The last two I couldn`t eat and they found botulism in the beans and I almost starved . FOR SALE! 4th infantry, Great article. Actually, I has been liking and still remember those good smell and tasty of those Military canned food. This establishment made Beans and Meatballs in Tomato Sauce shipping thousands of cases a month out. This brought back memories from 68-69 in the jungles of the central highlands. The C-4 was safe to use as long as it wasnt compressed or using too much at one time. Need Easy, Nutritious Food While Blacktail Deer Hunting. | dng sng c. We had would get rations of beer and soda dropped off often in the jungles. It had a flavor I can not duplicate to this day. We just sold out all of our products in February 2018 except for this hot sauce,which we are going to sell as private label. Everybody liked Pound Cake, but there was only (1) box per case that had it. Thanks for your. or four? Smoking in the services came under attack in the 1980s. Nuac mam.gag. (Obviously some supply sergeant made himself a bunch of money.) lemon aid powder was good with some descent tasting water, [] https://charliecompany.org/2012/04/20/c-rations/ [], [] freeze dried meals Ive tried over the years didnt taste much better than the C rations I ate in the military. 1st tour grunt recon, etc. Left the nam brought one home should have seen the looks I got. Packages of 20 cigarettes each are the same as the regular civilian packs and were sold in US Army operated PX stores. I found that these meals are easy and quick to prepare and they rehydrate []. I was there during the transition from C-Rats to MREs during the early 80s. Vietnam C Ration Cigarette : Top Picked from our Experts If you lucked into the peach can, you could trade it for almost anything. . Id get an onion from FSB mess tent and chop them up into whatever meat I was eating, thank god LURPs became widely available for the 2nd half of my tour because I just couldnt stomach Cs other than the fruit. Due to health concerns, cigarettes were eliminated from the MCI accessory packs in 1975. But I read as much as I can get my hands on about what it was like to have served in those times. Tasted like TNT from the powder charge. Pound cake was one f the favorites in my platoon. A strictly utilitarian use of C-rations for crew chiefs and gunners on our D model Hueys was to replace the M-60 feed chute with a can of Cs. You did a great job with this. Must have been super hot. Typical commercial brands issued in the cigarette rations in Vietnam were: Camel, Chesterfield, Kent, Kool, Lucky Strike, Marlboro, Pall Mall, Salem, or Winston. God bless you all. I get a lot of the cans of fruit cake. Original Vietnam era US Military C Ration white plastic Spoon.From C Ration 382314172092. Thank you for taking the time to write this article. Also read a lot about their c-rat experiences too. Use the removed lid to cut 4 thin slices from the biscuit, toss the unused biscuits. 1 empty C-Ration box 1 toilet paper pack 1 book of matches 1 plastic spoon 1 P-38 can opener Open all 5 cans with the P-38 leaving the lids slightly attached on 2 biscuit cans. Hi, Anyone able to help me out? In 1975 they stopped putting cigarettes in rations which raised hell with US troops everywhere. As the Doughboys went to France, the ration changed. To eating our faithful C rations. in Nam and why I dont like fruit cocktail to this day.In the last part of my tour, it was pecan roll and coffee. I got a flashback Ill never forget those days Sometimes I would eat the pineapples, bananas or coconuts if I could get them. 2.) One case of C-Rations contained 6 rations. Some of the meals werent too bad, especially if somebody from home sent Heinz-57 Sauce or Hot Sauce to doctor them up. Best dessert was peaches & pound cake, but you had to trade for stuff. Mass-2 Marine attached to the 3rd Marine Div. Yuck. While serving in the Central Highlands with the 1/12th Inf. Really putrid stuff, For anyone who was there I was with VF213 flying Demons, flying hydraulic leaks! Dear Chrissy, The ration was very heavy, weighing 5 lbs . Dont have any Cs any more, but still got several P-38s, three still sealed in the brown paper. B-unit: (3) 12 ounce cans of bread, coffee and sugar. Spent almost 2 yrs in Northern I corps. With me it seemed the meals that were my least favorite when I first arrived in country were my favorite ones towards the end of my tour. That went for Officers and enlisted men. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. In 1966 during the Vietnam war Brig. $40 : VE-1124 Mortar carrier's shoulder pads, to support the metal barrel. I know heat tabs were around but c4 burned hot and fast. During World War II, C-Rations included a cigarette packet of nine cigarettes. Enjoy! Patrick Douglas Erb was there from Oct.20,1970-March 15,1971. C-rations featured options that included a variety of entrees, like spaghetti and meatballs, turkey loaf, ham and eggs, etc. Find great deals on eBay for c rations cigarettes. Well presented and will share with fellow Vietnam veterans and family. When I told my idea to my wife,she looked at me and said,baby,youre crazy ! And thats how we started Crazy Jerrys sauce company in 1989 with our oyster,clam and everything else sauce. Moak got the drab olive can as a Marine helicopterpilotoff the Vietnamese coast in 1973. ONE ORIGINAL!! My dear father was stationed in New Guinea as a U.S. Army medic during World War II, and from him I learned what C rations were. It was a luck of the draw right after we went through the gas obstacle coarse at basic training. Army here, 67-70, most of 70 spent in Vietnam. 1 for 5 5 for 20 20 for 40 Keep an . $79.95 Vietnam Us Army Every C-Ration meal contained a single four-pack of cigarettes; ten different brands were primarily offered, but like the meals, some were more popular than others. Required fields are marked *. Sounds like a lot of B S to me. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading all of these posted messages about C rations, even though Ive never tasted even one bite of food from one of those cans. The C-ration (officially Field Ration . one of the better memories of c rats. The line units were pulled out of the field on occasion, usually about once a month for three days, to enjoy home cooking, barbecues and ice-cold beer and soda a reward we always looked forward to. Fishing? I do recall being thirsty. OK, now that your memory is refreshed, do you remember how you cooked your C-Rations. You are describing a military mess kit, but they were not used by most GIs in Viet Nam. 10 days later gulfort, mississippi.. jus lemme have a p38.. to a pack. And in spite of all their faults, I do sometimes miss C-Rats, especially the Pound Cake! A combination my Italian wife would cringe at. It was great when someone got a care package from homewe all shared. They learned quickly when the cans exploded and Messed up my airplane said the M/Sgt who was the flight engineer sitting across from the voltage regulators. As an infantry soldier in Vietnam, C-Rations was my sole source of nourishment for at least 300 of the 365 days I served in-country. The MCI was intended as a modest improvement over the earlier canned Type C or C ration, with inclusion . Each ration was composed of a B-unit and a M-unit; total weight was approximately 7 pounds. Grab a small loaf of bahn-mi or baguette from the village baker with a can of boned chicken gently heated on the V-100 manifoldThat and a ba-moui-ba brewnot bad. CA. We sometimes ran out of C-rats, especially when we couldnt get resupply because the runway on our LZ was damaged by mortar attacks. i was in from 1966 to 1972. i never ate a c ration that was younger than me. Not sure how the armor units split their meals. So it was c-rats for at least two meals a night. 2. U.S.A.F. Its even a little moist, he said, wiping his mouth. I also still have my P-38. Zone (450 sq miles of mangrove). The first and last time I ate that meal. Levine named the threats as mold and deadly botulism if the sealing on the food has been broken, which isnt always visible. Beat the heck out of what we scrounged up to eat with our counterparts. Technically, the C-ration of the Vietnam-era was a different thing than the World War II C-ration, but troops still called it a "C-rat," and it was very similar in packaging and content. Less known is that an unlikely snack . THEY WERE STILL GOOD. Only down fall was it was instant heart burn. Pall Mall, Luckies, Winston, Salem and Benson & Hedges Menthol were five of the brands found in Vietnam era field ration packets. The C-Ration, or Type C ration, was an individual canned, pre-cooked, and prepared wet ration. We had the dubious honor of being the first Army ground unit deployed to VN in early May of 1965 from Okinawa and all enjoyed consuming our fair share of those gourmet C rations. Each soldier was issued three boxes per day containing breakfast, dinner and supper. I have so much respect & admiration for them. When I had my first taste of LRP Rations I thought it was food for angels. Read about all of these, noticed that none of you brothers mentioned using the tin of peanut butter as a stove. Thanks for this article and thanks all American officers and soldiers in the field of VN war. Missed the initial one 4 years ago. Hi mates, good paragraph and fastidious urging commented here, I am genuinely enjoying by these. Even then I ate one like an apple but the fellows that had been there longer made c rat stew and threw in the onions. Sorry 11Bs I always took my favorite out first. General Delivery Silver Springs Fl.34489 USA Often got Cs that had been packaged right after the Korean war. Answer (1 of 10): I served in the Regular Army, Feb. '61- Feb. '64 and saw many brands of 5 cigarette packs in the C-Rations that we were issued. We got Cs from both the old menu (1950s and early 1960s) which included such delectable stuff as ham & mothers, beef & rocks, canned bread and so forth. Non-smokers were known to swap the C-rats cigarette. There are several websites dedicated to US military combat rations that show all the brands. Shop with confidence. Ive often wondered since who made those peaches and if their product is still available. Each menu contained approximately 1200 calories and consisted of: One canned meat course One canned fruit or cake And one day I plan on working as a flight RN / EMT-P as well as continuing to either work or volunteer as a firefighter. A stove was usually carried in the back pack or cargo pocket and used repeatedly until the metal began to fail. Pour out all of the heavy syrup, and 3.) The blue heat tabs emitted a gas that would burn your eyes and c-4 was harder to locate for us. P-38! The container itself had 2 compartments. Viet Nam most of 68. He would flatly refuse to eat canned Spam when I was a young girl, saying it reminded him of those C rations! Ham and Limas was the favorite for this purpose. VE-1226 Cigarette case from the 67TH TAC Recon Wing. 2.03M subscribers Subscribe 129K 9.7M views 6 years ago Check out this full review of a Vietnam War MCI or "C Ration"! Moak joked earlier this week that he hoped the can wouldnt explode. But, Nuac mam still sucks ass! Loved the article brought back a lot of memories. Menu. Wait until they run out of cigarettes and trade them for C-Rats. One SP was intended to meet the requirements of 100 men for one day, but we usually saw one SP per platoon (30 men) every two to three weeks. $40.00 WW2 German Patronenkasten 88 Ammunition Crate $150.00 WW1 German Patronenkasten 88 Ammunition Crate $150.00 WW1 British and Commonwealth Biscuit Ration Crate $90.00 Dan DMZ M/co 1969 USMC Hill 461 Sieara Rock Pile , Stud, LZ MAC chopper down! Toward the end of my tour, we began having access to the freeze-dried LRRP meals. The dilemma here is that water is required for these and at almost three pounds per quart; the extra weight is a consideration. Philip Morris K Ration Cigarette Pack, WWII Repro $ 4.00; Repro 1942 Lucky Strike Green Cigarette Pack $ 12.00; 1941 Repro Lucky Strike Cigarette Pack $ 12.00; Half and Half Tobacco Box, Repro $ 5.00; Zippo 1941 Black Crackle Lighter Reproduction $ 34.00; WWII Old Gold Cigarette K Ration Pack My last CO loved them. BTW, I did some shows with Justin Wilson in New Orleans. I always made it in a c rat can. Returned 13 months later via Tiger airlines to a civilian air port in LA & greeted by a lot of people flipping the bird at us. Must have been around 2006 I was surfing the web trying to find guys I served with and to my surprise I found a website from the unit I served with, 1st bn 22nd inf, 4th inf division. Great articlebrings back many memories of the bad old days. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); My c-rations in 1965 that I ate in Vietnam were dated 1945 being 20 years old ! Semper fi !! WWII US Army Marine Corps K- Ration inner wax box ration Dinner ad vertisement by noviopera. So the food on a paper Give me pears or apricots any time. Moak said he wasnt worried about getting sick from any bacteria that may have gotten into the old can, because it looked sealed. A small chunk of C-4 explosive could also be substituted for the Trioxin tablet for faster heating. 4.5 out of 5 stars (128) Cigarettes, once considered crucial to American fighting men, have sadly gone the way of the daily rum ration. I , however, could not find its same taste and flavor in America after 30 years in USA. View history. It was intended to be issued to U.S. military land forces when fresh food (A-ration) or packaged unprepared food (B-Ration) prepared in mess halls or field kitchens was impractical or not available, and when a survival ration (K-ration or D-ration) was insufficient. When absolutely necessary, Id empty the water and spoon in a can of cheese, melting it together with a ball of C-4. Good article. Old wolfhound hereA/1/27.66,67,68..no one mentioned the hobo stove which when out of heat tabs or C-4 we would open a can of peanut butter. The small cans included in the meal were ideal for making a stove. so what did you feed your dog in nam? you have any idea how the mean and beans were made have never found a close substitute for them. Welcome back. When out on missions, infantry units were re-supplied with . Despite the new name, the MCI was still popularly referred to by the troops as "C-Rations" (or "Charlie rats"), which it resembled in nearly all respects. Going through a box of memorabilia a couple days ago. C-packs also contained cartons of Cigaretts, M&Ms and other favorites, crispy critters burn victims CS Photo via Wikipedia. It got to taste good warm after you got used to it. Greg Dearborn says: A better stove was created by simply using the can opener end of a church key (a flat metal device designed to open soft drink and beer containers with a bottle opener on one end and can opener on the other commonly used before the invention of the pull tab and screw-off bottle top) to puncture triangular holes around the top and bottom rims of the can which resulted in a hotter fire and much less fumes. During the 1960s C-ration cigarettes were identical to the sample packs of four that tobacco salesreps handed out to the public. This stove was satisfactory, but did not allow enough oxygen to enter which caused incomplete burning of the blue Trioxin heat tablet, causing fumes which irritated the eyes and respiratory tract. Everyone I knew always had a John Wayne (P-38) can opener on his dogtag chain and a plastic spoon in his pocket. During the 1960s C-ration cigarettes were identical to the sample packs of four that tobacco salesreps handed out to the public. The military teaches you to be a thief . unopened vietnam c-ration accessory pack with cigarettes. shows storage age and wear and is still sealed. $100 VE-546 Choice Vietnam Jungle Boots, size 12. Great site thanks for the memories. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Vintage K Brand Rabbit Family Ration Patch Logo Snapback Trucker Hat Cap USA at the best online prices at eBay! I do have a question the meat and beans I liked but raised on beans, I recently found and on line copy of the Us Army cook book. taste of C-rats in 1975 in basic training at Fort Polk La. It replaced the earlier C-ration, which it was so similar to . Not to bad either! Cigarettes were bad for your health along with bullets. We took them camping, my sister wanted corn dogs, which the bears ate as they passed thru our camp. The 10-in-1 Ration included packages with 10 cigarettes each. About C-Rations. In 1966 during the Vietnam war Brig. ate a lot as a kid . Pleasure speaking to you. Honestly, the scrambled egg chunks or beans and weenies werent bad cold, but the rest needed to be heated in order to be palatable. Free Sample first six chapters of Cherries both Written and Audiobook, Author interview War & Life: Discussions with a Veteran, Feasting on the Frontlines: The Vietnam War Discussing Food History, A brief history of coffee in the US military | We Are The Mighty, A brief history of coffee in the US military. Miss those soldiers from our lives deeply. the outer layer of clear plastic is starting to delaminate from the brown plastic. A typical . SO, GOD BLESS YOU ALL. When I was in AIT training, I can remember eating the fortified chocolate wafers made at the Wilber Chocolate factory in Lititz, PA. In and around Quang Tri with side trips to Hue, Khe San & Dong Ha. PHU BAI, CAMP CARROLL, NAM 66/67. The dehydrated pork and beef hockey pucks were supposed to be the big thing but the dried fruit was the best part. This stove was satisfactory, but did not allow enough oxygen to enter which caused incomplete burning of the blue Trioxin heat tablet, causing fumes which irritated the eyes and respiratory tract. As I recall, only about 30% of the soldiers in my platoon did not smoke. When we were operating our radio nets in the outback wilds of Fort Riley, KS, wed put our C rations boxes contained three meals for each of eight men. Thank you so much. I was a crechief on Hueys who resupplied you guys. Beef and Rocks, Scrambled Rubber Eggs, Chili, Applesauce, and Shit Disks. Steve Miller The accessory pack with each meal was sealed in a foil pouch. Cigarettes were eliminated from rations in 1972. C-ration cans inside our huge transmitter, and after a couple hours sending messages back and forth we could remove those cans and enjoy a delicious hot meal e.g., my favorite, Ragout of Beef. Currahee. We already carried 4 5 quart canteens to keep hydrated until the next resupply. Service. A whole heat tab had to be used. Photos of dissected original pack & other info is included in the pdf file. Brought back lots of memories. The daily ration of 3 meals provides approximately 3600 calories., 1 Beef w/Spiced Sauce, Halved Apricots, Peanut Butter, B-1 Unit crackers, candy, 2 Tuna Fish, Quartered Pears, Peanut Butter, B-1 Unit crackers, candy, 3 Ham and Eggs, Chopped, Quartered Pears, Peanut Butter, B-1 Unit crackers, candy, 4 Pork, Sliced, Cooked with Juices, Halved Apricots, Peanut Butter, B-1 Unit crackers, candy, 5 Beans w/Frankfurter Chunks in Tomato Sauce, Blackberry Jam, Fruitcake, B-2 Unit crackers, cocoa beverage powder, 6 Beef Slices and Potatoes w/Gravy, Pineapple Jam, Orange Nut Roll, B-2 Unit crackers, cocoa beverage powder, 7 Spaghetti w/Beef Chunks in Sauce, Peach Jam, Cinnamon Nut Roll, B-2 Unit crackers, cocoa beverage powder, 8 Beans w/Meat Balls in Tomato Sauce, Grape Jam, Pound Cake, B-2 Unit crackers, cocoa beverage powder, 9 Beefsteak, Sliced Peaches, Cheese Spread, Cheddar Plain, B-3 Unit crackers, candy, 10 Chicken or Turkey Boned, Cheese Spread, Cheddar Plain, Fruit Cocktail, B-3 Unit crackers, candy, 11 Ham Sliced, Cooked with Juices, Cheese Spread, Cheddar Plain, Fruit Cocktail, B-3 Unit crackers, candy, 12 Turkey Loaf, Cheese Spread, Cheddar Plain, Sliced Peaches, B-3 Unit crackers, candy.