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Rations Question -

n/an/a Member Posts: 168,427 ✭
edited July 2009 in US Military Veteran Forum
What were you troops issued in the field for rations in VN?

Were these the same as the WWII rations?

And what did you guys think of them?

I have eaten MRE's (I was not in the service, but I have had them when in deer camp), and I thought they were OK. Can you compare them to a MRE?

Thanks in advance for the replies, and thank you for your service.
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Comments

  • Sky SoldierSky Soldier Member Posts: 460 ✭
    edited November -1
    When I was there we were issued C-Rations that were packaged during the Korean Conflict.
    12 meals to a case, different from one another but identical from case to case. Some were okay, most were edible but a couple were not (Ham and Lima Beans comes to mind).
    Once we had an area secured they would chopper in a hot meal (Mermite Cans) for the dinner meal but breakfast, lunch and about half the dinners were C-rats when we were in the field.
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  • 39chevy39chevy Member Posts: 199 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    196th lt inf bde..66-67..agree on the ham and limas..one that I do recall as etable was boned chicken..everyone else hated it so I could always count on getting that..small piece of c4 for heat and it wasn't too bad
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  • MMOMEQ-55MMOMEQ-55 Member Posts: 13,134
    edited November -1
    C-rats were the pits. Ham&eggs made me puke. I spent alot of time in the villes in VN so useally ate what mommasan made.
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  • CapnMidnightCapnMidnight Member Posts: 8,038 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    When we where in the field we ate LLRP rations, came in a bag, add warm water(heat water with C-4), kinda like gravytrain dog food. Didn't taste too bad, real hi in proteen. Korean war C rats in fire base, as has been said, hot meals flown in if conditions permitted. We called the ham and llima beans ham & little m.f.s, still real hard to look a llima bean in the face. The turkey loaf wasn't bad, eggs where by far the worst. The new MREs are WAY BETTER than anything we had to eat.
    W.D.
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  • Jim RauJim Rau Member Posts: 3,550
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by 39chevy
    196th lt inf bde..66-67..agree on the ham and limas..one that I do recall as etable was boned chicken..everyone else hated it so I could always count on getting that..small piece of c4 for heat and it wasn't too bad

    199th LIB, 68-69. What he said. They were just starting to see some LRP rats. If you could get them they were a nice change, but only about 900 calories per meal!
    I use to trade the fruit cocktail for peaches or pears, two to one!
    The eggs and lima beans were the ones I too could not stomach!!![;)]
    When I went back in 71 I was a Huey crewcheif and I was able to eat MOST of my meals in the rear, BUT OUR MESS HALL SUCKED! So we would scrounge C's and LRP's to eat even in the rear!!![:(]
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  • IronrifleIronrifle Member Posts: 664 ✭
    edited November -1
    Jim, I was also with the 199th! 67-69.. 2/40th Arty..
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  • Jim RauJim Rau Member Posts: 3,550
    edited November -1
    I was with the 87 Combat Engineer Co. We may have crossed pathes. I worked with the grunts on a regular basis, but mostly just watched and LISTENED to you cannon cockers![:D]
    Which grunt Battalion were you working with?
    You don't see many "REDCATCHERS" any more!
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  • IronrifleIronrifle Member Posts: 664 ✭
    edited November -1
    I was with Alpha Btry, we supported the Old Guard, 2/3 inf.. Was at, FSB Smoke, Nha bhe, Hill 44, Stepanie, Nancy, Sue, Hotel, etc.. Have you checked the Redcatcher message board?
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  • Jim RauJim Rau Member Posts: 3,550
    edited November -1
    I did work with the 2/3rd and 3/7th most. I didn't like to go near the 4/12th or the 5/12th if you recall their rep.
    I have been to the web site occasionally. I guess I need to go there more often.
    I was a member of the 71st AHC my second tour. They have an association and a very good website and a reunion every two years. I have missed the last several and many of those I wanted to reconnect with have passed. I will make the one in 2010 come hell or high water!!
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  • PaddiegruntPaddiegrunt Member Posts: 20 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    C- rats until eary 68 then LRRP freeze dried ratations, They were better than the chow in camp
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  • Rocky RaabRocky Raab Member Posts: 14,429 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Sky Soldier, I worked with the 173rd Airborne Brigade at LZ English in 1972. But I had to eat supper with the one-star and his staff. Martini hour followed by the formal mess: white linen, waiters with towels on their arms, formal toasts, lots of lah-de-da. We Air Force pilot types were tolerated and formally invited, but we could tell we didn't belong with all those West Pointers.

    When I could, I'd beg off and eat LRRPs in my hootch. Honest.

    Later, I worked out of a civilian airfield near the Cambodian border. Almost all our chow hall food was bought locally. We had monkey noodle soup several times a week, water buffalo, dog, lots of rice with fish heads, and such. I gained 20 pounds on it! I'll NEVER forget the peppers the Montagnards ate! If you bit them in half, they'd raise big blisters on your lips. Wow! I could manage two a meal. Grin!
    I may be a bit crazy - but I didn't drive myself.
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  • huffmanitehuffmanite Member Posts: 58 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Well, I was lucky in Vietnam (1969)to serve in our army combat mechanized battalion headquarters S-2 section, in a basecamp about 40 miles SE of Saigon. C-Rations were availiable, but we had a decent messhall to eat in. Lol, first time I ever ate lobster was in our messhall. However, we did have available what we called LRPs, which meant Long Range Patrol rations. We kept about 8 cases of it in our S-2 command APC if we had to go out in the field. It was dehydrated food and there were about 5 varieties of it. Add boiling water, stir, let set for about 5 minutes and then eat. Actually, we thought LRPs were pretty tasty. We kept a case in our sleeping quarters for a late night snack. We burned C-4 plastic explosive and an improvised stove to boil the water. The chilli and beans was the least liked as I remember it. Seems the beans never did soften enought, almost break a tooth on them.
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  • Sky SoldierSky Soldier Member Posts: 460 ✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by Rocky Raab
    Sky Soldier, I worked with the 173rd Airborne Brigade at LZ English in 1972. But I had to eat supper with the one-star and his staff. Martini hour followed by the formal mess: white linen, waiters with towels on their arms, formal toasts, lots of lah-de-da. We Air Force pilot types were tolerated and formally invited, but we could tell we didn't belong with all those West Pointers.


    Hey Rocky Raab.
    When I was there in '66-'67 we were in Bien Hoa and everything was tents in the base camp. I doubt I spent more than 30 days in the base camp during the year I was there. I was an RTO in the FO section of an artillary battery and spent most of my time in the jungle with the 503rd Infantry.
    I did a couple of stints as an AO out of Bien Hoa air base in a Cessna "Mixmaster" (USAF I think, but it might have been Army). Those were the only times I landed in the aircraft that I left Bien Hoa aboard.

    If it's any consolation, I wouldn't have been comfortable with the West Pointers either.

    SS
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  • Rocky RaabRocky Raab Member Posts: 14,429 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The Mixmasters were all Air Force. That's what I flew.

    Crisp salute, my brother!
    I may be a bit crazy - but I didn't drive myself.
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  • 11echo11echo Member Posts: 1,007 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I never did love "C's" but afew weren't bad. The trick was trying to get them first! The Plt.Sgt. would get a box, open it up and dump them down so the bottoms were pointing up (you couldn't see what was what). Theoretically it became a blind pick and nobody could complain about what they got (didn't work, there was ALWAYS complaining! *G*) But a short timer showed me a trick, from the factory the C's were loaded in the same place in the case each and every time! So all you had to do as was remember where your favor was and just pick it up! *G* Spiced beef worked for me!
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  • Sky SoldierSky Soldier Member Posts: 460 ✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by Rocky Raab
    The Mixmasters were all Air Force. That's what I flew.

    Crisp salute, my brother!



    Back atcha.
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  • 53hawkeye53hawkeye Member Posts: 4,673
    edited November -1
    The C-rats were pre PC and contained a four pak of cigarettes. We traded for the Pall-Malls or Lucky's 'cause they had no filter and we could smoke em all the way down.
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  • Jim RauJim Rau Member Posts: 3,550
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by huffmanite
    Well, I was lucky in Vietnam (1969)to serve in our army combat mechanized battalion headquarters S-2 section, in a basecamp about 40 miles SE of Saigon. C-Rations were availiable, but we had a decent messhall to eat in. Lol, first time I ever ate lobster was in our messhall. However, we did have available what we called LRPs, which meant Long Range Patrol rations. We kept about 8 cases of it in our S-2 command APC if we had to go out in the field. It was dehydrated food and there were about 5 varieties of it. Add boiling water, stir, let set for about 5 minutes and then eat. Actually, we thought LRPs were pretty tasty. We kept a case in our sleeping quarters for a late night snack. We burned C-4 plastic explosive and an improvised stove to boil the water. The chilli and beans was the least liked as I remember it. Seems the beans never did soften enought, almost break a tooth on them.



    Was that the 11th ACR at Blackhorse???
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  • huffmanitehuffmanite Member Posts: 58 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Jim Rau, My Vietnam battalion was the 2/47th Mech Inf Bn, 3rd Brigade, 9th Divison. Equipped with APCs, I think we were the only Mech combat unit in the Delta. Our base camp was at Bien Phouc and brigade headquarters was about 20 miles away at Tan An.
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  • Jim RauJim Rau Member Posts: 3,550
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by huffmanite
    Jim Rau, My Vietnam battalion was the 2/47th Mech Inf Bn, 3rd Brigade, 9th Divison. Equipped with APCs, I think we were the only Mech combat unit in the Delta. Our base camp was at Bien Phouc and brigade headquarters was about 20 miles away at Tan An.

    I was not paying attention. You did say SE, not north. Sorry.
    Check the M-14 thread, I am not through asking you questions!!![;)]
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  • EOD GuyEOD Guy Member Posts: 931 ✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by Sky Soldier
    quote:Originally posted by Rocky Raab
    Sky Soldier, I worked with the 173rd Airborne Brigade at LZ English in 1972. But I had to eat supper with the one-star and his staff. Martini hour followed by the formal mess: white linen, waiters with towels on their arms, formal toasts, lots of lah-de-da. We Air Force pilot types were tolerated and formally invited, but we could tell we didn't belong with all those West Pointers.


    Hey Rocky Raab.
    When I was there in '66-'67 we were in Bien Hoa and everything was tents in the base camp. I doubt I spent more than 30 days in the base camp during the year I was there. I was an RTO in the FO section of an artillary battery and spent most of my time in the jungle with the 503rd Infantry.
    I did a couple of stints as an AO out of Bien Hoa air base in a Cessna "Mixmaster" (USAF I think, but it might have been Army). Those were the only times I landed in the aircraft that I left Bien Hoa aboard.

    If it's any consolation, I wouldn't have been comfortable with the West Pointers either.

    SS


    I was at Bien Hoa Aug 66 - Aug 67 in the 42d Ord Det (EOD). Were were located near` the perimeter between the 173d Engineers and the Scout Dog Platoon.
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  • ltcdotyltcdoty Member Posts: 4,180 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    1970 Vietnam...Air Force...aircraft mechanic...worst I had it was the air conditioner broke down in the chow hall, and my ice cream melted on my peaches[:D]
    Regards,
    Tom D
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  • Eagle_ViewEagle_View Member Posts: 11 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    huffmanite

    I was with 3rd Brigade at Tan An, set up the Combat Photo team there. In August of 69 I rode with the 2/47 on some ops for photos. 113s in the delta was a tough job.

    I also spent 9 months with the 4/47th Mobile Riverine Force. We are lucky there meal wise becaus when we were aboard ship the Navy cooked 2/3rds of the meals. When we were in the field it was C Rat all the way. I lived on spaghetti & Meatballs, pound cake and fruit cocktail, peanut butter, and coconut candy bars. Sometimes i could catch a village chicken and flash cook it in a C-Rat can with C-4 for some fresh meat.

    Eagle
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  • River RatRiver Rat Member Posts: 9,022 ✭
    edited November -1
    When I was on a carrier (USS Oriskany) in the South China Sea, in 1972, we would break out the rats when at general quarters. They were old rats, WWII issue, and we were warned not to open bloated cans. Several were upset to read dates on the cans that preceded their birth! I can't recall the meal types, but do recall they included gum (black from age) and cigarettes (Pall Malls and Lucky Strike Green). I was not a smoker, but some kids tried them and said they were terrible.

    Later, when TDY to a riverine unit we ate C rats all the time. These were newer units. No cigarettes. All I remember of the food are the B-1 and B-2 dessert units, the fruit salad, and -- my favorite -- the peaches. Never saw the LRRP meals, precurser of today's MREs.

    So, to answer youer question, there was a big difference between the WWII and Vietnam-era meals. Can't recall much about them, because our minds were not on our food.
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