RE: [HoE] Milrats/MREs (very longish!)

["Heivilin, Jim" <banzai@missouri.edu>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Damon Harper [mailto:nomad74@hotmail.com]
> Subject: RE: [HoE] Milrats/MREs(was: Longevity)
> 
<snip>
> Jim said:
> >They also use what are know as T-rations (MREs are C-rations, meaning
they
> >can be eaten with absolutely no preparation, whereas T, B or A rations
> >require some sort of kitchen and prep time/effort). 
> 
>    Sorry, Jim.  But you can eat MREs right out of the package.  
> C-rations have been outdated since the late 70s.
> 
I *thought* that was what I said.  Am I not speaking English again? <g>
(That happens at work all the time!)

<snip>
>    You are probably thinking of feild rations designed to be prepared by 
> a cook to a large company.  Most of this kind of food is either 
> dehydrated or freeze-dried (like the fruit in MREs).
>
Class A rations are fresh food.  Purchased with company funds from the TISA
(although I forget what that acronym stands for, something something Storage
Activity?) warehouse and stored until preparation in the freezers and
refrigerators in the dining facility (commonly called the Mess Hall).  After
preparation, certain types of foods can be used as "leftovers" (although
that isn't what they call them) but must be marked with the DTG of
preparation since they can only be used within a certain time frame.  [etc.,
etc. more boring detail about garrison dining facility operations than
ANYONE ever wanted to know] 

Class B rations are anything that is packaged and doesn't need refrigeration
to store.  Canned meats and vegetables, etc.  Freeze Dried is in this
category but so many other forms of packaged food are less expensive and
weight is NOT a liability.  This is the type of food normally prepared in an
MKT (Mess Kitchen Trailer).  Yup, a towed kitchen that folds into itself.
Normally pulled by a "deuce and a half" (2 1/2 ton truck).  A 5 ton truck
(such as a dump truck like the kind assigned to Combat Engineer Battalions)
can be used as well.  A 5/4 ton truck (a standard full sized pickup truck)
may be used but I don't know for sure if the military ones have the oomph to
pull it.  

Class C rations are basically anything that can be eaten without preparation
(straight out of the packaging).  What were called C Rations were the canned
food which was used until the mid 1980s (well, in the National Guard and
Reserve forces anyway).  These are the cans you see in the Korean War movies
and Vietnam films.  They were replaced by food which was packaged in heavy
duty foil pouches (called Meal, Ready-to-Eat: MRE).  

>     MREs are pre-packaged, pre-sorted meals designed for one person.  
> They have high calorie content, and were designed so that 
> only one need to be eaten per day in order to survive.  In Army Ranger 
>
Standard doctrine dictates that each soldier eat two MREs a day if they are
engaged in rigorous activities.  Each is about 2,500 calories.  Needless to
say if the fat staff officers (yours truly), clerk types and rear echelon
types eat 5,000 calories a day they will soon look like it. "But I exercised
today!" "Yeah but that diet soda can only weighs 12 ounces." (and the radio
microphone is lighter than that!<G>)

> school, it is required you can only eat one MRE a day.  And, FYI, the 
> instructors at Army Ranger school are called 'Black Hats'.  :)
> 
Instructors at the Airborne Course of the Infantry School at Fort Benning
are also referred to as "Black Hats".  IIRC the Instructors at the Air
Assault Course at Fort Campbell were also called Black Hats but it's been
awhile.

What I was asking was whether anyone had ever seen any of the T-Rations.
Supposedly they were packaged in trays and they came with an oven sort of
thingy that held four or six of the trays.  So they required prep but didn't
need a kitchen facility to prep them.  

Jim "Enough milspeak already!" H. 
Former Captain of Engineers and Paratrooper
317th EN BN (CBT)(MECH), 130th EN BDE, V Corps (circa 1988)