MRE Menu 16: Chicken Burrito Bowl

[Mortblanc]

I had two young Marines in Iraq at the height of the hostilities there.

One of the things I was under strict instruction to send in each "care package" was a couple of pounds of my home made beef jerky for consumption on patrols.

And stripping the MRE down as CH has stated was standard practice.

Their patrols were normally 6 hours long and there were no breaks for meals. 6 hours in life threatening conditions followed by 6 hours of rest followed by 6 hours of life threatening conditions. 12 hours a day of danger and 12 hours a day of slightly less danger, and they did that for 8 months solid for two or three deployments and living on MRE meals for the whole time. (#2 son did get a trip to Burger King in Bagdad on one day off.)

We are talking about young men in a very active situation that are burning 4k-5k calories daily. They need calories while on the go and in convenient form to allow eating while 100% tactically alert. The standard of approval was things like the soft cheese and peanut butter that was packaged in tubes that they could simply squeeze into their mouths, or jerky, or biscuits they could eat with one hand while holding their rifle in the other.

Some day people will realize that combat is the ultimate survival scenerio. Not "war", where most soldiers are tied up in the supply chain, but the actual experiences of the 10% of the troops that are patrolling daily in the operational areas.

It is one thing to worry and complain because you MRE heater has not brought your water to the temperature you prefer, and another thing to take the heater out and throw it in the rubbish because you now you will not be using it.

The MRE heater was used, but the process was to add a slight amount of water and stick the heater into your clothing, over your chest, to stay warm on cold desert nights.