David's been down in New Orleans for most of the summer helping his parents
with their house and sailing. Today I got another package in the mail from
him, it was part of an MRE kit (they have CASES of MRE's, the FEMA people were
just dropping them off for weeks and they don't want them back). The package
was labeled "Cookies with pan coated chocolate disks". I had no idea what that
meant or what to expect. I opened it up and "pan coated chocolate disk" is the
very official way to describe m&m's. They're surprisingly good!

Tomorrow I fly down to NOLA to spend 11 days with David. We're taking his
dad's sailboat out to the barrier islands outside Ocean Springs and then maybe
out to the gulf. I hope the other MRE's are as good because we'll be living n
the boat for a couple days at a time.

--
..:Heather:.
www.velvet-c.com
Poor Impulse Control.

The Bubbo wrote:
> David's been down in New Orleans for most of the summer helping his parents
> with their house and sailing. Today I got another package in the mail from
> him, it was part of an MRE kit (they have CASES of MRE's, the FEMA people were
> just dropping them off for weeks and they don't want them back). The package
> was labeled "Cookies with pan coated chocolate disks". I had no idea what that
> meant or what to expect. I opened it up and "pan coated chocolate disk" is the
> very official way to describe m&m's. They're surprisingly good!
>
> Tomorrow I fly down to NOLA to spend 11 days with David. We're taking his
> dad's sailboat out to the barrier islands outside Ocean Springs and then maybe
> out to the gulf. I hope the other MRE's are as good because we'll be living n
> the boat for a couple days at a time.
>
Drink lots of water if you're gonna eat those MREs. Also, remember
they're pretty calorie dense.
Goomba

Goomba38 wrote:
> The Bubbo wrote:
>> David's been down in New Orleans for most of the summer helping his parents
>> with their house and sailing. Today I got another package in the mail from
>> him, it was part of an MRE kit (they have CASES of MRE's, the FEMA people
were
>> just dropping them off for weeks and they don't want them back). The
package
>> was labeled "Cookies with pan coated chocolate disks". I had no idea what
that
>> meant or what to expect. I opened it up and "pan coated chocolate disk" is
the
>> very official way to describe m&m's. They're surprisingly good!
>>
>> Tomorrow I fly down to NOLA to spend 11 days with David. We're taking his
>> dad's sailboat out to the barrier islands outside Ocean Springs and then
maybe
>> out to the gulf. I hope the other MRE's are as good because we'll be living
n
>> the boat for a couple days at a time.
>>
> Drink lots of water if you're gonna eat those MREs. Also, remember
> they're pretty calorie dense.
> Goomba

Yeah, these cookies are not so healthy! As I was finishing them off I found a
dessicant pack in there as well. I do have to be careful with the calories,
they are crazy high.

My dad is a retired army officer and he assures me that MRE's are 450,000
times better now than when he was eating them.

--
..:Heather:.
www.velvet-c.com
Poor Impulse Control.

In article >,
The Bubbo > wrote:

> Yeah, these cookies are not so healthy! As I was finishing them off I found a
> dessicant pack in there as well. I do have to be careful with the calories,
> they are crazy high.
>
> My dad is a retired army officer and he assures me that MRE's are 450,000
> times better now than when he was eating them.

That's because he ate C-rats or K-rats. They didn't have MRE's back
then. C-rats are indeed nasty.

Actually the parents could set up a lovely web site or e-bay account and
sell those MRE's. People will pay quite a bit for them. People like
them for emergency supplies and even camping.

marcella

Marcella Peek wrote:

> [snip]
> Actually the parents could set up a lovely web site or e-bay account and
> sell those MRE's. People will pay quite a bit for them. People like
> them for emergency supplies and even camping.
>

Or, they could pass them along to other folks in New Orleans less
fortunate than they. -aem

aem wrote:
>
> Marcella Peek wrote:
>
> > [snip]
> > Actually the parents could set up a lovely web site or e-bay account and
> > sell those MRE's. People will pay quite a bit for them. People like
> > them for emergency supplies and even camping.
> >
>
> Or, they could pass them along to other folks in New Orleans less
> fortunate than they. -aem

Probably the better idea.

Current generation MRE are quite good. I've sampled a handful of the
different menus they have and all were good. I keep an MRE and a liter
bottle of water in the truck next to my tool kit. Never know when you'll
get stuck somewhere and a quick meal will really help before fixing the
truck.

Pete C.

Marcella Peek wrote:
> In article >,
> The Bubbo > wrote:
>
>> Yeah, these cookies are not so healthy! As I was finishing them off I found
a
>> dessicant pack in there as well. I do have to be careful with the calories,
>> they are crazy high.
>>
>> My dad is a retired army officer and he assures me that MRE's are 450,000
>> times better now than when he was eating them.
>
> That's because he ate C-rats or K-rats. They didn't have MRE's back
> then. C-rats are indeed nasty.
>
> Actually the parents could set up a lovely web site or e-bay account and
> sell those MRE's. People will pay quite a bit for them. People like
> them for emergency supplies and even camping.
>
> marcella

aaah right c-rations! That's what they were. God he had some horror stories
about the food.

--
..:Heather:.
www.velvet-c.com
Poor Impulse Control.

The Bubbo wrote:
> Goomba38 wrote:
> > The Bubbo wrote:
> >> David's been down in New Orleans for most of the summer helping his parents
> >> with their house and sailing. Today I got another package in the mail from
> >> him, it was part of an MRE kit (they have CASES of MRE's, the FEMA people
> were
> >> just dropping them off for weeks and they don't want them back). The
> package
> >> was labeled "Cookies with pan coated chocolate disks". I had no idea what
> that
> >> meant or what to expect. I opened it up and "pan coated chocolate disk" is
> the
> >> very official way to describe m&m's. They're surprisingly good!
> >>
> >> Tomorrow I fly down to NOLA to spend 11 days with David. We're taking his
> >> dad's sailboat out to the barrier islands outside Ocean Springs and then
> maybe
> >> out to the gulf. I hope the other MRE's are as good because we'll be living
> n
> >> the boat for a couple days at a time.
> >>
> > Drink lots of water if you're gonna eat those MREs. Also, remember
> > they're pretty calorie dense.
> > Goomba
>
> Yeah, these cookies are not so healthy! As I was finishing them off I found a
> dessicant pack in there as well. I do have to be careful with the calories,
> they are crazy high.
>
> My dad is a retired army officer and he assures me that MRE's are 450,000
> times better now than when he was eating them.


>From personal experience - the original MREs were the pits. You could
add boiling hot water to the dehydrated fruit cocktail and it would
still remain a soilid brick. The peanut butter and the "beenie weenie"
meal were the only things edible. The new MRE's - well we would buy
them for my daughter's dive trips - hot lunch, high calorie between
dives in chilly Puget Sound - the extra calories and fats were
definitely burned off lugging dive gear up and down a cliff plus 40
minutes in 50 degree F water.

SD

Marcella Peek wrote:
> In article >,
> The Bubbo > wrote:
>
> > Yeah, these cookies are not so healthy! As I was finishing them off I found a
> > dessicant pack in there as well. I do have to be careful with the calories,
> > they are crazy high.
> >
> > My dad is a retired army officer and he assures me that MRE's are 450,000
> > times better now than when he was eating them.
>
> That's because he ate C-rats or K-rats. They didn't have MRE's back
> then. C-rats are indeed nasty.
>
> Actually the parents could set up a lovely web site or e-bay account and
> sell those MRE's. People will pay quite a bit for them. People like
> them for emergency supplies and even camping.
>
> marcella

I'd eat C-rats over the original MREs any day...I've had both. The
original MREs sucked big time.

SD

Tet ? My respects to you, but I must beg your pardon, you meant freeze
dried LRRP meals, the silvery green pouches. The first MREs came in
chocolate brown plastic bags & didn't come out until the 80s.

The main LRRP meal was in a clear plastic bags you added water to and ate
out of. 900 calories ea. Yes, Chicken and Rice & Chicken Stew were the
best and most sought after. The Chili was freeze dried gristle & rock hard
dried beans, at the time it was legal to use the last USDA categories of
"meat" to feed the troops. No Cigarettes in LRRPS so you could always trade
the Leg REMF's that horded the good LRRPS a box of Cs.

Heated water up in a Canteen cup with C4 in a C-rat cracker stove as Heat
Tabs were hard to get and Sterno if you could get it was never hot enough
to heat the water hot enough. But you had to have enough hot/warm water left
to make the requisite coco powder, coffee, sugar and cream packet drink.

The LRRPs were light weight but took up a lot of room in the ruck and we
didn't have the collapsible 2 qt canteens then so water was always an
issue. The fruit flavored Rice bars were pretty bland but they had better
chocolate bars, the silver killers.

I liked most of the C-rats, like Spaghetti and Meatballs (That is what they
called it anyway) all but Caraway cheese was palatable. I even think the
Ham and Eggs was good if you had time to cook and you had the right
condiments. Did have a Beef & Potatoes once that had a 4 Oz glob of slimy
fat in it.

Most of my Ranger Team took Ramen Noodles as they were 10c vs. having give
up Separate Rats pay and there were always single soldiers with a stock pile
of Cs they would give for a chance to have a BBQ out of the Barracks.



"L, not -L" > wrote in message
.net...
>
> On 14-Jul-2006, Marcella Peek > wrote:

>
> Guess it depends one what you think of as "back then". I served in
> Vietnam
> in '68-'69 and MREs were becoming available; toward the end of my tour, we
> were eating MREs more often than C-rations. We quickly learned that it
> was
> a bad idea to eat the freeze dried MRE (didn't always have time to stop
> for
> a meal) without reconstituting it first.
>
> Chili Con Carne had crunchy beans, no matter how much water you used or
> how
> long you soaked the stuff. My favorites were Beef with Rice, Chicken with
> Rice and Chicken Stew..
>

Hotel Co/75th Infantry (Ranger), 1st Cav? or one of the Recon units?
Regardless, my hat is off to you, a good medic is worth his weight in gold.
My first assignment was a bit later with A/75th Inf (Ranger), 1st Cav, Ft.
Hood. in 72

A Rats are Hot meals
B 's are cans needing to be fixed
C-Rats are Meals, Ready to eat, standard Military Nomenclature for all
canned foods which included the old K-rats it is just now they are know as
MRE sans cans
Here is a pic from your era 1967 :
http://www.olive-drab.com/od_rations_crescent_mil-r.php bet this bring
back some memories for you. I almost forgot about the infamous Turkey Loaf
and the Beans and Franks. My kids born 72 and 74 used to love for me to
open the B2 units and cheese and play Army.. Strange they liked the "John
Wayne" candy bars. The Fruit Cake was a throw away!

Here is a LRRP meal, Freeze Dried, Different pouch than I recall ?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=150009927189 . I also
don't recall getting these after 74 in the Ranger Bat. I heard they were
discontinued.because of being too lo-cal for a soldier's use.

All B& C meals are supposed to be inspected by the Vet Doc( what does that
tell you?) every 7-10 years. I got some bad apple sauce in Ranger School in
the Mountains(Winter class), puked my guts out all night and then woke in
the infirmary the next morning with 8 other bodies in there. I had to catch
up with the next class and to this day I do not eat apple sauce.

You mentioned heat! , the peanut butter would burn! lots of oil in that
one. If your poncho hooch was close enough to the ground, you dug a hole
about 4-6 inches and fired it up putting it in the bottom . it was nice
and toasty. Couldn't use C4, Sterno or Heat Tabs for the fumes. But you
needed to be in a secure base camp and have the old thick ponchos and the
newer lightweight ponchos shined light and glowed like a Jack O lantern
ones and Top was always on your butt for that, secure base camp or not..

My best to you this day Doc.



"L, not -L" > wrote in message
...
>
> On 16-Jul-2006, "Gunner" > wrote:
>
>> Tet ? My respects to you, but I must beg your pardon, you meant freeze
>> dried LRRP meals, the silvery green pouches. The first MREs came in
>> chocolate brown plastic bags & didn't come out until the 80s.
>
> Yes, I arrived "in-country" in time for Tet of '68 and was assigned to the
> 1st Cavalry in lovely Quang Tri, near DMZ.
>
> Military jargon is an interesting thing; as I recall it, LRRP was an
> informal name because LRRPs were the guys they were intended for,
> initially.
> As I recall it, the rations' nomenclature was MRE. Perhaps not the same
> MREs others have mentioned, but MREs; I am near certain the cases they
> came
> in were labelled as such (M Meals, Ready to Eat) whereas canned ration
> cases were labelled C-rations (occasionally K-rations). In both
> instances,
> the lettering on the case was quite large. Perhaps the memory plays a
> trick
> or two; but, that is how I remember it.
>
> I was a medic assigned to a 1st Cav recon unit. After the LRRPs (the
> long-range recon guys, not meals) supply chain was full of these meals, QM
> corp began supplying our unit with them as well; especially when we were
> in
> situations where we could not receive regular resupply drops.
>
>
>> I liked most of the C-rats, like Spaghetti and Meatballs (That is what
>> they
>> called it anyway) all but Caraway cheese was palatable. I even think
>> the
>> Ham and Eggs was good if you had time to cook and you had the right
>> condiments. Did have a Beef & Potatoes once that had a 4 Oz glob of
>> slimy
>> fat in it.
>
> I liked the smokey cheese, it was especially good mixed into a can of lima
> beans. I no longer recall what vintage meals these items were in; I know
> at
> various times we received rations produced as early as 1953, but most were
> from the 1960s and "flavors" varied over the years.
>
> The only use I ever recall for the canned eggs was to chop them up real
> good, mixed with a little kerosene pilfered from the REMFs generator and
> used to provide a little heat in the bunker during monsoons. Seemed to
> burn
> forever; no doubt an illusion, but much safer than an open tin of just
> kerosene.
>
> Ahhh, the good old days. We used to fight over who got the meager
> Chuckles
> supply from the PSPs (Personal Supply Package???) and the Vietnamese
> children would the the jungle chocolate bars back at us, nobody wanted to
> eat those darn things. Haven't eaten Chuckles since.
> --
> To email, replace Cujo with Juno