Nam era "C" rat's

[litenlarry]

Man the C rats were pretty hard to swallow, but we all had favorites...
A guy with canned peaches and a pound cake was king, even tho the products were old enough to vote...
Scrambled egg's and ham were at the bottom of the barrel..
2 Chicklets and the pack of 4 smokes were a welcome sight..Even if the smokes were unfiltered Chesterfields..
In '69 we even had a case of C rats with Lucky Srikes and the red insignia..That dated WWII..

 

[Bkreutz]

Man the C rats were pretty hard to swallow, but we all had favorites...
A guy with canned peaches and a pound cake was king, even tho the products were old enough to vote...
Scrambled egg's and ham were at the bottom of the barrel..
2 Chicklets and the pack of 4 smokes were a welcome sight..Even if the smokes were unfiltered Chesterfields..
In '69 we even had a case of C rats with Lucky Srikes and the red insignia..That dated WWII..

I called the eggs and ham, canned fart! I'd rather eat a bug (and often did )

 

[Mydogmax]

Beefsteak and potatoes were fine but Ham & Lima beans were at the bottom of my list. We called them ham and MF's. To this day I can not look a lima bean in the face.
Lucky for me I ate at the main base in Chu Lai 99% of the time.
Engineering platoon.

 

[zzzippper]

My brother was at West Point from '71 - '75 and would bring me rats. I remember the grape jelly that poured like syrup. I loved the cheese and crackers. And the sexy comic books on how to field striiiip your baby (M16).

MREs are worlds ahead of C rats.

 

[litenlarry]

In some of the newer C rat's, Nam era , there was a piece of wood, very small, like a portion of a popsicle stick...
Know what is was to be used for...?

I'll post later if no responses... ( a bit of a teaser)

 

[Bill_inBouse]

I hate to say it but our mess hall was so bad...I'd rather eat old "c" rats that the **** they put out, and often did.

 

[litenlarry]

Beefsteak and potatoes were fine but Ham & Lima beans were at the bottom of my list. We called them ham and MF's. To this day I can not look a lima bean in the face.
Lucky for me I ate at the main base in Chu Lai 99% of the time.
Engineering platoon.

Yeah ham and mothers, I actually become fond of them, enough hot sauce and it was edible..Three month's straight of C rat's will make a grown man come to terms with starvation..

 

[labworm]

They were all bad, but I would always look for the one's with fruit cocktail in it.

 

[Coldshooter]

In some of the newer C rat's, Nam era , there was a piece of wood, very small, like a portion of a popsicle stick...
Know what is was to be used for...?

I'll post later if no responses... ( a bit of a teaser)

In basic I remember being told to use a stick like that to scrape off residue from chemical attacks.

 

[rimfired]

Peaches & poundcake! The penultimate!

I loved the 50's air mattresses ya had to blow back up three times a night. Went with dink hammocks when possible.

 

[litenlarry]

They were all bad, but I would always look for the one's with fruit cocktail in it.

I like apricot's and few others did, so I would make some awesome trades..Fruit cocktail and peaches were the best..

Remember the canned bread ? Hard as a brick and a brick would have been easier on your teeth..We still ate it, but thanks to my mother, she sent me "care packages" and included beef bouillon..Hot water with the additive along with some cooked rice made it nutritious at best..Did I mention Hot sauce?..

 

[labworm]

Friends/Relatives

What can we send you, only thing I wanted was Beef Jerky, man did I eat a lot of Beef Jerky in 67/68.

 

[litenlarry]

Friends/Relatives

What can we send you, only thing I wanted was Beef Jerky, man did I eat a lot of Beef Jerky in 67/68.

My "care packages from home" consisted of cans of smoked oysters, sardines, jiffy pop popcorn in the tins, which never made it to me with the tins intact ( burnt popcorn is better than none), ketchup, mustard and hot sauce..M&M"s and Jolly ranchers, but they were so melted I ate the packaging as well..
Canned Vienna sausages as well as potted meat were a treat..
And as special treat a couple pairs of new underwear..
Loved the special things my Mom would add..I couldn't use some of the things, but it made me feel loved and missed..
Unfortunately due to handling of the parcel, it would arrive to me in quite a smashed up state, thank goodness for her using duct tape to keep the content's from falling out..

 

[ChuckS1]

Fruitcake and the John Wayne bars were my favorites.

 

[litenlarry]

In basic I remember being told to use a stick like that to scrape off residue from chemical attacks.

The stick I referred to was a toothbrush of sort's..You were to chew one end to make it bushy and use it to clean your teeth..It was chlorinated or something..

 

[pawngal]

My BIL was career Air Force and served in WWII, Korea, and Nam, by the time of Nam he said he was still getting rats from WWII too.

 

[Calaveras Slim]

Man the C rats were pretty hard to swallow, but we all had favorites...
A guy with canned peaches and a pound cake was king, even tho the products were old enough to vote...
Scrambled egg's and ham were at the bottom of the barrel..
2 Chicklets and the pack of 4 smokes were a welcome sight..Even if the smokes were unfiltered Chesterfields..
In '69 we even had a case of C rats with Lucky Srikes and the red insignia..That dated WWII..

I remember in 62 when I went thru Ft. Devens in MA. we would have C rats once or twice a week, in the mess hall. Con 4. Kinda had to swallow but I sure would raid the cigarette bin.

In 1970 I went to Germany, Tac unit and we spent several weeks of the month, sometimes in the field. Had C's. One time, some kids came by bumming and I gave them a whole case(12 boxes) of ham and Limas. No one wanted them and they would just get dumped. Bout 45 minutes later, here they came back with the case with only 11 boxes of ham and Limas.
Everything had been stripped but the can of Ham and Limas.

Guess the German kids didn't like them much either.

 

[Lee Barner]

in early 71 I was attached to an Air Cav Troop at An Loc. one of the cooks pulled out a gallon can of peanut butter dated 1953. he poured the oil off the top, chipped out the hardened peanut butter and mixed it all back together with this huge mixer and it turned back into peanut butter. I guess I was weird because I liked the ham and beans okay. people actually collect that stuff now. lee

 

[Donn]

The DoD deemed surviving C-rats inedible a few years back when the fruit cocktail started exploding, (true story, a friend has a case). The big advantage of having a taste for eggs with ham chopped, water added. You never had to fight anyone for them.

 

[WoodSmith]

Cleaned out the reefer after 6 weeks on the gun line. Chipped beef (frozen) left over from the Korean War and kool-aide. Turned me into a vegan after discharge.