For me, breakfast is by far the best meal on board the USS Tortuga. Best, because it’s the most transparent. Behind the trays lined with fresh eggs and diced vegetables is a sailor assigned to cook them. I’ve been eating an omlette with ham and vegetables each morning.

Lunch and dinner reminds me of the food I ate in the cafeterias in college, where I developed gastro-intestinal problems for the first time. I often can’t tell what is in the meal, and I erase the question marks from my mind. I would be happy to never eat stewed meats again.

Still, by the time we reach the mess hall I’m so starved, I inhale most everything on my tray. We’ve been following sailors from sunrise to when they go to sleep, and with the heat and humidity in the South China Sea, my body craves all of the calories it can get (and yes, I have a large appetite to begin with).

We’ve been dining in the General Mess where the most junior people eat, so we can meet the youngest members of the Navy and hear their stories. But sometimes when we are pressed for time or the line is too long, we cheat: we have the clearance to eat in the Chief’s Mess, where there aren’t so many people.

It makes me feel like I’m cheating on the people we’ve met who have opened their lives to us. I only hope I don’t cheat them through the editing decisions we make.

Emily Taguchi, Aboard the USS Tortuga

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