Greetings Me Droogs N Droogettes!
OK… so, first off, got the winner of the Raffle. I reached out via email to the winner to see if he wants to be ‘disclosed’ or not. If so, I’ll publically name and shame him.
That being said, on a lark, and as I am wont to do, I was surfing eBay, again looking at the various MRE/Field Rations of countries out there. Pretty cool stuff, and no, I can’t afford 98% of them. I mean c’mon man!
They’re MREs for Jeebus sakes!
90% of them (like the Krainian ones, pre-war) were ‘skimmed off the top’ by scumbag profiteers, and sold online for massive profit. No shit, the last one I substacked I paid ?$25 including shipping? Now they’re going for $44 plus $33 for shipping…
Any bets that somewhere there’s a grunt going hungry ‘cos his orificer sold the rations online? Wouldn’t doubt it for a second.
The same goes for the Russian National Guard Ration I had… bought a case of them for $100 with free shipping (x5 rations in a case). Again, any bets that somewhere there’s a grunt going hungry ‘cos his orificer sold the rations online?
I have to say, at least for now the US DotMil doesn’t suffer from that particular problem. My guess is that because we ARE essentially the ‘cornucopia of plenty’ and Uncle Sugar hasn’t actually suffered from any significant shortages in the past, oh say forever and a day, then the rations keep going out the door, the Grunts get fed, and the orificers don’t necessarily have to worry about being fragged for allowing the Supply Pukes to sell off the new rats.
That being said, some of the prices on the eBay are fucking insane. $85 for a French 24 Hour Ration… $63 for a Kazakhstani ration, made with real Horse Meat! and no, that ain’t a joke… check it:
I’d love to try it, but at that price?
I got bills man.
Now, that being said, I got this today in the mail:
That right there folks is one of the original MREs from waaaaaaaaay back post-trial. Meaning that was one of the first actual fielded rations. The dude wanted $14 to ship it, but we dickered, and I got it for $10 all together.
I am very pleased with it, and maaaan the taste-test is going to be epic. So I opened it up, and it had this:
A wee bit on the -sparse- side of things.
Beef Stew, a classic… Crackers AND Strawberry Jam!
The jam was/is rare even by todays standards.
The cookie is a Oatmeal, Chocolate Covered, which I remember as being pretty damned good. We’ll have to see, as when I checked the Julian date:
9006 turns out to be January 6th, 1990
That’s 33 years, 8 months, and 2 days.
Dayyyyyyyyyyyyum Son!
That beef stew is old enough to have kids in College.
Gretchen is not amused BTW. She knows I dig doing the whole ‘taste testage’ and various stuff with the rations, but she gets alllll sorts of cranky when I heat up and/or open up some of them. Mainly ‘cos as any of you know who’ve ever served, some of the smells of MREs can be a mite “pungent” to say the least. Makes the house reek until I get my Febreeze on… there’s also that issue where she ate the Lithuanian Hazelnuts that came in a Lithuanian MRE, and it turns out they were positively soaked in pesticides, which led to a ER Visit and various awful side effects… I still feel shitty about that.
Fuck Lithuania… I hope Putin nukes them fuckers.
Myself? I’m curious what 33 year old beef stew tastes like, never mind smells like. I’m fully expecting it to smell like a 4 week old drowned corpse fished out of a pond. I am positive that the Oatmeal Cookie is going to be a good throwback… I LOVED the ‘regular oatmeal cookie’ without the chocolate cover back in the stuff I ate in 91-92… some of those guys used to joke that you could pound nails with them as they were hard as a rock in the wrapper. The jam is a -bit- sus as it IS 33 years old… still sealed buuuuuuuuut… And also the Iced Tea packet is hard as a bridegrooms dick… probably good, but man, it’s like a solid piece of cardboard.
Jes’ Sayin’
But yeah, so far, outside of what I call ‘normal corrosive corruption’ i.e. contract awards and whatnot, the “Regular Joes/Joettes” of the US DotMil don’t suffer from the normal day-to-day shit that the second and turd word militaries do.
OUR orifier’s corruption is aimed primarily for the “Post Service Career”. They don’t necessarily go for the “Instant Gratification” that most turd world and even second world countries do. Meaning they don’t sell, nor allow the selling of the rations to outside forces, nor deprive the troops of their basic needs.
Vietnam taught them that US Troops, when push comes to shove got no problem throwing a fragmentation grenade into a tent or three if the orifier(s) in question is a douchecanoe or selling the beer ration.
I mean my first overseas contract was with CACI…
We used to tell people when asked that it stood for “Captains and Colonels Incorporated”
Fact of the matter is, BECAUSE the US started out being the ‘rejects’ of the ‘civilized world’ (a fact that the majority of the world seems to have forgotten IMO) that we as a whole, when backed against the wall so to speak….
Well, let’s just say that shit don’t end well for the folks who done really pissed us off. And no, I do not include any of the wars and shit since WW2. Korea, ‘Nam, ALL the conflicts since 1945 have been -strictly- done to subsidize and promote the Military Industrial Complex that Eisenhower warned us about.
Realisically, taking all the jingoism, bullshit, profiteering and just flat-the-fuck out bullshit of the last what? 80 +/- minus years? ‘Murica has not faced an existential threat. Hell, some folks might even say that WW2 we didn’t either, but that’s for others to argue. I know only of what I know from stories from my Grandad (MomUnit’s Da) and other folks from the Silent Generation…
Now? Oh my freaking gawd… not an external enemy, as much as an “internal enema.” Bunch of scumfuck boomers who utterly refuse to relinquish power, like the Gin Hag Pelosi, who announced that she’s running for re-election again.
Guess she wants to stay in Washington to avoid the whole “Gay husband with lovers hammer-quarrels” in the future amiright?
Seriously… Pelousi, Schitthead, Yertle-the-Turtle, Pantshitting Joe of Scrotum? How much longer do we need to see these blatantly obvious and oblivious corruptocratic Oligarchs still running the fucking show?
Voting ain’t gonna work, that’s for damned sure.
What? 6 States just put out legislation to keep OrangeManBad off the ballot? That’s enough to kill the (s)election in favor of the Retard Fuckface, the Pretender to the Glorious and Harmonious P&PBUH (Plus 10%) Orifice of The (p)Resident, The Dementor-in-Chief, Emperor Poopypants the First, Chief Executive of the Kidsmeller Pursuivant, Good Ole Slo Xi-Den.
THAT right there should scare the fuck out of any legit person who -thought- there might be a chance at flushing the turds out. Apparently, it ain’t going to happen, not in 2024.
So Grab the Popcorn.
It’s going to get reeeeally interesting
More Later
Big Country
It is a near certainty that Trump will be convicted and somehow incarcerated, whether a real jail or house arrest, given the demographics of two of the places he has been indicted (DC and Fulton County, GA). Around a quarter of the Congress is over 70 and many are not a healthy over 70. The younger ones like AOC and Brother Humper Ilhan Omar are dumb as a bag of hammers. So Pelosi will keep getting elected as long as they can sustain her corpse and “elections” will become even more meaningless.
I blame Matt Bracken. The fedbois have adopted his novels as new and future policy.
Speaking of Matt Bracken’s books, every Jan/Feb – I watch the Super Bowl in anticipation of the Fed Moment….
I think that the Las Vegas shooting was supposed to be Hillary’s fed, get the guns, get the guns, just get the dam guns, moment, but then Trump screwed their pooch and won, probably because they didn’t cheat enough. Anywho even though Hilary lost.they went forward with it, sort of like the pointless invasion of Pelileu, why waste all that preparation if you don’t have to.
after 2020 I started to have doubts about the election of 2024. like if it does happen will be joke
anyone can see from space. 2022 was bad enough. here in my neck of the pa woods, there where
at least 20 to one signs for that dipshit OZ. compared to uncle fester.
even so, had to wait in line to vote here (never saw that before) hell, even the old folks with walkers where there to vote. one old guy was telling people in line that we are wasting our time.
the game is rigged. I think or know now he was right.
anyway, what we need to find out is who in on the staff of all of the old farts in congress.
they are the ones calling and making the calls on how their corpse votes on anything.
as for MRE’s, never cared for them much. but that was back in the 1980’s so maybe they got better ? c-rations where good if you got the right one. lurps meals had a lot of rice meals in them from what little I remember of them. 1975-76 time . I think they dumped them on us before they expired . back in the 101st. funny even the married guys went for them.
after that it was almost always c-rats and in the 1980’s they started giving us MRE’s
not a fan of them at all back then.
still I will be amazed if the wheels are still on by late 2024 in this country.
but you can be sure they going to try and pull something off to stay in power next year.
so, anything you might need or want, you best get it while you still can. I get the feeling a lot of things are going to change in the next year or so.
I doubt seriously if we make it to the 2024 goatfuck. There is just too many balls in the air. I used to think that one or two black swans were gonna be the catalyst. Now we are looking up at the sky that has turned black from them. Thats never good.
The Wornick MREs were sold for $2 at my local Army surplus store in the early 90’s (Minnesota). I always packed one with my fishing gear when doing an overnight cat fishing excursion on The River. Those were the days! Spaghetti was the tastiest entree.
By the time Clinton left office they were shipping the surpluses overseas and they became unobtainium. Fuckers.
Yepper… The one(s) I used to get when first joined the Army? (Late 1990, I joined Jan 90, went to Basic/AIT in May) were these… so for me, a treat?
Yeah, I’m not right ….
33 Year Old Beef Stew…? Spawn (God Love Him and His Sister) ain’t even NEAR this old…he’s 25, she/he is 23.
Never mind the Grans… Addy is 3, Kylie is 5.5.
As Gretchen said… a “treat for me” but for anyone else? This’s a item for the mentally ill LMFAO!
Beef stew was one of the good ones. Remember when we had to go thru all the Gen 1 MREs stored at Diego Garcia before they’d feed us any of the much improved Gen 2’s? We got creative as hell, but there isn’t much you can do with a dehydrated beef or pork patty .
My sister enlisted reserves in 84 and I remember trying what i recall was a dehydrated ham or pork slice. She said they were better dry than rehydrated. Reminded me of a chicharrone, but meatier.
She went to active duty in 85 as a quartermaster in Ktown, then came home in 89 preggers.
Only member of my immediate with any .mil. I took my brothers advice, don’t take a job you’re not allowed to quit.
Oh, man! Some of our best creations were made using the dehydrated beef and pork patties. We came up with a bunch of different things we could do in our Canteen Cup Cookery. Usually, we’d bring a case or two of ramen to elevate things. That was one of the perks of being Mechanized Infantry – you could eat well, even if the chow truck couldn’t find you. Except when you couldn’t find your tracks, or they couldn’t find you…..but then you had an MRE and a pack or two of ramen in your kit.
Hands down, my favorite was the ham slices, though. They weren’t dehydrated and were quite flavorful. Ham slices and cheese spread on MRE crackers, and you had a ham sandwich.
BCE – I love your posts. They always make me laugh. I have eaten an MRE a time or two – I was in the Air Force back in the day. I thought they were ok. Brownies were always a treat if a little on the hard side. Keep up the great work.
Beef stew was one of my favorites from the 80’s. The worst was ham and chicken loaf. I couldn’t even gag that shit down with it smothered in Tabasco sauce – and that’s before they started putting the little bottles in the MREs. I carried a bottle in my ammo pouches, which were empty because I always had an M60 in the field. So, the empty ammo pouches had essential items like a real spoon and Tabasco.
We once compared the ingredients on an MRE entree with a can of Alpo – they were almost identical.
I joined Cal. Guard in ’84. We were a tank support unit, I was in armament, worked on the little stuff, Ma deuce down to the 1911. ANYWAY, I’ve got a case or two of 80’s MRE’s, in case you’d like an assortment. They’ve been stored in an air tight GI, insulated box. I ate one a couple years ago and it was “good”.
I would be careful of any “cheeze” products or anything else with seed or blended oils. Breakdown over time is an issue. Almost anything else should be good, the level of irradiation used to sterilize should make random roadkill safe, flys and all…. That said all storable food will be on the verboten list soon IMO. Y’all still talking bout elections, just adorable.
Beef Stew MRE. Liked them, then hated them. Couldn’t eat Beef Stew for years. Wanna know why?
There we are in Phase 3 of the SFQC. Robin Sage exercise. G-Chief sends me out with another team member and some of the G’s to pick up a resupply drop of chow. Bird comes in, drops the load, we recover and bring the bundles back to the G-base. This is the A-Team’s chow for the next month or so.
We open the boxes, 12 meals to a box, right? EVERY meal, yes, EVERY meal in EVERY box is Beef Stew. We had that shite for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner until endex.
It must have taken some evil herculean effort to change the meals around in every case like that. I assume that the other teams got a similar good deal.
Anyway, I’m better now.
I have a loosey of one of those and now I know what it is.
Those prices are laugh out loud as it is government issue stuff, like the old black on white labels at Aldi before it upgraded or the store brand at the Pik-N-Pay.
We mocked those as youngsters and the generic government Velveeta that came as a block in a box was crappy unless used as a burrito or taco topping, maybe mix with salsa for chip dipping.
Maybe use the WWII chaff theory to confuse night vision, so many heat sources it overwhelms it?
Get to da choppa Arn caked mud on himself in the first Predator.
Yes I think about these things, someone has to.
Just read that RF is dropping cluster bombs on Ukes, turnabout is fair play.
Not wishing to split hairs, but Biden, Pelosi, McConnell, and even the Trumpster himself are not technically boomers. The very oldest of that cohort are 77 today, and there is rather a neat divide between the first decade of baby boomers and the rest of us (birth class of ’60 myself). There is a great deal of largely justifiable resentment from Gen-X and beyond against the self-indulgent post-WWII generation in aggregate. But please, do not lump us all in with those useless old fossils.
Okay, okay, okay, the despicable Clintons and the reprehensible Obamas are indeed boomers, representing the early- and late-varietals, respectively. Would that it were not so, but we have no choice but to claim them as generational peers. But for myself, and for the vast majority of others of my immediate age group, we were too busy trying to get laid and just keep afloat economically to be at all political in early adulthood. As has ever been the case, it was only the top 5% or so, the cream of the crap, that influenced policy along the way. Too young for Viet Nam, Watergate and Woodstock, we late boomers feel vilified by unfair association with our older siblings’ excesses.
Did have a chance to try some of the VN-era ‘Meal, Combat,Individual’ (successor to C-rats) as well as some of the mid-80’s MREs (dark brown outer pouches) while I was a Boy Scout in the mid-1980’s. I did remember the spaghetti was the best entree, others, not so much.
Definite thumbs-up for the oatmeal cookie, they were da bomb.
As for the elections, not gonna hold my breath on any of the races…too many things happening both on the main stage and behind the scenes.
Hi Bubba…,
When it coms those “Plastic, Pac Meal’s??”… Quite frankly……
I’ll take a couple of cases of “C-Rat’s!!!!!” any day!!!!!
Back in my NAVY daze… 1966-7o… out at sea those were worth their weight in GOLD!!!!!!
skybill
PR-2 Vietnam ’68….
And who could forget ……. “SUBIC!!!!”
What is the over/under on them trying to make Biden a “war-time” pres. to save them in power?
BCE – I have some MRE’s from that period – Date Code 9058. Is that 8 May 90? Don’t remember where/when I got them, they were Survival Rats on some Planes I worked on, and once in a while I would get Bored and try one…
IMO, the very Best was “Spaghetti with Meat Sauce”, that I would add some more Spaghetti to it…
FWIW, I had heard (from a Physicist involved) that the early MRE’s had been Cooked, Bagged, and then ‘Re-Cooked’ with Hot Cobalt (-60 Atomic Weight) Radiation that KiLlEd DeAd anything that could possibly Grow and cause… Intestinal Distress. Even Botulism got ‘Nuked’. I don’t know if that is still done to them, but your #2 Beef Stew wasn’t bad when I ate one a few Years ago. The Kazakstani MRE with ‘real Horsemeat!” sounds Interesting, buuut, I don’t think My Horse would approve of that…
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