Buck and a quarter MRE's....???

Dragonfly

I remember being in "Graf" a couple of times (Crap! 8th ID NCO Academy was in Bolmholder, not graf. Too much time in both places. Went to the NCO academy there too.
Once standing in the Iron Triangle we got snow, rain, wind and sunshine all at once.

Ate lotsa "C's" back then. You ain't lived until you've had cold Pork Slices in the snow 13 days in a row for breakfast. };^)


jim

 

Thought I'd never get the stink outta my wool sweater!

 

My first 6 months in country I ran LRRPs...funny thing is, we all looked forward to getting C rats. The LRRP rats were lighter and you really didn't need hot water (body heat worked "well enough" if you put them in your shirt for a while) but most of the entrees called for a good dose of Tabasco...there was probably some "grass is greener" involved on both sides.

After 6 mos I went off to be a gunner with the Cav and got real cooked meals almost every day...

EDIT: I just remembered something else about the LRRP rats...before we did LRRPs, we all had to go to what was then S.E.E. School...survival, escape and evasion (I guess they have added R for resist now)...and ate all sorts of nasty stuff there...we used to say they did it because it was the only way to make people happy to see LRRP rats...

 

I don't think I ever eat C rations that were younger than me. Since I was in ordnance, so we ha repair shelters that came with generators and other nice things. Our Warrant officer was good at mixing the different meat C's into a stew. It was pretty good.

 

cooking in the field is truly an artform....my preferred media is hot sauce LOL - everything gets doused in hot sauce...the salt comes in handy when you sweat like I do humping pack

 

All this talk of C- rations has me wanting to open a can of Spam and go fry me a couple of slices to have some sandwiches.

 

I loved to trade all the time...I would trade anything to get a can of lima beans! Forgive me, for I was young and stupid! I also loved the canned bread, I can't say why, but for years I'd go to the store and buy B&M bread in the can! Old habits are hard to break? Our C rats were so old, ( how old were they?) that the creamer in those packets had hardened enough you could chew it like gum! We had them in our APC's that were dated 1945 and 1947, does that even sound right? We broke down on an FTX with the Brits, Germans and French, (our APC threw a track after hitting a big rock up on the side of a mountain) and had to open a case... and we were almost courts martialed for that! We had to pay $12 for each of the 12 meals, even though we only ate 7! They took it out of our pay...all of us had to pay $144, the gov't made out big time on that one!

 

Being a Southern Boy, I like the Lima Beans too - the "Ham & M-efferrs" hold no terrors for me!


Yankees jist don't know whut good vittles is!

Once on my motorcycle forum, a feller had a pic of a gadget for off-road bikes - a little sheet steel 'oven' that would clip to the muffler, and after riding you'd slip an MRE or similar into - in a few minutes, you had a hot meal! Might see if I can cobble up something similar.

 

I carried a P38 on my key chain for years. Actually till about 2000. I finally replaced it with tweezers. I still have several.

I also stock some of the canned bread. MRE depot has canned "pilot bread" ie. John Wayne crackers in stock.

 

I have a bunch of P-38's now, and some P-51's ( bigger is easier!)

 

Oh ya, yum

The LRRP rations I got were produced by Ore Freeze Dry Foods - the Mountain House folks. Had to drink an extra qt of water or the little SOBs would suck all the moisture out of your bowel and you would need a pickaxe to take a dump.

We carried the LRRP rations, the Army guys we supported carried "C" rats. The dumb bunnies would trade a full ration box for one of the damn dry rations - we got the good eats, they humped the weight. Whata a deal.

We keep a mix of MH, MRE and canned foods. We can match out chow up to what we are going to do - FD for walking, the MREs if we are truck camping for canned goods for use in the 5th sheel...

 

I still carry a P-38. Once in a while, a co-worker finds their can for lunch has no pop-top, and they have no opener! The ol' Wolf to the rescue! I put the P-38 to use, and they are amazed! It's like they think it's some new-fangled gadget! They're shocked when I tell them GI's have used these for decades!
I can zip a can open as fast as many with a twist-style can opener.

The only canned bread I can find locally is a dark raison bread - pretty good for a desert-type, but not for sandwiches - and it's far too crumbly.
I find some "Cuban Crackers" locally, that are probably dense and dry enough to store for a fair time. Almost like the dry wafers the Catholics use in their church services.

 

I carried a P-38 till I came up on some P-51s,now I have one on my keyring.Great invention.

 

When I was in Germany and we first saw them, they were called B-29's. Shows how things change.

 

anyone else remember opening a can of C's and putting it back in the box and setting it on fire to cook it... always seemed to come out perfectly...

 

Cold creamed corn,,,cold chilli....cold anything in a can, Ain't (at this time) gonna use my c4 for cooking,,,uh, if I had any..
Canned is good if you don't have to carry it. LRRPs, ugh, better than some, worse than others. If 'ya wanna fill your belly the rice from MREs, unheated, and a dash through the bush will fill you right up.
Gotta go visit the shack out back,,just thinking about it.........GURGGLE, GURRGLE

 

Didnt know if you knew but you can 50-100lb bags of sliced dehydrated potatoes from Honeyfield.