Also, that 5% adds up when it's on everything vs states that only tax some things. Don't get me wrongl, they do sometimes provide great service. But when pennies are tight as a jr enlisted, it's frequent to shop around to get the best deals everywhere vs all from the commissary.

Not necessarily, often they would be of lower quality, like factory seconds. Ex, overseas I would buy Honey Nut Cheerios, but sometimes not all the O's had honey nut goodness, it was like 1 in 5 O's in the box, the rest were regular. Products could also be beyond their best buy dates.

They do, however, add a 5% surcharge to your total bill, which in some states is way more than what state/local taxes on food are.

I had a nightmare about this last night. My child, born on a US military base in a foreign country doesn't have a 'birth cert' they have a report of birth abroad (birthright citizen). Host country doesn't recognize them due to SOFA, but all documentation shows their birth as foreign.