‘It’s the most heartbreaking thing’: the active-duty soldiers who have to visit Texas food banks

Nearly half of enlisted families struggled to afford enough food last year. Congress has known for decades how to solve the problem

This article was produced with the Food & Environment Reporting Network, and supported by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project

The Armed Services YMCA in Harker Heights, Texas, is a state-of-the-art facility, with a swimming pool, gym and coffee shop. There's also a food pantry tucked away in a small room at the far end of a hallway on the second floor, where active-duty soldiers stationed nearby at Fort Hood can receive free groceries. More than a dozen pantries surround the army base, where about 40,000 soldiers are stationed.

The pantry's parking lot is where I found Miguel Perez on a July morning, lugging a heavy reusable grocery bag to his pickup under the already blazing central Texas sun.