Each guy has about $342/month taken out of his pay for food while onboard a big ship. That gets them three meals a day. On this smaller one it is more like 75 to 150 for breakfast and lunch. They are on their own for dinner, usually in port. When they are deployed far from home, the cook shops in the PX, local grocery store or market (like in Bagdad or Beirut). Can labels are not in English.
Ships/crews have unique personalities despite the identical rigorous training they all receive.
The Navy guys think that the Coast Guard guys are undisciplined goof offs with fat budgets and money to waste…they replace they don’t maintain. The coast guard guys get cushy mattresses too (his ship had previously been used by the Coast Guard). The current crew didn’t refuse to sleep on them though!