Report from Baghdad: MREs, swift-boating & Kevlar

[helderheid]

April 4th, 2007

By Jane Stillwater http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com

I had planned to finally catch up on my sleep last night. That didn’t happen. So after staring at my eyelids for about four hours with no luck, I finally gave up trying, turned on my flashlight and read murder mysteries until it was time for breakfast — which reminds me of food.

“Have you tried one of these MREs yet?” I asked my bunkmate. MRE is short for “Meal Ready-to-Eat, Individual”. They come in thick plastic packages the color of chocolate pudding and are around eight inches long, four inches wide and three inches deep. I was considering eating Menu No. 6 – the chicken fajitas.

“Actually,” replied the bunkmate, “some of them aren’t all that bad. I like Menu No. 8 – the hamburger patties. They smell like dog food at first but are really quite good. But avoid the Thai chicken and the Country Captain chicken. Ghastly. Really bad.” Okay.

There was a pile of MREs stacked next to the wall in the transit room, offering all kinds of varieties to choose from. I was thinking they would be just boring new versions of C-rations but no. You had a choice of jambalaya, chicken tetrazzini, beef ravioli, grilled beef steak with mushrooms, beef enchiladas, vegetarian pasta penne, cheese and veggie omelets, pork ribs and sausage with beans and rice.

And apparently they come with their own flameless heating units and powdered grape juice and a cookie. Cookies are good.

I was supposed to be interviewed by CNN today. We had a time all set up and everything. I was totally excited! I was gonna wave to all my friends and everything! But just three hours before I was supposed to go on the air, CNN called up and canceled. I was really disappointed. I felt like the proverbial nerdy girl in high school who had been asked to the prom by the popular guy only to get stood up at the last minute. No corsage for me.

“Why did they do that?” I asked one of the reporters here.
“Because of what Michael Ware said at the McCain press conference yesterday.”
“But Ware didn’t SAY anything.”
“Yes, but McCain apparently thinks that Ware snickered when McCain stated that he had been safe on the streets of Baghdad.” Huh? I had been at that press conference myself. I didn’t hear Michael Ware snicker. I heard EVERYONE snicker. You can’t hardly even walk safely around the Green Zone right now let alone walk around Baghdad. Even McCain did his stroll wearing body armor and escorted by Humvees and troops. What’s the big deal?

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http://blog.pdamerica.org/?p=1045

[helderheid]

1. kick for Jane (my old friend from the Kucinich campaign in 2004!)

[wakeme2008]

2. The current MRE are not bad but the first gulf war were really bad,

C Rations were better. Example the new have fruit cocktail in juice, the first gulf war had dehydrated fruit cocktail and when you added water it got worse. But normally there are no breakfast things, so it may be Thai Chicken for breakfast.

[helderheid]

3. Glad to hear there are improvements!

I actually like thai chicken ANYTIME. :)

[wakeme2008]

4. And the heaters do work well

:)

An Army friend gave me 12 of the MREs. 4 from Gulf War I (dark green) and 8 from current (light brown). And the heater thing really works well. Problem in Nam is you normally ate everything Cold. And if you got the Long Range Patrol ones, they were all dehydrated and the people in the field could not build a fire to heat water. Think dehydrated Chile in cold water.... :puke:

but they still have not upped the amount of TP they give you. :rofl:

[helderheid]

5. I hadn't a clue! Eeew.... dehydrated chilie in cold water....

[wakeme2008]

8. You can buy them online or at most Army Navy stores.

Great for taking when hiking or camping where weight is an issue.

[madokie]

9. I think the thinking is if they give you shit to eat and you don't eat it you won't need the TP

I actually liked some of the c-rats. best I remember the red meat and potatos were excellent.
I have read that the meat in those was horse :shrug:

[conscious evolution]

12. They haven't since WW2

My dad said in the Phillipines they were issued three squares a day.
One to wipe up.
One to wipe down.
And one to polish.

[AllegroRondo]

7. remember the hockey puck pork patties?

that were dehydrated? awful.

and the omlette with ham, which smelled like rotting eggs.

[Hobarticus]

6. The guy endured imprisonment at the hands of the NVA...

...and now he gets his panties in a twist over a supposed "snicker".

Yeah, he's C-in-C material, alright.

[madokie]

10. condense that into a bumper sticker and I want one

[pigpickle]

11. kick