U.S. Military Troops Are Being Served Steak and Lobster, but What Does That Mean?

As speculation continues to grow about whether President Trump is going to go to war with Iran, people are looking for signs that war is imminent wherever they can. Among the signs that people have looked for are the meals that are currently being served to troops.

In a series of viral posts on social media, it's clear that at least some deployed troops are being served steak and lobster. Many have read a lot into this meal, so here's what we know about what it might mean.

There is no preset meaning for a steak and lobster meal inside the military, but it's rare enough that it set off alarm bells in some corners of the internet. Many have speculated that troops are receiving this meal as a "deployment meal," meaning that the military wants to send them off to war after a good meal. The video that's gone the most viral, though, is actually a recirculated clip that was originally taken in February of this year, according to Newsweek.

That means, then, that the meal has nothing to do with the present-day speculation about whether the U.S. is going to wind up going to war with Iran. Although it's possible that troops are given a nice meal before they're deployed, this meal was not given for that reason. Troops might be treated to a nice meal for all sorts of reasons, and it seems that the lobster and steak were not actually related to Trump's overall plans for Iran.

Trump has said that he will decide whether he wants to go to war with Iran within the next two weeks, which has left the entire nation on edge about whether we're about to be launched into another conflict in the Middle East.

Trump, who famously railed against foreign wars during his first campaign for president, is considering the move to support Israel, which has already launched "preemptive" strikes against the country that targeted their leadership and their nuclear facilities.

Anyone who has been alive for the last 20 years is likely aware, though, that war in the Middle East is never as simple as it might seem to be. "Nobody knows what I want to do. But I can say this: Iran's got a lot of trouble and wants to negotiate," Trump said on Wednesday.

Of course, it's impossible to launch a foreign war without putting service men and women in danger.

The steak and lobsters are not a sign that we're about to be at war, but that doesn't mean that we won't be sometime soon. Trump isn't tipping his hand to anyone, though, so it's unlikely that even those in charge of meals for the military know whether we're going to war soon or not. The president is making that call, one way or another (even though he should probably include Congress).