Vegas Voice 10-18

Chowtime
By: Chuck Dean / Vet 2 Vet
There’s an old saying that an army travels
on its stomach; which really means, that
second only to ammunition, food and water are
the two most vital commodities for a military unit. With Thanksgiving
just around the corner, here’s some military chowtime history:
The first U.S. soldier ration (during the Revolutionary War) consisted
of enough food to feed a man for one day. It was mostly beef, peas,
and rice. During the Civil War, the military moved toward canned
goods. Later, self-contained kits were issued as a whole ration and
contained canned meat, bread, coffee, sugar and salt.
During the First World War, canned meats were replaced with
lightweight preserved meats (salted or dried) to allow more rations to
be carried by foot soldiers. During World War II, a number of new field
rations were introduced.
The K-ration then became popular. It was an individual daily combat
food ration originally for mobile forces.
As it was based on an emergency ration, the K-ration provided
roughly 800–1,200 calories fewer than was required by highly active
men. Malnutrition became evident with so few calories.
Cost-cutting measures by Quartermaster Command officials during
the latter part of World War II and the Korean War again saw the
predominance of heavy canned C rations issued to troops, regardless of
operating environment or mission.
Introduced in 1938 (and refined
in 1940, 1943/1944 and 1945),
it was significantly heavier, with
less variety in meals, but most
importantly had more calories.
C-Rations were individually
canned, pre-cooked, wet rations.
They were intended to be issued to
U.S. military land forces when fresh food A-rations (food prepared in
mess halls or field kitchens) was not possible, or not available.
The C-Ration was replaced in 1958 with the Meal Combat Individual
(MCI). Although officially a new ration, the MCI was derived from,
and very similar to the original C-Ration, and continued to be called
“C-Rations” by American troops throughout its production life (1958–
1980).
Today the Meal, Ready-to-Eat; commonly known as the MRE is a
self-contained, individual field ration in lightweight packaging for
service members to use in combat or other field conditions.
Can you remember what C-Ration unit you had on Thanksgiving in
a war zone?
Chuck Dean served as an Army paratrooper in Vietnam and
through that experience was led to address the many transitional
issues veterans struggle with. He is the author of several important
books for veterans. All can be found on Amazon at: http://www.
amazon.com/author/chuckdeanbooks
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October 2018