US and Italian Troops Swap Field Rations

[Ben]

A US soldier and an Italian soldier swap MREs and ration packs.

https://youtu.be/s1vuDKraKRU

Holy crap, man. The Italian army must not have to ever ruck anywhere. I can't imagine lugging several days worth of those ration packs around. MREs may not be the greatest eating, but you've got to hand it to us for coming up with a fairly compact package with a simple heater. At least compared to some other countries. I'm currently going down the Youtube rabbit hole of troops from various countries swapping field rations.

EDIT: Apparently every NATO country has ginormous ration packs. The British one is the size of a rucksack. 

https://youtu.be/1f-a0TST91A

[dogmush]

To be fair, the Italian one is three meals.  Three MRE's would be about the same size.

I suspect their infantry guys field strip their rations the same way we field strip MRE's for a ruck.  No one carries a whole MRE unless you have a vehicle handy. On the Italian one I have to think all those cans would be pretty heavy.

[Ben]

On the Italian one I have to think all those cans would be pretty heavy.

Several countries seem to use cans.

[dogmush]

In related news, I got an MRE I've never had before this weekend:  Beef Patty, Jalapeno Pepper Jack.

We'll see how it is at dinner tonight.

[French G.]

I got my mitts on one of those Italian rations, had international teams on my ship doing VBSS training and apparently they didn't want to hump it so ditched it in a corner. I wouldn't fight for crap either if you gave me that. I wish I could import them. The food was good and they had everything. Water purification, toothbrushes, a hex stove. Still have the stove. Way better than ship food for the day.

[HankB]

I wouldn't want to trade for the contents of a North Korean ration pack . . .

[dogmush]

I traded for a Japanese SDF MRE when I was on Okinawa.  It was pretty tasty, as long as you like rice and fish.

[WLJ]

I wouldn't want to trade for the contents of a North Korean ration pack . . .

That's two weeks rations for a family of 4

[K Frame]

Several countries seem to use cans.

Cans and foil sealed cups/trays seem to be very common with European rations.

[K Frame]

In related news, I got an MRE I've never had before this weekend:  Beef Patty, Jalapeno Pepper Jack.

We'll see how it is at dinner tonight.

My roommate in college used to bring back MREs and we'd try them out.

Some of the stuff was really good.

The pork patty, however, was absolutely horrible. Satan's hockey puck was one of the names for it.

The turkey and gravy was OK.

Mid 1990s MREs that were good were the corned beef hash, meatballs in sauce, and the scalloped potatoes and ham.

[Hawkmoon]

Several countries seem to use cans.

So did we, in WW2, Korea, and Vietnam.

Officlally, C-rations and K-rations were replaced by the MCI in 1958, but we saw C-rats in Vietnam. The P-38 can opener was for the cans in C-rats.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:P-38_Can_Opener.jpg

[Devonai]

We had "wargames" on our base last drill, and I had MREs for the first time in several years. The entrees have definitely improved, and the current freeze-dried coffee is actually quite good. The ancillary items (wheat snack bread, crackers, cheese spread, peanut butter) are the same as ever.

[K Frame]

So did we, in WW2, Korea, and Vietnam.

Officlally, C-rations and K-rations were replaced by the MCI in 1958, but we saw C-rats in Vietnam. The P-38 can opener was for the cans in C-rats.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:P-38_Can_Opener.jpg

I'm not sure whether other countries are stuck in the past or we're so far out into the future that we've left everyone behind.

Of course we used to use cans. EVERYONE used to use cans.