dam Neck Annex of Naval Air Station Oceana^[20], Virginia, in January. The command is also upgrading Ships Stores aboard large Navy vessels to allow automated 24/7 access. The cruiser USS San Jacinto and the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower both have these upgrades now.

The Army says it will better communicate to dependents of junior enlisted that they can use the on-base dining facilities at a cheaper rate. The branch's plans to "address the disparity in access to food include the roll out of 26 Army food trucks, 11 operational kiosks, and 3 bistros that are programmed and budgeted."

The branch will also continue "to reevaluate these modernization efforts and evaluate food deserts to determine the best places to implement these capabilities."

However, officials also point to the need to learn more about the issues at play in order to better address food insecurity going forward. Several studies that include both service members and their families are underway.

Related: Military Hunger: New Study Shows 1 in 8 Military Families Turned to Food Banks During the Pandemic^[21]

ABOARD THE USS GERALD R. FORD -- U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin flew out to the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier Wednesday to meet with the sailors he has ordered to remain at sea to prevent the Israel-Hamas war^[1] from spilling over into a deadlier regional conflict.

Austin was in the region to press Israel to shift its bombardment of Gaza to a more limited campaign^[2] and more quickly transition to address Palestinian civilians' dire humanitarian needs.

At the same time, the U.S. has been concerned that Israel will launch a similar military operation along its northern border with Lebanon^[3] to expel Hezbollah^[4] militants there, potentially opening a second front and widening the war.

At a news conference in Tel Aviv on Monday, Austin didn't say whether U.S. troops might be further extended to defend Israel if its campaign expands into Lebanon, and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant seemed to tone down recent rhetoric that a northern front was imminent, deferring to diplomatic efforts first.

Still, that leaves incredible uncertainty for the Ford and its crew, which Austin ordered to the Eastern Mediterranean to be closer to Israel the day after Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7. The aircraft carrier's more than 4,000 sailors and the accompanying warships were supposed to be home in early November.

Using the public address system of the Ford, which is sailing a few hundred miles off the coast of Israel, Austin thanked the sailors and their families for giving up spending the holidays together because of the mission.

"Sometimes our greatest achievements are the bad things we stop from happening," Austin told the crew. "In a moment of huge tension in the region, you all have been the linchpin of preventing a wider regional conflict."

The defense secretary met with a group of sailors in the Ford's hangar bay to talk about the various dangers in the region that the carriers, the destroyers and cruisers deployed along with it have been watching.

He thanked them for keeping attention on cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, and later told reporters traveling with him that if Israel transitions away from major combat operations in Gaza, it could possibly ease some of the regional tension that has kept the Ford in place.

The Ford's commanding officer, Navy^[5] Capt. Rick Burgess, said one of the Ford's main contributions has been to stay close enough to Israel that it can send its aircraft in to provide support, if needed. While the Ford's fighter and surveillance aircraft are not contributing to the surveillance needs of Israel's operations in Gaza, other ships in its strike group are, Burgess said.

The Ford is one of two U.S. carrier strike groups bracketing the conflict. The other, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, has recently patrolled near the Gulf of Aden, at the mouth of the Red Sea waterway where so many commercial vessels have come under attack^[6] in recent weeks.

Iranian-backed Houthis^[7] in nearby Yemen have vowed to continue striking commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea with ballistic missiles and drones until Israel ceases its devastating bombardment of Gaza, which has now killed more than 19,000 Palestinians.

To counter the ship attacks, Austin announced a new international maritime mission Tuesday to get countries to send their warships and other assets to the southern Red Sea^[8], to protect the roughly 400 commercial vessels that transit the waterway daily.

Since it left Norfolk^[9] in the first week of May, the Ford's fighter aircraft and surveillance planes have conducted more than 8,000 missions. The crew, Austin noted, has been moving at full speed -- consuming more than 100,000 Monster energy drinks and 155,000 Red Bulls along the way.

Rhea-Lee Thompson emigrated from Jamaica to the United States in 2019. She never thought about joining her adopted country's military but became enamored with the idea of service once she saw her school's Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps, or JROTC.

"JROTC has given me a home away from home and [helped me] grow as a person," Thompson, 16, told Military.com in a classroom that serves as home base for the military's footprint at Alexandria City High School.

The room, in a school nestled in a wealthy northern Virginia suburb just outside of Washington, D.C., is filled with trophies and other accolades from generations of students who were in the program. It's one of the only public schools in an area littered with exclusive private schools.

Read Next: Second Fort Jackson Drill Sergeant Found Dead on Base This Month^[1]

Thompson, who sees the military as a pathway to citizenship, has a decorated academic resume for a teenager. She's her JROTC class leader, or "battalion commander," and her GPA is over 4.0. She hopes to move onto ROTC in college and become a medical officer.

It's students like her whom the military hopes to convert from promising applicants to active-duty service members. JROTC is a program funded by the Pentagon designed to teach basic civics and leadership skills -- all while subtly pitching military service to those students through trips to military bases, doing military-style physical challenges like obstacle courses, and having them occasionally wear uniforms^[2]. JROTC units are commonplace in parades and other military ceremonies to give those students a taste of the culture.

The Pentagon has generally struggled to fill the ranks in most of its services, a slump that is a complicated amalgamation of issues. Many experts and service planners point to a lack of cultural touch points: Young Americans simply aren't exposed to the culture. There is no "Black Hawk Down" in movie theaters courting the would-be door kicker, the most popular video games have become increasingly fantastical and detached from the military realism some titles sought in the mid-2000s, and recruiters are still struggling to regain a foothold in high schools since the COVID-19 pandemic forced everybody to stay home.

But JROTC, a program that has existed since World War I, offers an increasingly rare means of connecting students who will soon be old enough to join the military with those in uniform. Army^[3] planners are quick to say JROTC isn't a recruiting^[4] tool, but roughly one-quarter of students in the program end up enlisting or commissioning. Though it's unclear how many of those students would have otherwise joined the military, as other cultural touchstones evaporate, the services have planted a flag in schools across the country and plan to grow their footprints.

"By definition, we are not a recruiting tool," Col. Ken Jones, the director for Army JROTC, told Military.com. "We're charged with introducing kids to opportunities. We want them to know what's available to them, and that includes military opportunities. … We're that connective tissue between the community and their Army."

The program has been rocked by controversy since the Vietnam War over concerns of militarizing America's youth.

Concerns over course instructors sexually harassing or assaulting teenage cadets have also been persistent^[5]. In recent months, the Army has established new guidance aimed at preventing gender-based discrimination and enforcing laws against sexual violence by instructors. A New York Times investigation^[6] found that thousands of teens were forced into the program by their schools, a move that is discouraged but not outright forbidden by the military services. Congress just recently included a provision in the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, banning forced enrollment.

That bill, which is set to be signed into law by President Joe Biden, also directs the Pentagon to submit an annual report of sexual misconduct in JROTC, including details on the outcomes of investigations. Officials will also be required to notify the secretary of their service within two days of any allegations of sexual misconduct involving an instructor.

There are now 1,734 Army JROTC programs in high schools, with some 275,000 cadets. The program has steadily grown each year, with even more expansion in the coming years being mulled by Army planners. Some 280 schools are on a wait-list for their own JROTC programs to be established. With a relatively modest $200 million budget, it costs the Army only about $800 per cadet each year, sharing a lot of the costs with the school.

Students who finish the program get no notable accolades or rank if they enlist or commission, starting at the same spot as anyone else. The active-duty force at large doesn't generally hold JROTC experience as a major achievement^[7], and those who complete the program are sometimes viewed as having missed out on chances of a more rebellious youth.

But that doesn't mean it isn't valuable to the military services, with the chance for more if the reputation could be buttressed.

"It's certainly missing an X-factor, something that makes it cool," one infantry Army lieutenant told Military.com on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media on the topic. "The footprint is there, there's a lot of value in that, but I think there's an opportunity for the Army to double down."

Related: Senators Seeks More Safeguards in JROTC Program After Reports of Sexual Abuse^[8]