Nam era "C" rat's
- Thread starter litenlarry
- Start date
C-Rat Memories
I remember liking the beef with spiced sauce and the fruit cocktail, or was it canned peaches? I didn't smoke so I gave away the cigarettes.
I also appreciated the diminutive pack of toilet tissue which limited my food intake to 200 calories a day, lest I run out of the precious paper.
And yes, do you guys remember tearing the cover off the C-rat cartons and using them for postcards?
I remember liking the beef with spiced sauce and the fruit cocktail, or was it canned peaches? I didn't smoke so I gave away the cigarettes.
I also appreciated the diminutive pack of toilet tissue which limited my food intake to 200 calories a day, lest I run out of the precious paper.
And yes, do you guys remember tearing the cover off the C-rat cartons and using them for postcards?
BLACKHAWKNJ
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I actually like lima beans so I found the Ham and Limas edible. As a dedicated non-smoker I regularly traded my smokes for food, often as not the Ham and Limas or the Scrambled Eggs, I recall several long faces when the nicotine fiends came back asking if I still had the C-rats they had traded for. My trusty Boy Scout knife performed yeoman service opening cans. And yes, C-rations were often vastly superior to what were passed off as "hot meals" and Class A rations.
You guys had it bad, but Navy Battle rats was a HorseCoXXX and cheese sandwich, apple and frozen carton of milk....
No hot food in the Navy?
A sin! LOL!
No hot food in the Navy?
A sin! LOL!
Yeah, but how often did you have to eat battle rats? When I was in (63-88), I would have sooner eaten Navy chow than go to a medium-grade restaurant. You had to spend a little money to get better food than what the commissarymen were putting out. Of course, the presentation wasn't always that great. Actually, it was NEVER that great if you weren't commissioned, but the actual food was always acceptable and usually very good, and interesting to boot.
Of course, that was in the airedale navy, which may have been better than blackshoe. I have heard rumors that some of the submarine service chow was even better.
Harrison
US Veteran
Generally, Army food was anywhere from eatable, to very good. I ate a lot of C-rats over the years and they were eatable. After spending three months in a hamlet eating nothing but Vietnamese food, the C-rats actually started looking good.
They were great......
They were great.....for kids playing soldier. A National Guard unit sponsored our Boy Scout troop and the ones I had were pretty good. But then nobody said I HAD to eat them or go hungry.
Small roll of TP. Some kind of instant coffee and 2 cigarettes. They must have tried to cut back on smoking about that time.
The pound cake was my favorite.
They were great.....for kids playing soldier. A National Guard unit sponsored our Boy Scout troop and the ones I had were pretty good. But then nobody said I HAD to eat them or go hungry.
Small roll of TP. Some kind of instant coffee and 2 cigarettes. They must have tried to cut back on smoking about that time.
The pound cake was my favorite.
jlrhiner
US Veteran
It is amusing to me to listen to the kids complain about MRE's.
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)
Wasn't that the "interdental stimulator"?
My favorite was cheese or peanut butter and crackers. For awhile we ate C-rats every Saturday for lunch at Clark Air Base, PI, and there was always a large trash can filled with the crackers, PB, and cheese. Always grabbed two big handfulls to keep in my locker. Sometimes went back and got more.
I called the eggs and ham, canned fart!I'd rather eat a bug (and often did
)
That's funny, right there. Thanks
Old Seabee
US Veteran
C-Rats
No one liked spaghetti & meat balls
No one liked spaghetti & meat balls
I was going through Marine Amfib Warfare school in Little Creek VA in FEB 1978 or so, I still remember the can of unheated spagitti & meatballs I ate with sleet spitting down, the cold grease was solidifying on the roof of my mouth as I ate it!
Beans and franks with cheese and hot sauce was my fav. I got to try some long rats, the chili was pretty good. I don't recall finding a wooden stick in with the meals but I do remember green luckies
BigBill
Absent Comrade
Like Bill Crosby said we were thankful to have what we had.
Army Chow
Considering that army chow had to be brought in from the States, it wasn't bad at all. Vietnam, at least what I saw of it, was so unsanitary that I could not bring myself to eat from the local economy.
The only exception I made was for bread, which they called bunbee. I think the French taught them how to bake bread so at least something good came from the French occupation.
Considering that army chow had to be brought in from the States, it wasn't bad at all. Vietnam, at least what I saw of it, was so unsanitary that I could not bring myself to eat from the local economy.
The only exception I made was for bread, which they called bunbee. I think the French taught them how to bake bread so at least something good came from the French occupation.
Old Seabee
US Veteran
c-rats
Wasn't there chicken & noodles
Wasn't there chicken & noodles
Loved them! Anyway, we deployed out of Ft. Carson down to Ft. Hood during the Iranian hostage crisis-when we arrived it was getting dark and cold-we started a small fire to heat our C's-A reserve Captain with us as a liaison started talking about what we were preparing to do-when there was an explosion in the fire- and he was hit right in the rear end-When he stopped yelping we examined his injury-Looking around by the area I found the cause- he had put a can of jam in the fire-it blew giving him a case of sticky buns-
For the longest time I bought "poppy seed" bread from mama san. I found out later that it wasn't poppy seed but was all the bugs in the flour. I guess what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. It took me a long time to live that down.
