MRE makeover-First Strike Ration

[Canuck_Buck]

The new food "is delicious. This food is seasoned," said Egolf, who now lives at the U.S. Soldiers' and Airmen's Home in Washington.

Spread out on tables along the Pentagon's third floor Wednesday at lunch time, containers of garlic mashed potatoes, barbecue pork, beef and black beans, and Mediterranean chicken simmered as long lines of soldiers waited for a taste.

Those new offerings will be available to troops in MREs (meals ready to eat) over the next three years.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/05/combat.cuisine.ap/index.html



Other soldiers snatched up sample packages of jalapeno cashews, chocolate-covered coffee beans and the always popular beef jerky.

Army leaders are calling the new high-calorie Natick offering the First Strike Ration, and it would serve troops like Laverty, who head into combat first and are on the move. The packet is good for three meals, and includes about 3,000 calories -- designed for soldiers moving hard and fast, carrying heavy packs and equipment.

Inside are easy-to-eat, high-protein, high-carbohydrate foods that soldiers can stuff in their rucksacks and chomp on the run, including a pepperoni pocket sandwich, bacon cheddar pocket, tuna, beef jerky, wheat bread, cheese spread, applesauce, several power bars and even a pack of caffeine gum.

.....now i am hungry, man..!

[Arthur P]

My son just recently signed on for a 6-year hitch, still in boot camp, so I guess he'll eventually be sampling this cuisine. Got a letter from him today and he said he qualified as Expert on the rifle range.

[falcon]

They keep coming up with catchy names and changing the menus a little. MRE's are stillglops of goo inplastic pouches. The first and second generation MRE's sucked to the max. Troops hated them and most still do. During Desert Storm the US had zillions of extra MRE's in Saudi because they had toreplace and supplement them with civilian stuff.

There were so many MRE's in Saudi that the Army tried to give them to Ethiopia, who was suffering a famine. The Ethiopians refused the MRE's. Troops started calling MRE's: "Meals refused by Ethiopia."