Posted on Jun 24, 2015
Field/Combat Army Rations. What Are Your Stories of Eating Chow? CHOW SHARE OF THE DAY?
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Military Rations, MREs & Food we all got to have it for survival. I always said, you can work me hard but just feed me! There I was Soldering all day in Iraq, instead of an empty stomach all I wanted was some HOT chow to keep pushing. Just gives me that replenishment to DRIVE ON WITH FOR THE MISSION/TASK AT HAND!
The military food supply, combat rations, ranging from the canned rations of World War II, Korea and Vietnam to the modern Meals, Ready to Eat (MRE) and HooAH! Bar:
Field or Combat Army Rations: C-Rations, K-Rations, D-Rations and More
Rations are fundamental to military operations. The US Army Quartermaster Corps, and equivalent units in all military services around the world, have to provide for the daily food needs of combat and support troops under all conditions. While cooked food served from field kitchens, or mess hall food at permanent bases, covers much of the need, many front line troops require special rations prepared and packaged for field use. Here are some example(inclusive):
• Military Food Supply, General
• Field Hydration
• Field and Combat Rations ◦Field Rations: C, K, D & More
◦Meal, Ready to Eat (MRE)
◦HooAH! Bar
◦First Strike Ration
• Emergency Rations ◦WW II Emergency Rations
◦Food Packet, Survival, General Purpose, Improved
◦Food Packet, Survival, Abandon Ship
◦Food Packet, Survival, Aircraft, Life Raft
◦Water, Drinking, Emergency
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel Lt Col Charlie Brown SSG Michael Noll Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Cpl Vic Burk MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. SGT Charlie Lee PO2 Marco Monsalve SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth ] SSG William Jones SPC Nancy Greene PO1 Tony Holland SGT Mark Anderson LTC (Join to see) SGT Steve McFarland SGT James Murphy Sgt (Join to see) LTC David Brown 1SG Dan Capri CDR Andrew McMenamin, PhD
The military food supply, combat rations, ranging from the canned rations of World War II, Korea and Vietnam to the modern Meals, Ready to Eat (MRE) and HooAH! Bar:
Field or Combat Army Rations: C-Rations, K-Rations, D-Rations and More
Rations are fundamental to military operations. The US Army Quartermaster Corps, and equivalent units in all military services around the world, have to provide for the daily food needs of combat and support troops under all conditions. While cooked food served from field kitchens, or mess hall food at permanent bases, covers much of the need, many front line troops require special rations prepared and packaged for field use. Here are some example(inclusive):
• Military Food Supply, General
• Field Hydration
• Field and Combat Rations ◦Field Rations: C, K, D & More
◦Meal, Ready to Eat (MRE)
◦HooAH! Bar
◦First Strike Ration
• Emergency Rations ◦WW II Emergency Rations
◦Food Packet, Survival, General Purpose, Improved
◦Food Packet, Survival, Abandon Ship
◦Food Packet, Survival, Aircraft, Life Raft
◦Water, Drinking, Emergency
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel Lt Col Charlie Brown SSG Michael Noll Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Cpl Vic Burk MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. SGT Charlie Lee PO2 Marco Monsalve SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth ] SSG William Jones SPC Nancy Greene PO1 Tony Holland SGT Mark Anderson LTC (Join to see) SGT Steve McFarland SGT James Murphy Sgt (Join to see) LTC David Brown 1SG Dan Capri CDR Andrew McMenamin, PhD
Edited >1 y ago
Posted 10 y ago
Responses: 76
The C-rats we had in Vietnam were produced for the KOREAN WAR. How fresh were they? They would plug you up even after taking your Malaria Pills....... Worked better than Imodium....LOL
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SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL
MAJ Jim Woods Thanks for sharing, I bet they were tasty(LOL)! I appreciate the thread. Thanks for your Service!
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When I was in Vietnam I liked the chopped ham and eggs. Because others didn't I would trade with them. One day we were traveling through this disserted vill and saw this starving dog eating garbage. Feeling sorry for it I opened a can of chopped ham and eggs, put it on a piece of cardboard and gave it to him. he sniffed at it---ate a bit---than went back to eating garbage---needless to say--I figured if a starving dog would rather eat garbage than chopped ham and eggs--I figured it wasn't such a good idea for me to eat it either. --When my wife and I were first married we had a dog. One day I got him a couple cans of Alpo dog foot. When I opened one it looked and smelled just like the beef and potatoes we use to get in C- rations. I tasted some and it tasted the same---I bet the bastards were feeding us dog food. The times being what they were--I wouldn't have been surprised. It would also explain the urges I get to bite the mailman and pee on fire hydrants.
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SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL
1SG Patrick Sims wow, what a story, thank you for your service. I have been told that by Vietnam VETS and the more I hear it, I believe it. I know the rations of your era still resonates after all these years. Great story.--SWEET!
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LtCol Bruce Janis
Ah, the infamous beef and rocks! Actually, the Alpo version was the better of two varieties. The other had the beef at the bottom of the can, then the top was filled with thick slabs of potato, which required a Ka-Bar to cut up. Horrid stuff.
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We had C Rations in Vietnam. Always had an excess of ham and lima beans. No one would eat it.
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SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL
I wonder why... I get picture, thanks for the post. I keep hearing about those Lima beans. Must have been quite an experience.
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SPC George Long
I loved that meal so lots of times I got extra. They reminded me of Thanksgiving in WV>
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I never had much of an issue with any MRE until I discovered the omelet one. In the name of all that is holy, that was by far the most disgusting thing ever invented as a food source. It is so bad, not even hot sauce can save it. If you're young and don't know the nastiness that is the omelet MRE, do yourself a favor and pass on it.
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SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL
SSgt Charles Edwards now that you mentioned that MRE. it has almost messed up my appetite for the 4th of July. Just kidding, it's gross to say the least. Memories, when you down to the last one, and you end up with that one. Yeap, you had a bad day I would say.
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In 1971 I was setting in the turret of one of our V 100"s having some c-rats. We had escorted a convoy from Can Tho to The SF training base at Chi Lang. Anyway that was normally 2 days there and a day and a half running the V-100 solo back to Can Tho. Any way we decided to try to get back in a day and stopped beside the road in Chau Duc to eat and recheck our equipment before trying a fast run back. Within minutes we had attracted a group of probably 100 underfed kids. Well we always tried to give them something to eat. But they had arrived so late only I had anything left. I had a round piece or dark chocolate from a crat can. I took a single bite from it to show it was safe to ear. I pitched it to the crowd of kids like a little Frisbee. Well one of the smaller kids caught it. He took 1 bite from it and started cussing me in Vietnamese and English .He was not happy. Then he threw it back trying to hit me in the head. Well it was high and outside so they started picking up rocks to throw at me. I dropped into the turret, buttoned up and hit the road. Only time I had a kid throw candy at me.
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During a training deployments to the Big Island one of our cooks would make incredible soups from leftover T-rations and send it up to the hill for us to eat while we conducted night time fire missions. On one particular trip the Marines from K-Bay took over the mess hall for the last week of the exercise. When evening chow came to the hill we mentioned the soup to one of the Marines. He responded if we wanted soup he'd bring some up the next night. The next night our "soup" arrived, a kind of water/onion mixture we could only take as an indication the mess sergeant was not happy with our request. Worst of all it came in one of our drink containers, so for the rest of the exercise our juice and Kool-Aid had a distinct onion flavor.
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SPC (Join to see)
That's because Marines are riflemen first and then cooks, right? You can't make a good soup when you're having to pull 360 degree security.
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I remember becoming VERY inventive with MREs in the early days of OIF1 before they built the chowhalls.
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1st grtaf trip in 2/41-- out in tents - new private asked if he could warm his beans on our stove - said sure- was talking to my head medic when we heard a dull pop- turned and looked and that bean can looked like a wine keg-- we both yelled run and dove out door- hear a louder- much louder pop and this was followed by said young soldier coming out of tent trying to wipe those hot beans off his head face arms etc -- man what a mess
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This goes to show the difference between having to eat MRE's and not: I had been to a field exercise with my Reserve unit in 1986 and brought home 2-3 MRE's because I didn't like them. My mom & sisters saw them and asked if they could try them out. I tried to tell them they weren't any good, but they insisted so I let them have them. Wouldn't you know they loved them! I ended up having to pay $150 or so for two boxes of them to take home the next time we had a drill. Goes to show that your trash is someone else's Steak.
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SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL
SPC James Seigars thank you candidly for sharing, unbelievable story of chow.--Sweet!!
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