Most have probably heard those quotes in their lifetimes. There are conflicting reports as to who each one may or may not be attributed too. These are two truths and military leaders down through history have known this fact, felt the pangs of hunger, and then died of disease or starvation. Some saw it coming and pressed onwards only to die in a foreign land. Americans and their military leaders are no different. The U.S. Army realized early in our nation's history the value of keeping soldiers fed with calorie rich foods and a few luxuries added in the mix. This seemingly simple concept can go along way towards improving morale and combat effectiveness. Manufacturing, packaging, and distributing such rations has proved at times to be daunting logistical feat as anyone can imagine. I have always been interested in what American soldiers ate (good or bad) from the American Revolution till today. I have a very good friend who enjoys "building" authentic ration boxes, packaging, labels, etc. He makes various types of German WW2 field rations, iron rations, and specialty packages that the Germans provided to their wounded troops, Christmas treats, or sometimes a package of luxury items to take along when on furlough. My friend also makes various American WW2 rations (boxes, packages, labeling, wrapping paper, etc. ). He researches all the items and sometimes replicates the contents. Believe it or not, many of the items that comprised wartime rations are still available today and in some cases, the manufacturer of the item is the same. Anyhow, my ration hobbyist friend sent me this well written article from Beaches of Normandy Tours. I hope the readers find it as interesting as I.
A Marine heating up C-ration M-units and brewing coffee on Saipan
(Photo: U.S. military)
I've eaten my share, no complaints.
ReplyDeleteHave I had better? Of course.
But not while I was sitting in a snow filled foxhole in - degrees winter at night while pulling guard on the east German border. Was glad to have it. 'specially the sketty with 1/4" meatballs (beef ball bearings).
Was there with Ya GS, along with my Ham & Emffers. Also with Green Package Lucky Strike cigarettes for a post prandial smoke.
Deletedon't remember sketty with meatballs. I do remember baked beans with meatballs. that was good. most of the c-rats where okay if you could heat them up. the thing I miss though is the John Wayne bars. there where 2 of them in one can of side treats. and the "charlie's " where a 4 pack of smokes. after a few days in the field, a lot of trading went on over the smokes. in the 101st, we where given "lurp" rations. not bad, lots of rice meals. chicken with rice, beef with rice,,,, and corn flake bars. I seem to remember they where close to expiring, so I think that is why we got them. again, not bad if you could heat them up. the early MRE's where
Deletecrap compared to c-rats they had to get better as they couldn't get much worse than the ones we had back them. early 1980's dave in pa.
After a gun club meeting, one of us who was an air farce loadmaster was fondly remembering ham and mother-effers. One guy who was in the 5th Mech and me being air cav laughed our asses off at him and still give him shit for it must be going on ten years now.
DeleteIn his defense, he was a load master on C-133's and considering that airplane's abysmal safety record, he earned the right to like whatever he wanted (50 built, one burned up during ground refueling incident, one ditched but all the crew survived, and eight went down with loss of all aboard, including some that just disappeared over the ocean with no trace ever found or cause determined).
My Dad said the tropical issue chocolate bars had a lot of wax in them.
ReplyDeleteDon in Oregon
WWII, Pacific, I meant to add.
DeleteI thought that it was interesting that ingredients were intentionally put into some of the "chocolates" to deter soldiers from eating too much. I imagine some of these foods were loaded with vitamins and more than likely some sort of stimulants as the Germans spiked some of their rations in WW2. Of course, they had Pervitin too.
DeleteThe wax was so the chocolate bar wouldn't melt.
DeleteA fact not often discussed is that over all history Generals with large armies far from supplies mad battle decisions based on the need to cut the size of their force drastically so that the remainder would survive with the limited food supply available. Things like full frontal attacks against a large dug in force where many are killed.
ReplyDeleteI served from 1981 to 1987 and started with the Vietnam era C-Rations in cans. The field mess staff would disassemble the meals and the cans went into a boiling immersion heater for several minutes. There were another series of boiling immersion heaters for dipping your aluminum mess kit into for washing and sanitizing before picking up your meal and eating. As you progressed through the chow line, the hot main meal can was set on a table for you to pick from, and then you picked up the box of sides, condiments, dessert, TP, and matches that went with your entree. Last thing was getting your canteen cup filled with hot black coffee. In the meal box was sugar and powdered creamer, but that is how I learned to just drink it black (and still do). Around 1984 we started getting the first generation of MRE's which was a combination of dehydrated goods or vacuum sealed pouches in a pack with accessories. The dehydrated stuff just needed water. I remember dehydrated hot mashed potatoes and cold strawberries that was pretty good. A pouch of food warmed on top of the generator engine was not half bad either. I remember fellow soldiers (mostly females) that refused to eat any of it, so it all went into my personal stockpile and they just went hungry.
ReplyDeleteThe strawberry's were the best. Freeze dried if I remember correctly. Got pretty upset when those were discontinued.
DeleteI was in for the transition from C Rations to MRE's. The first and second generation of MRE's were very bad.
ReplyDeleteI am getting ready to move. While I was cleaning out my basement I found 2 cases of MRE's that were dated 1999. I remember getting issued a couple of cases for home use in preparation of any Y2K mishaps. I opened one that I knew had the chocolate bar. It was still good after 24 years.
A while back, I attended the Army Technology Expo at Aberdeen Proving Ground. Aside from the munitions, they had a whole section on the latest food. They gave a contract to Hershey to make a high melt temperature chocolate bar. I was impressed, the chocolate was pretty good. They said that before this they gave the troops M &Ms. And they still do. The real push was to improve the quality of the MREs. Some of them were actually good. Others, particularly the pasta ones were not so good. By the way, the can was invented because Napoleon gave a prize to anyone who could figure out how to transport food for his army that would not spoil, and hence the can was invented. The modern Army should probably use commercially available canned goods to feed the troops.
ReplyDeleteAfter high school, worked at a copy place owned by one of the Stephano brothers, of Stephano tobacco company. During WWII they had a contract to supply cigarettes for the C rations. I believe there were 2 cigarettes in each package.
ReplyDeleteI would say God bless you all that served and being old but not old enough these memories are good to read for the rest of use.
ReplyDeleteThank you for for bringing back some memories. I was there for the transition, and remember the dehydrated hamburger patty, which looked like a dirty, dried sponge. Others weren't as bad... for various values of "bad".
ReplyDeleteI remember green eggs and Spam, beef and shrapnel, and the beef steak c rations. They were usually pretty good hot.
ReplyDeleteMy dad had some air force emergency rations that were two crackers, one cheese and potato flavored and one chicken flavored, one cornflake bar and a fudge bar with a pack of chicken bouillon. Pretty nasty stuff save for the cornflake bar.
In 1970 on a CVA we were given 'C-Rats' from the 1950s, all were still eatable but the cigarettes were really stale........
ReplyDeleteThe only saving grace in the Desert Shield/Storm and post-war ops MREs was the tiny little bottle of Tabasco sauce included in some of them. The chicken ala king looked like vomit, but it was the "best" of the bunch available to my squadron.
ReplyDeleteWell, they took away the little bottle of Tabasco and replace them with plastic packets, as the Afghans would use the discarded little bottles as fuzzes for pressure plates IEDs'. As well as discarded AAA / AA batteries (they had enough juice to set things off.).
DeleteI actually got a c ration with ham and lima beans once. It was pretty good. It was apparently the last of the leftovers from the Korean war. I do remember fondly the pound cake
ReplyDeleteLoved the pound cake.
DeleteIIRR it was included in the crappy C-rats like Ham &MF and Ham and beans (other MF's)
And the toffee candy.
Was in from '80- '89 had both the C-rats and MRE's.
ReplyDeleteMost of the c-rats I liked- and as others have said, they ALL tasted better warm.
MRE's.... ehhh, but I remember the shredded potatoes as a good thing that could soak up the questionable main course.
Ham and mutherfucas no thanks. I stil like the spaghetti and meatballs
ReplyDeletetest comment
ReplyDeleteGreat article Irish. I had to chuckle thinking back to the MRE's we used to get in both A-Stan and the Sandbox. The two things I remember most: Pound Cake and Charms. The Pound Cake dessert was the most popular and traded for item. I used to heat mine up on my Nesbit stove and have it with my coffee. Charms was another matter entirely. Ask any Marine about the "Charms curse" 😂
ReplyDeletePosted for TX2Guns as the comment section was wonky this morning.
A question; Does your friend sell the C-rats commercially? After all Halloween is coming...
ReplyDeleteirontomflint
I'm not sure if he does, but some can/could be found on ebay that look "good" in pictures, but I cannot vouch for their quality.
DeleteNever had to live on these foods but did eat a lot of hiker's dehydrated meals on the Appalachian Trail. Could be ... unfortunate stuff. This guy has a channel on various military rations through history - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=graq5rSFH4E
ReplyDeleteFriend of mine, former Marine, took his young kid to Bremerton when a ship was in with some of his still active-duty friends were aboard. He later told me they fed the kid MREs. Coming back on the ferry, he asked his son what he thought of the food. Kid said he now knew why Marines are angry all the time! Good laugh there.
Meals Rejected by Ethiopians....
ReplyDelete