Soup and salad tables
From USAFA Folklore
Soup and salad tables (sometimes called "light tables") were established in Mitchell Hall at the request of women cadets and others who found that the 3200 calorie diet made it impossible to maintain their desired weight. Cadets who often signed up for the soup and salad tables included: women cadets, wrestlers, boxers, and male first class cadets, particularly football players trying to make commissioning weight.
On occasion, cadets who normally sit at the light tables will "cheat" and raid desserts from the regular tables before the majority of the Wing arrives.
Between 1955-1961,and to the best of my recollection, the cadets ate a 5,000 calorie daily diet and had no difficulty "maintaining the desired weight" because the physical demands were so great that caloric input was equal to energy output. (Hector Negroni, 1961)
