Who still has one?

[mosparky]

Never served not I got a 38 on a keychain somewhere. Used to carry it until it started cutting the crap outta my leg and pocket. Now it resides on a ring with seldom needed keys.

 

[crazymoon]

Umm, was part of that name "shingle"?

hoa, The name was a lot worse than the name you are thinking of. :)

 

[crazymoon]

The spaghetti with the "meat" ran a close second. Until you removed the "meat" and added the rest of it to ramen noodles with hot sauce.

SH, I disliked the tuna meal and "beef and boulders" was my favorite.

 

[Steve H]

SH, I disliked the tuna meal and "beef and boulders" was my favorite.

Lol! B&B! Haven't thought about that in years!

 

[mike243]

When MRE came out I hated the dehydrated pork patty, I could never make it edible, have had sea rats with rotted meat from the early 60's, that was in 79 so not sure how many millions of them they made, heck they probably got some still stored somewhere lol

 

[DRKsmoking]

Dad gave me one when I was a kid, I had for awhile , than of coarse i misplaced it. Than when dating Mona and we went camping . She pulled out one to open a can of something. I knew she was a keeper than. lol
We still have it here somewhere, will have to see if she knows which camping box it is in . I know it is not in the RV.

David

 

[Steve H]

I know some of the Vietnam vets called the P38's John Waynes. I heard that from time to time when I was in the Army.

 

[bill ace 350]

I

That little bottle of Tabasco helped everything.

only remember Tobasco with the later MREs. Before the Tobasco, I remember the dehydrated ketchup packet in the MRE accessory pack.

 

[LanceR]

I spent 29 years as an Army infantryman with the first 7-8 year s spent eating C-Rats. Some of my earliest tactical training memories are of stripping out the C-Rat stuff you weren't going to use and stacking the cans in a tightly tied off spare sock during you pre-combat checks so that they wouldn't rattle and get you "shot".

SH, I disliked the tuna meal and "beef and boulders" was my favorite.

We knew the beef and potato slices as "beef and shrapnel slices".... And the ham and Lima beans were "ham and mother........"

C-Rats and early MREs didn't come with heaters and getting the solid fuel "heat tabs" fuel tablets was usually reserved for really cold weather so there were a lot of different methods used to heat C-Rats especially. Including puncturing the can and putting it in the empty box and then lighting the box on fire, Sterno stoves, early backpacking stoves, C-Rat cans with a bit of gas mixed in dry sand as a stove and twig fires. And since boiling water wouldn't get hot enough to burst the can just putting all the cans that needed heating into a pot and heating them in water was sometimes an option, too.

When MRE came out I hated the dehydrated pork patty, I could never make it edible,

Actually, we used to hunt for and trade for the early MRE freeze dried beef or pork patties as especially when added to ramen noodles or dried potato flakes they could be made into a lot of pretty nice meals if you had a few minutes and had done a wee bit of prior planning.

Aside from cost, the big reason they did away with the freeze dried meats and fruits was because despite frequent warnings there were always knuckleheads eating them dry and not drinking enough water resulting in really painful "belly bombs".

I still have several of each size of P-38s and still carry one occasionally. For years after my retirement I still wore my dog tags with one sporting a rubber silencer to keep them from clinking along with a P-38 and a handcuff key all kept quiet with a fat rubber band. I still wear one red dog tag for medical alert purposes but no longer have the key or P-38 on it.

 

[bill ace 350]

I spent 29 years as an Army infantryman with the first 7-8 year s spent eating C-Rats. Some of my earliest tactical training memories are of stripping out the C-Rat stuff you weren't going to use and stacking the cans in a tightly tied off spare sock during you pre-combat checks so that they wouldn't rattle and get you "shot".




We knew the beef and potato slices as "beef and shrapnel slices".... And the ham and Lima beans were "ham and mother........"

C-Rats and early MREs didn't come with heaters and getting the solid fuel "heat tabs" fuel tablets was usually reserved for really cold weather so there were a lot of different methods used to heat C-Rats especially. Including puncturing the can and putting it in the empty box and then lighting the box on fire, Sterno stoves, early backpacking stoves, C-Rat cans with a bit of gas mixed in dry sand as a stove and twig fires. And since boiling water wouldn't get hot enough to burst the can just putting all the cans that needed heating into a pot and heating them in water was sometimes an option, too.




Actually, we used to hunt for and trade for the early MRE freeze dried beef or pork patties as especially when added to ramen noodles or dried potato flakes they could be made into a lot of pretty nice meals if you had a few minutes and had done a wee bit of prior planning.

Aside from cost, the big reason they did away with the freeze dried meats and fruits was because despite frequent warnings there were always knuckleheads eating them dry and not drinking enough water resulting in really painful "belly bombs".

I still have several of each size of P-38s and still carry one occasionally. For years after my retirement I still wore my dog tags with one sporting a rubber silencer to keep them from clinking along with a P-38 and a handcuff key all kept quiet with a fat rubber band. I still wear one red dog tag for medical alert purposes but no longer have the key or P-38 on it.

As far as heating food went, a stale 2 inch by 2 inch square of T-Rat pound cake soaked in alcohol for cleaning map overlays and lit, prodyced a nice blue flame to heat up a canteen cup of coffee or hot coco or ramen...

 

[mneeley490]

My dad was Army Reserve in the 70's & 80's. Every year he would be on active duty for 2 weeks and have to go someplace and train. He'd come back with C-rats, or later MRE's. I had a few of those can openers, but I don't know where they are now; so seldom needed these days with most cans having pop-tops.
He'd bring the MRE's hunting with us, and I remember liking the crackers and processed cheese the best. In those days, they'd come with a small pack of smokes, as well. Times change.

 

[bill ace 350]

My dad was Army Reserve in the 70's & 80's. Every year he would be on active duty for 2 weeks and have to go someplace and train. He'd come back with C-rats, or later MRE's. I had a few of those can openers, but I don't know where they are now; so seldom needed these days with most cans having pop-tops.
He'd bring the MRE's hunting with us, and I remember liking the crackers and processed cheese the best. In those days, they'd come with a small pack of smokes, as well. Times change.

C-Rat smokes.... Great memories.

Jimmy Carter ruined that.

 

[mneeley490]

C-Rat smokes.... Great memories.

Jimmy Carter ruined that.

According to my dad, Carter ruined a lot about the service. That's why he counseled me not to join.

 

[Steve H]

Bringing this back to life. Over the last couple of years. I've seen videos of the current MRE's. And have been quite intrigued. So.....

I got the "A" case today. Appears as though this is a favorite. I'll be checking these out soon.

 

[BGKYSmoker]

We have 4 cases in the pantry.

 

[ajbert]

I have five boxes of MRE's tucked away for just in case. Used P38's in the Navy, and was so happy when the MRE's replaced the C-Rats. I don't have any P38's from the Navy, but I do have two currently I bought some place or other. When I lose those I'll find some more some place or other. They come in might handy when camping or hunting and you find no one thought to bring a can opener. I'm not going to use any of my hunting knives to open cans.

 

[bill ace 350]

Bringing this back to life. Over the last couple of years. I've seen videos of the current MRE's. And have been quite intrigued. So.....

View attachment 729865
I got the "A" case today. Appears as though this is a favorite. I'll be checking these out soon.

I picked up some at the commissary a few months ago. Expensive! The accessory packs didn't have matches anymore.

 

[Brokenhandle]

Bringing this back to life. Over the last couple of years. I've seen videos of the current MRE's. And have been quite intrigued. So.....

View attachment 729865
I got the "A" case today. Appears as though this is a favorite. I'll be checking these out soon.

Let us know how you like them Steve! I know my daughter and son in law have had some but not sure which ones.

And for the record... this is one of the very few threads of food on here that is not making me hungry!!

Ryan

 

[normanaj]

We have a discount store in our region called Ocean State Joblot and they had MRE cases for $34.