The tiny island is more than 2,000 miles away from any major land mass\u00a0and offers a small food court, a dining facility\u00a0and a small shoppette, which is operated directly <\/span>by the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES)<\/span>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Within two hours after the weekly produce delivery on June 21, the produce shelves were almost empty, Rice said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The previous Tuesday, June 14, most of the produce was gone within four hours, and she wasn’t able to get any fruits or and <\/span>vegetables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I had no less than 10 neighbors bring me a portion of what they had,” she said.\u00a0“Half a bag of carrots, half a head of lettuce, a squash, chili peppers, three tomatoes, an avocado and some zucchini for the week.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The following week, she said, “I paid that forward by donating two of my four tomatoes, half of a pepper, half a bag of carrots, a peach and an apple.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Making butter, grilling cactus<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n People are dealing with the shortage in other creative ways. Although it’s difficult to grow most things on the island, some residents grow purslane, an island greenery that can be paired with feta cheese, Rice\u00a0said. “You can cook bittermelon for a unique salty flavor. You can grill cactus, and homemade butter is surprisingly easy to make with an improvised cheese cloth. We use absolutely every piece of produce that hasn’t gone bad.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n A total of between 1,200 to 1,300 permanent-party service members, contractors and family members live on Kwajalein, and they are authorized to shop in the grocery store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of those are government contractors. There are <\/span>About 20 permanent-party soldiers are stationed on the island, about 50 Army civilian employees, and about 80 family members of those residents <\/span>living on Kwajalein and Roi-Namur. Radar, optics, telemetry and communications equipment on eight islands in the atoll provide instrumentation for ballistic missile and missile interceptor testing and space operations support, according to the garrison\u2019s website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The recent produce problem “is not a contracting problem or funding problem. It’s a supply chain problem,” said Scott Malcom, spokesman for the Army Installation Management Command, noting that perishables have to be refrigerated\u00a0for thousands of miles. The journey takes about 48 hours, flying from Travis Air Force Base, California, to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, and then to Kwajalein,\u00a0said\u00a0Kwajalein garrison commander\u00a0Col. Michael Larsen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We are very aware of these concerns,” Larsen said\u00a0in an email response to questions. “The problems with our privatized commissary, which we call by its legacy nickname ‘Surfway,’ impact every family on Kwajalein Island. The topic of food shortage or diversity of food selection is a common point of contention in every Community Town Hall that I host every quarter. It is hard to please all of the unique demands from the community when it comes to groceries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “This becomes especially difficult when you are forced to operate on a fixed budget.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The recent shortage issues are not new, Larsen said, adding that he’s researched town hall archive videos and has seen former commanders addressing food shortage concerns back in 1986.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n “In many cases, our shortages are simply a result of being remote and isolated in the center of the Pacific Ocean and being 5,000 miles from the mainland of the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “In my opinion, despite our periodic friction, we still possess the best grocery selection in over 2,500 miles. Hawaii and Guam installations arguably have better grocery selection, and they are run by [the Defense Commissary Agency],” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rice, the Army spouse, noted that the shortage has been severe for more than a month. Larsen acknowledged there has been <\/span>a decrease in produce in the past month,<\/span> because of issues related to transporting the produce,<\/span> “and because of some discrepancies with certain orders.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Privatized commissaries<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n To address the problem, Larsen said, “we have multiple ways of communicating with the contractor who manages the privatized commissary. We are using all of these tools to make sure that they continue to operate within the prescribed scope of work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The contractor is a competent and professional organization and has been successfully performing this task since 2003.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n An official with the contractor, Kwajalein Range Services, referred questions to Army officials on Kwajalein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Army Installation Management Command officials said they are in the process of separating the Kwajalein logistics support contract\u00a0into three separate contracts for fiscal 2018 \u2014 with a separate contract for base support, which\u00a0includes the grocery store. By separating the functions, companies will be able to concentrate on a core competency, which may improve this situation, one official said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “In the meantime, we can’t wait until the new contract,” Rice said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As garrison commander, Larsen said community morale\u00a0is a top priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We do our best as a garrison team, both U.S. government and contractor employees, to meet all of the demands of our island’s residents in regards to food quantities and diversity. It quite simply is not an easy task to accomplish 100 percent of the time, and unfortunately it takes time to rectify shortcomings.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, he said, “we have periods where there is a shortage of fresh produce and other available food items. The process of how our contractor transports supplies for our privatized commissary is a complex scenario. It can be negatively impacted by many different factors like weather, loss of refrigeration in container due to mechanical failure, lack of space available on barge because of containers left on our dock, and temperature interruption in transit, which recently happened to our produce deliveries.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said the installation worked with contractors “to improve the icing procedures and container insulation to reduce the risk of any future loss.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Officials recently took\u00a0corrective measures to stem “the significant loss on each shipment,” Larsen said,\u00a0and since those actions, loss has been\u00a0reduced to zero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![](\"\/Portals\/_default\/Skins\/PrestoLegacy\/CommonCss\/images\/embed.jpg\" "\\"KJ")
<\/strong>\n\n\n\n