Remember C-Rations?

VIETNAM WAR RATIONS OF THE DAY

A VIENAM WAR VETERAN SAYS:

I do! As an infantry soldier in Vietnam, C-Rations was my sole source of nourishment for at least 300 of the 365 days I served in-country.

When out on missions, infantry units were re-supplied with food, water, ammunition, clothes and other items by helicopter every three to five days. Cases of C-Rations are assigned and split among a squad of soldiers – there’s an ample supply to cover three meals per person – 4.5 pounds of canned wet food for each day’s adequate nourishment. However, none of us wanted to carry that much extra weight on our backs, instead, most settling for a single complete meal per day and extra cans of crackers, cakes and fruit to supplement their diet until the next resupply – all stuffed into a sock and tied to the back of a rucksack.

hump with sack

C-Rations are commercially prepared meals, used in the field and at times when hot meals were not available. These meals came in a case containing 12 meals. Each meal was in it’s own cardboard box, which contained the individual items sealed in cans. A can opener (called both a “John Wayne” or a “P-38”) was needed to open the cans.

p38

The accessory pack with each meal was sealed in a foil pouch.

mci-accessorypack-small

se;ectopm

Some of the meals weren’t too bad, especially if somebody from home sent Heinz-57 Sauce or Hot Sauce to doctor them up.

hot sauce

Others were downright awful (Ham and Lima beans) and passed over – left behind for the Cherries when it is their turn to pick out meals. In an effort to keep things fair, I’ve witnessed squad leaders dumping cases of C-Rations upside down (hiding the name of the meal) and mixing them up to give everyone an equal chance of selecting a popular meal. Not sure how the armor units split their meals. I can only remember seeing cases of C-Rations stacked inside APC’s along with several five-gallon containers of water when we came upon them in the jungle.

eat3

I remember having to eat my C-Ration meal cold because we were either on the move or rushed to leave in the mornings. Honestly, the scrambled egg chunks or beans and weenies weren’t bad cold, but the rest needed to be heated in order to be palatable. Heating the meals and water required a small stove (see article below) with Sterno tabs or C-4 plastic explosive, the later burning very hot and fast – preferred for quick meals. The C-4 was safe to use as long as it wasn’t compressed or using too much at one time.

cooking

The popular meals and cans of pound cake, peaches and fruit cocktail were prized and worth their weight in gold – many soldiers hoarding them to barter for items during evening chow breaks; only one of each are included in every case of meals.