Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Pentagon spent more on lobster in one month than it did on trans health care all year

https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/lavish-pentagon-spending-exposed

Christopher Wiggins (11 March 2026)

The U.S. military spent millions of dollars under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's watch on lobster, steak, luxury furnishings, and a grand piano during a late-year spending surge, even as the Trump administration has argued in federal court that providing medical care to transgender service members is an undue financial burden on the armed forces.

A new analysis by the government watchdog group Open the Books found that the Department of Defense spent $93.4 billion on grants and contracts in September 2025 alone, the final month of the fiscal year. The figure marks the largest single-month spending total ever recorded by a federal agency, according to the group.

Among the purchases identified in the report were $6.9 million spent on lobster, $2 million on Alaskan king crab, and $15.1 million on ribeye steak in September alone. The spending also included 272 orders of doughnuts totaling $139,224, and $124,000 for ice cream machines.

Kara Corcoran, executive director of SPARTA Pride, an organization representing transgender people who serve or have served in the U.S. military, told The Advocate that the government's financial argument collapses when compared with the Pentagon's broader spending.

"The DOJ's claim in courts that transgender service members represent a meaningful cost burden to the Department of Defense doesn't withstand scrutiny," Corcoran said in a statement. "The Pentagon's own data shows that care for these service members has averaged about $5.2 million per year — a mere drop in the bucket within a defense budget measured in hundreds of billions."

Quote from: Jessica_Rose on March 12, 2026, 12:55:36 PM272 orders of doughnuts totaling $139,224

ONE order of donuts costs $511.85? I hope that is not for a dozen.

They ordered 272 orders in a month.

Pentagon: "Hey, who ate all the donuts?"

The soldiers need a lot of food.  Be careful as you read articles such as this one that false conclusions are not made.  One cannot assume fraud and waste.  Our soldiers need to be fed.  I do not mind if they get expensive seafood and steak sometime.  Why not?

We also want our soldiers to receive all the gender related care they need.  For sure.

Thanks to all of you who are serving or have served. 

Units are given a budget to spend on food for the troops. Lobster, King Crab, and ribeye steak were prepared about once a month, or when returning from a long training exercise. They were too expensive to have around all the time. Our cooks made donuts every day; they were not purchased in bulk. They were all made from scratch.

As a young recruit, I did my share of KP duty, and one of the nastiest jobs they gave us was cleaning grease traps. The oil used in the deep fryers for donuts in the morning had to be emptied. Then fresh oil was put in for French fries and/or fish cakes for lunch or dinner.

I say feed our troops well.  It does not need to be really expensive food all the time, of course.

You never know when a soldier will have his or her last meal.  They give it all for you and me.

         In my humble opinion:

For anyone that has served or is serving in Military Duty
                    the original article is disgusting and disrespectful.

This article does not do justice to the military personnel that are far from home, in a
job that can risk their lives and are doing tough dangerous jobs for pay that is well under
the pay and safety from similar civilian jobs.
 
It is the devotion of men and women to patriotic duty to serve in the USA military, away from home,
in places and in conditions that civilians would not wish to live for many months and sometimes
years at a time... and knowing that they may never make it back home alive.

Meanwhile, civilians back home living a more secure life enjoy being with family and friends, freely
eating the foods that are discussed in the article and have their choice of restaurants and
entertainment at times of their choice.

Let us not forget the respect, honor and thanks that are due to our past and present Military members.

Danielle [Northern Star Girl]
    The Forum Administrator
                            US Air Force Veteran... served right after college.
                                    1st Lt   (O2) First Lieutenant 
                                  Much of that time at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas
                                  Financial Staff at the Air Education and Training Command
                                  *(MOS)[/size] 6F0X1 Financial Management and Comptroller.

cc:  @Devlyn  @Lori Dee  @Dances With Trees  @Rochelle  @Sephirah 
@KathyLauren  @Melissa anne  @Annaliese  @April Marie 
@Michelle_K  @Robbyv213  @Miharu Barbie  @MFaraday

I don't think the article was trying to say that our military members don't deserve good food, it was stating that care for transgender members was an extremely small part of the overall budget. The $5.2 million dollar yearly cost which was described as a 'meaningful burden' by the DOJ, was less than the amount spent on lobster for a single month. Everyone in the military has earned the best we can provide, and that includes all of the transgender members.

Love always -- Jessica Rose

I am not at all sure that the spending on lobster and king crab, and whatever else this article talks about, had anything to do with the men and women actively serving their country far from home at all. I am more inclined to think it was spent on dinners for Generals and Admirals going to plan out where to send these hardworking personnel next. The way it was presented is rather ambiguous.