A picture posted to a Navy forum on Reddit that purports to show a meal served to sailors is drawing widespread disgust, the Daily Beast reported on Monday.
The image shows a slice of what appears to be stiff, possibly frozen pizza, topped with rubbery yellow cheese. It was posted under the title “Navy life,” and the poster complained about the $400 a month taken from sailors’ pay to cover meals at sea.
“I feel scammed,” the caption reads.
The Daily Beast couldn’t confirm the photo’s authenticity or where it was taken. A Pentagon spokesperson referred questions to the Navy, which didn’t immediately respond.
Commenters claiming to be current or former service members traded their own stories. One described cookies made with salt instead of sugar, raisins in tuna and frozen hamburgers.
“Least you have a crust. they used a tortilla on mine,” another wrote.
One joked that the deductions pay for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s plan to test troops’ testosterone levels.
It follows complaints from Navy families during the Middle East war. A sailor aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, which completed a 321-day deployment, said service members are always hungry and the meals have no flavor. The father of another service member told USA Today, “The one thing we had over our adversaries [was] we fed our people.”
The Beast also cited a government watchdog report that the Defense Department spent over $93 billion in September 2025 alone, including $6.9 million on lobster tails and $1 million on salmon. Hegseth dismissed such allegations as “FAKE NEWS from the Pharisee Press.”
Complaints about military food predate this one. In 2020, a Navy veteran shared photos from warships showing moldy bread, insect-covered lettuce and raw chicken.