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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Brian Rogers <rogers@****.UIUC.EDU>
Subject: MREs
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 1997 13:10:56 -0500
Paul, I thought you were kidding about just how bad an MRE really is. Being
the type of person I am, I had a friend in the reserves bring me some so
I could try them. OH MAN! They DO NOT give you enough tabasco to make
that shit taste anything better than like reconstituted fecal matter.

Chicken and Rice, A cookie, some M&Ms, grape kool-aid, some crackers, cheese,
a brick of chalk labeled "fruit", and a coffee pack!

And, of course, after chewing down the coffee and sugar (with a shot of
water -- damn, how cold you have even written that without cringing, that
was damned aweful!) I find the salt that would have made the chicken and
rice THAT MUCH MORE edible. Oh, man, that was bad.
Message no. 2
From: "Paul J. Adam" <shadowtk@********.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: MREs
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 02:37:30 +0100
In message <199704231810.NAA12772@*****.crhc.uiuc.edu>, Brian Rogers
<rogers@****.uiuc.edu> writes
>Paul, I thought you were kidding about just how bad an MRE really is. Being
>the type of person I am, I had a friend in the reserves bring me some so
>I could try them. OH MAN! They DO NOT give you enough tabasco to make
>that shit taste anything better than like reconstituted fecal matter.

If you're lucky you'll get to try a 24-Hour Ration Pack GP. Even the GS
packs are excellent compared to MREs.

(GS packs are based around canned food: excellent except it's more work
to heat. GP packs had more menu options and were packed in plastic
"retort pouches" like MRE main meals, except the edibility wasn't
chemically removed during packaging).

>Chicken and Rice, A cookie, some M&Ms, grape kool-aid, some crackers, cheese,
>a brick of chalk labeled "fruit", and a coffee pack!

Yeah, pretty poor.

Let's see, my favourite GS ratpack (remember this is for one 24-hour
period, not three-a-day like MREs, and is also from memory):

Canned bacon grill (7oz can)
Canned Steak and Kidney Pudding (7oz can)
Canned baked beans in tomato sauce (7oz can)
Canned Mixed Fruit Cocktail (7oz can)
3 packs Biscuits, Brown
1 can ham and chicken pate (3oz or so)
1 pack dehydrated apple and apricot flakes
1 packet biscuits, fruit
1 chocolate bar (usually a Mars Bar with Arabic labelling)
1 pack boiled sweets
1 pack dextrose tablets

And to round off all the above:
1 "beverage pack".

The "beverage pack" or "brew kit" contains (as makings or packaged)
4 pints tea
4 pints coffee
1 pint hot chocolate
1 pint bouillon
1 pint orange/lemon drink (this is basically Kool-Aid, there to make
water drinkable after it's had Puritabs added)
Enough chlorine-based Puritabs to make 2 pints of dodgy water drinkable
1 book damp-resistant matches
5 lifeboat matches (can be struck underwater...)
Chewing gum
Toilet paper
1 x folding can opener

The only thing missing seems to be a kitchen sink, and a spoon (the
plastic spoon in each MRE is a nice touch and quite valued. Some claim
it fits a sleeve pocket perfectly: I carried cigarettes in one sleeve
pocket and a locknife and a Mag-Lite in the other, and a spoon in my web
gear).


The whole pack breaks down neatly into your web gear and combat jacket,
additional packs fit comfortably into a rucksack, and one 24-Hour Pack
GS provides (if you eat all the sugar and Non-Dairy Whitener supplied
with the brew kit) something like 4500 calories. You can live
indefinitely on them (though with only four menus for GS packs and eight
for GP, they do become monotonous).

You do tend to discard a lot of non-dairy whitener and sugar from the
brew kit, and swap tea bags for coffee powder (I'm a coffee man, others
swore by the tea: I found the teabags were useful for cleaning a dirty
mess tin) if conditions are fairly good.

Also, typical exercise rules are one ratpack to cover a weekend, since
you eat on Friday night before going out, eat the ratpack over Saturday,
have a field breakfast Sunday, and get a "haversack meal" lunch (is "box
lunch" the right Americanism? Sandwiches and an apple, anyway) at the
unit while cleaning weapons and stowing kit.

>And, of course, after chewing down the coffee and sugar (with a shot of
>water -- damn, how cold you have even written that without cringing, that
>was damned aweful!)

Been there. Done that. Some people take pride in it, even claim to like
it, I just wanted to stay awake :)

I did wonder if anyone would actually try it, Brian. Admit it, you
stayed awake :)

>I find the salt that would have made the chicken and
>rice THAT MUCH MORE edible. Oh, man, that was bad.

Yeah, US field rations seem pretty dire. Never had a MRE I really liked.
There's no extra salt in ratpacks: but then there's never a problem
getting people to eat them either.

Mind you, US soldiers carry so much "real food" with them it's not
true... maybe because the MREs are so bad. British troops rely on
ratpacks because they're edible: the main "extra" item is canned fruit
in syrup, because it's fast energy, very palatable, and as edible cold
as hot.

Amazing how useful tinned pear halves can be :) Two cans split between
five people has the most amazing restorative effect...

--
There are four kinds of homicide: felonious, excusable, justifiable and
praiseworthy...

Paul J. Adam paul@********.demon.co.uk

Further Reading

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