Bizarre Pentagon plan to 'reduce military's carbon footprint' that soldiers are furious about
Military personnel could find laboratory grown meat in their ration packs as Pentagon bosses scratch around for ways to reduce their impact on climate change.
Bioengineering company BioMADE came up with the idea after receiving $500 million in Defense department funding to reduce its carbon footprint.
But their plan to roll out 'cell based meat' has left a nasty taste in the mouth of veterans who have accused Pentagon bosses of treating front line soldiers like 'lab rats'.
'The military's job is forward defense, alliance, solidarity and deterrence, and that's it,' said former US Navy Seal Rob O'Neill.
'All that other stuff is crap. This is typical Washington DC nonsense movement.'
former Marine Lt Col Stuart Scheller who was court-martialed for his complaints about the US withdrawal from Afghanistan said service members were already 'surviving off scraps'
'Cell-based meat', grown in a lab from animal cells nourished with chemicals, and was first licensed for sale to the public last year
Military chiefs have found the fight against climate change at the top of their in-tray under the Biden Presidency which has deemed it a 'national security priority'.
'It is a national security issue, and we must treat it as such,' defense secretary Lloyd Austin said in 2021.
And officials have been zoning in on artificial meat as 'one of the most immediate, politically feasible, and high-impact ways to do this,' according to the department's deputy assistant secretary Matt Spence.
The sale for consumption of lab-grown meat was only legalized last year, and veterans warned that soldiers are tired of being used for experiments with untested technology.
'There's a large number of active reserve guard members who are still a little jaded from the COVID shot and are very unwilling to be part of the new experiment,' a former Navy Seal of 22 years, told the Caller.
More than 8,400 servicemen and women resigned rather than face a mandatory injection of Covid-19 vaccines, and the Army has slashed its enlistment target by 10,000 this year as the armed forces suffer their biggest recruitment crisis for decades.
The US now has its smallest military in 80 years and veterans warned that the situation is unlikely to be improved by the prospect of dining on what BioMADE calls 'nutrient-dense rations' produced 'via fermentation processes'.
The US Army has already slashed its enlistment target by 10,000 this year as the armed forces suffer their biggest recruitment crisis for decades.
former US Special Forces member Martin Bailey said it would be unethical to force the 'experimental meat product' on active service members
'I think the government should focus on letting the military protect our nation from enemies, foreign and domestic, sometimes, but you know, that's what the military is there for,' former US Special Forces member Martin Bailey said.
'They're not there to be experimental lab-rats.
'You know, why doesn't the government feed experimental meat product that, you don't even know what it is, why don't they feed that to, let's say, homeless people?'
'Well, there's a reason they don't, because that would be completely unethical. So why is it ethical to stick it down the throat of our military service members?'
Marine Lt Col Stuart Scheller who was court-martialed for his complaints about the US withdrawal from Afghanistan said the plan was symptomatic of a military with the wrong priorities.
'It appears that until new Defense Department leadership builds a winning force, service members will continue surviving off scraps,' he added.
The National Cattlemen's Beef Association waded in to the row as news of the plan broke last week, calling it 'outrageous.
'American troops deserve to be served that same wholesome, natural meat and not ultra-processed, lab-grown protein that is cooked up in a chemical-filled bioreactor,' said vice-president Ethan Lane.
'The Department of Defense is spending millions of taxpayer dollars to feed our heroes like lab rats.'
Former Missouri governor and ex-Navy SEAL Eric Greitens called the idea the 'height of woke nonsense'.
'The purpose of the military is to win our wars and to kill our enemies,' he added.
'It's such a stupid idea, that in any sane world it would be considered a joke.
'When you add woke nonsense like this to the debacle in Afghanistan, and the policy of kicking people out of the military for refusing the experimental COVID-19 vaccine, you begin to understand why the military is facing a massive recruiting crisis.'
But studies have identified the US military as the single biggest institutional emitter of greenhouse gasses on the planet,
US defense secretary Lloyd Austin, pictured with President Joe Biden, has said climate 'It is a national security issue, and we must treat it as such,'
Former Missouri governor and ex-Navy SEAL Eric Greitens called the idea the 'height of woke nonsense': 'In any sane world it would be considered a joke'
The Defense Department estimated its own emissions at 51 million tons of CO2 in 2021, equal to amount produced by Sweden.
A group of researchers claimed last year that the US military owes at least $106 billion as reparations to countries roiled by climate change.
But O'Neill said military chiefs risk forgetting about America's biggest threats.
'They're wasting their time with nonsense,' he said.
'It's a shame that we're going to find out the hard way who our real enemies are, as we're, you know, don't think China, Russia and Iran are worried about lab-grown meat.
'They're worried about taking over the world. And we're not.'
