The Army gets something right, and I'm freaking dying here.

[gridlore]

New Combat Rations Fit for Gourmets

Don Egolf remembers what Army chow looked like when he served in Germany in World War II: a tin of scrambled eggs and bacon bits that he pried open with a tiny can opener.

On Wednesday at the Pentagon the 102nd Infantry Division vet pocketed one of those irksome little openers, the P-38, as a souvenir. Then he dug into the latest in combat cuisine, a plate of blackened catfish, teriyaki chicken, little french toast squares and pumpkin cake — no opener needed.

The Army offered up samples of the food as it rolled out its newest innovation — special packets of easy-to-eat, high-nutrition, high-calorie foods designed for mobile forces. The chow, mostly bagged finger-type foods that soldiers can just tear open and eat on the run, will be available in the field next month.

Say what you will about the military life, they took feeding us seriously. Even when "Hot A's" meant scrambled eggs that were grayish, soggy toast, and sausage rejected by the NHL as "too rubbery" they tried. I'm a veteran of the first generation of MREs (Meals Rejected by Ethiopians, as we called them) and it's good to see that the march for better and more nutritious field food continues. But I still want to know what the hell they were thinking with the Ham and Chicken Loaf.

I got an accessory pack A. Anyone want to trade their Cocoa powder for it?

Oh, the P-38 is not "irksome." It is the best thing the U.S. Army ever produced.

Now the part that's killing me. Iron Maiden has finally announced a Bay Area show. May 28th at the Sleep Train Pavilion in Concord

Two days after Baycon, on a Wednesday night, at a venue 90 minutes away. They had better add a San Jose show!!!

Comments

[netquiddler.livejournal.com]

It could have been worse, Doug...

You could have been issued FRED (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_Ration_Eating_Device).

[vayacondia.livejournal.com]

Did you see on The Smoking Gun, the questionnaires the soldiers filled out when they were testing a new line of MRE's (not sure if it was this line, this was probably a year ago or more)? One guy wrote about his vanilla pudding, "It was so good I opened the wrapper and rolled on it like a dog." LMAO

i'm pretty sure that MRE stands for ....

[redc1c4.livejournal.com]

Meals of Recycled Excrement.

we also used to claim that the name was "3 lies in one".

however, that being said, they were all a significant improvement* of the C-rats we were still getting when i joined.

* except for "ham & eggs, chopped", the canned fruit and pound cake.....
(and don't forget the blackberry jam. %-)

[kengr]

Back in the 70s I happened to show someone in the restaurant I worked at the P-38 I had on my key ring.

They laughed and asked how long it took to open a can with it. We wound up racing to op[en a pair of #10 cans.

I used my p-38, they used this thingie mounted top the table with a foot long crank arm.

I won. By a noticable margin.

Of course, it wasn't entirely fair. The blade on the open they used needed replacing. :-)