Army Reviewing Policy that Forces Soldiers with Religious Dietary Restrictions to Pay Twice for Their Meals After MRFF Demand

An Army Chaplain at Fort Cavazos (formerly Fort Hood), Texas, enlisted MRFF’s help to get the post’s Finance Office to stop denying soldiers with religious dietary restrictions who must buy their own food exemptions from having the Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS) deducted from their pay. The refusal to grant these exemptions is unfairly forcing soldiers of minority religions who require kosher, halal, or vegetarian meals to pay twice for their food — having their BAS automatically deducted from their pay to pay for meals in dining facilities that they can’t eat and then having to pay out of their own pockets for food that they can eat.

Army Times reported today that “Army officials are promising to review rules surrounding the Basic Allowance for Subsistence,” confirmed by an email to Mikey Weinstein from the Staff Judge Advocate at Fort Cavazos in answer to MRFF’s demand.

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