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Subject: Replace MRE's with C rats, Anthony Lamug Castillo
Anthony Castillo    2/9/2003 9:21:00 AM
Have you ever been on a 5 mile hump, sat down and chewed on a luke warm MRE?-totally demoralizing. Back in 89 I had the pleasure of sampling the remaining batches of canned C rats, Its like night and Day. If food quality was converted back to C rats I am sure personnel retention would increase. Granted there is a trade off Cans versus plastic pouch but believe that to be minor.
 
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Sam    RE:Replace MRE's with C rats, Anthony Lamug Castillo   2/9/2003 11:04:32 AM
Worse, I ate them for over 5 yrs. If you want to demoralise troops quickly, reissue those beast. Aside from the extra weight, Wait until you have one of those cans poking you in the back on a hump. That said , the spagetti, and beef and potatoes (rocks) were not bad. The peaches, fruit tail and pound cake were great. But things like Ham and eggs, beens & weinies and fruit cake, you tried to trade with the boots. No amount of hot sauce could help. Also try eating those cold. When was the last time you got heat tabs? At least we don't have dehydrated pork patties anymore :) Sam
 
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Horse Soldier    RE:Replace MRE's with C rats, Anthony Lamug Castillo   5/30/2003 10:19:29 PM
I had occasion to enjoy, if that's the right word, C rations as a kid (the joys of being an Army brat). I can't say that MREs are perfect (far from it), but I don't recall C Rats being any better, in terms of food quality. I'd have to give MREs points for better packaging, like Sam said, maybe a modest edge in palatability.
 
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Shaka of Carthage    RE:Replace MRE's with C rats, Anthony Lamug Castillo   5/31/2003 12:44:02 PM
If any of you believe its about what taste the best... think again. Either will provide the necessary calories. The real issue is the weight. When you are in the field, you take one C-rat can for each day. John Wayne (can opener) is with your dog tags and your spoon is somewhere on your body (personal preference). And the difference in weight is because of water. What we need is someway of carrying water, without the bulk and weight.
 
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11b10    RE:Replace MRE's with C rats, Anthony Lamug Castillo   5/31/2003 3:19:56 PM
We always called the can opener for the Ks and Cs a P-38.Weight was the difference,when you get "real" hungry, taste doesn't much matter.Do you not carry a Metal mess kit with utensiles any more?Does the Army still issue metal canteen carriers?These items always seemed unecessarily heavy.
 
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Thomas    RE:Replace MRE's with C rats, Anthony Lamug Castillo   6/2/2003 3:43:04 AM
Well Shaka: We return to the central issue: Supplies.
 
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Shaka of Carthage    RE:Replace MRE's ... Supplies (?)   6/3/2003 1:03:44 PM
Central issue being supplies? That confuses me. I believe the issue of this topic is the "type" of supplies.
 
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Thomas    RE:Replace MRE's ... Supplies (?)   6/4/2003 7:43:36 AM
Which type: Quite some years ago the Home Guard in Denmark had a lot of administration of rations and self-supply for the first 24 hours. After more than 25 years somebody got the idea, that you could call for a pizza at the nearest hamburger stand.
 
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AlbanyRifles    RE:Replace MRE's ... Supplies (?)   6/5/2003 6:56:48 AM
I would like to hear from some of the troops today on how they feel about MREs. They probably think they suck. I started with C rations in the mid-70s and then was "lucky" to be in one of the test units fro MREs in 1982-1983. We did like the initial MREs better than C-rations of the day. But not by much. By the time I retired I remember the MREs getting better and better. But I don't care how good it is, the same food for months on end sucks. Also, from the perspective of the "Big" Army and MRE case is a lot lighter than a case of c-rations and takes up only 2/3s space on a pallet. One or two cases for a vehicle, no big deal. Supplying rations for 1 125,000 man corps, big deal.
 
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Crusader    RE:Replace MRE's with C rats, Anthony Lamug Castillo   6/5/2003 12:54:46 PM
Guilty, I liked the pork patties! Had a great cookie in them, too! Todd
 
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Shaka of Carthage    RE:Replace MRE's with C rats, Anthony Lamug Castillo   6/5/2003 1:47:19 PM
People could get hurt over the fruit and pound cake.
 
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AlbanyRifles    RE:Replace MRE's with C rats, Anthony Lamug Castillo   6/6/2003 7:06:00 AM
I was partial to the choclate nut roll aka the Choclate Butt Plug!
 
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Shaka of Carthage    RE:Replace MRE's with C rats, Anthony Lamug Castillo   6/6/2003 9:07:16 AM
Butt plug was the peanut butter. Butt flusher was the coca (ie hot choclate).
 
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Thomas    RE:Replace MRE's with C rats, Anthony Lamug Castillo   6/13/2003 8:02:57 AM
One popular danish comedian has a line: If You can't be funny - be disgusting - the amounts of jokes about snot :-))
 
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datM1TC    RE:Replace MRE's with C rats, Anthony Lamug Castillo   11/6/2004 3:35:32 PM
It really is a question of weight. Hundreds of thousands of GI's humping C's in the Vietnam War, and complaining bitterly about how heavy they were, combined with advances in food storage technology, led to the Army responding to the soldiers wishes -HALLELUJAH!- for once. I was a Foreign Service brat back in the 70's, and as the C's in our emergency supply got outdated, we Embassy kids would eat them as we played Army. I could work a P-38 when I was 7 years old :) Later, as a soldier, I learned that weight is all-important, not just for the grunt humping a can of pork and beans, but for the general trying to fly in supplies for an entire Army. The MRE's have one huge advantage where I live, far up in the Green Mountains - the heater. Just add a few drops of water, and you have a hot meal. God, that's awesome! When it's 30 below (F) and you can carry a hot meal literally in your pants pocket -- you just HAVE to love that. Taste-wise, they're about the same. There have been a few changes in the nutritional balance over the last 30 years, but they're still heavy on carbs and protein - just what your average active G.I. Joe burns in huge amounts. Plus, you can still use the cardboard to start a fire.
 
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mrjohnny    RE:Replace MRE's with C rats, Anthony Lamug Castillo   11/21/2004 8:03:11 AM
mmmmm...crat scrambled eggs and ham mmmmm... boned beef the fruit tail and John Wayne bars were great
 
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