Full Story at: http://www.schistory.net/campcroft/messhall.html |
According to Joe Lipsius, the "Kitchen Police" were nothing more than the kitchen janitors. He writes:
"I remember with much pleasure my first encounters with the Mess Hall of Co C, 32nd Inf Trng Bn, IRTC, Camp Croft, SC, just outside of Spartanburg, SC...
The Mess Hall had its bad side, though. That was when you had to work kitchen police, better known as "KP." By some magic formula which was never explained, we all had our turn working in the kitchen in various jobs such as "firing the boiler", working the "pots and pans" sink, etc. After three or four turns at "KP," I finally earned Sgt. Stout's respect to the point he offered to make me a cook if I wanted to work in the kitchen. I said, "No thanks, Sarge, Sir. I like the food and I don't mind the kitchen work, but I like close-order drilling and marching better so I'll stick to doing it." -JL
In my house, the "magic formula" showed up on my kid's a chore chart when I wasn't assigning myself to it.