Military Rations In Afghanistan.

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Extreme Pilgrim

Forager
Aug 27, 2010
148
0
UK
I think essentially it is a loada bollox as the Taliban essentially own the territory and have never needed fancy rations, that was the way of it back in Victoria's reign and it is the way of it now, and if you think the "Taliban" are something new just read your Rudyard Kipling (well he does make exceedingly good cakes)

Can you expand on what you disagree with Laurentius?
 

Extreme Pilgrim

Forager
Aug 27, 2010
148
0
UK
Heh interesting, well i must say i've never suffered any ill effects but i hadn't spotted that before ;)
shame as the shakes are one of the best items. mix the choc with the coffee creamer and pour on the oatmeal cookies for the ultimate field desert :D

Yeah, topped off with jalapeño cheese and Tabasoco biscuits. Now I am hungry.
 

launditch1

Maker Plus and Trader
Nov 17, 2008
1,741
0
Eceni county.
Just what sort of things are the MOD police looking for on ebay?i remember there used to be alot of armour plates on there with stock numbers blacked out...
 

Retired Member southey

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jun 4, 2006
11,098
13
your house!
Repeated selling by the same sellers of either bulk kit/rations, hard to get without access kit or just kit that should definatly not be being sold in the public domain. I would think.
 

Timbo

Tenderfoot
Jul 23, 2010
69
0
..
I'd like to try a couple of those out camping, nice touch the italians throwing in little toothbrushes - suppose it cuts down on troops dental repairs
 

UltimateSurvivor

Tenderfoot
Aug 13, 2010
59
0
Richmond North Yorkshire.
It's interesting how threads always seem to veer drastically away from the original post.

Great thread though! Some of the menus look rather yummy.

The American MRE's are actually rather good. Out troops loved them in the first gulf! I built up quite a collection of MRE's in Afghanistan. Brit's and Yank's love exchanging rat packs and do so quite alot.

The age old debate about the RQMS/CQMS selling his written off or surplus kit is exactly that, old!

it does happen and will happen for the foreseeable future as i see it. Do i mind it? Not at all... Industries like survival/bushcraft ect benefit greatly from this surplus kit.

If you feel the need to go out and pay a couple of hundred pounds for your 95 issue kit and some Assault boots, do so. More fool you!

The same applies to rat packs and anything else surplus to forces requirements.

:rolleyes:
 
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Extreme Pilgrim

Forager
Aug 27, 2010
148
0
UK
It's interesting how threads always seem to veer drastically away from the original post.

I would hardly say "veer drastically away from the original post". :dunno:

As for the comment about surplus kit, I know a serving guy, who is now an officer, that 'lost' a companys worth of allotment of Gore-Tex jackets and trousers, all of which ended up in the hands of a surplus seller. The blokes went without and he made a fat profit for his troubles but due to the fact that some people will pay daft prices for kit (which in many cases is inferior to civilian produced kit) idiots like he follow suit. Now, this guy managed to get away from his SIB (MoD Police) charge but many dont. That is wrong. If it was a helmet here, a pouch there, it wouldnt be an issue but it isnt. :pirate:

As for rations, you can beat UK packs. US MRE's are a novalty but each pack that you see is a meal sized pack, not a pack for a day. Therefore, if you were to cover yourself for 24 hours, you would need 3 of them (breakfast, lunch, dinner).
 

UltimateSurvivor

Tenderfoot
Aug 13, 2010
59
0
Richmond North Yorkshire.
I would hardly say "veer drastically away from the original post". :dunno:

I would. The thread started off displaying various Rat pack menus. I didn't say it was a bad thing... I hope you didn't assume that was my point. :dunno:

As for your comments on the surplus gear. As i said. It does unfortunately happen. In the end the cash made by the army surplus stores will in some way or another find it's way back to the goverment and then back into the pocket of the MoD.

The SIB(Actually a tiny investigative branch of the Royal Military police, not actually referred to as the MoD police, to avoid any doubt.) Has been actively investigating the "disappearance" of MoD property since the Second World War. There have been many cases where the bent RQMS has written off an entire companies supply of kit. They've also been found Selling Night vision equiptment amongst other things. it's wrong to assume that that ALL people pilfer tiny bit's of kit where they can, obviously. It's also wrong to assume they ALL take entire allocations of kit...

None of my ex army associates could claim they havn't at one stage or another taken something that we would now class as "surplus."

I stand by my original post. I do indeed think alot of industries would be worse off without Army surplus ect.

With regards to the MRE. After 7 years service and 3 tours in the middle east, i would rank them quite high. They are what they say, A Meal ready to Eat. Don't assume any more or any less and you'd be quite happy in my opinion.
Brit' rat packs are very good. But there's still room for alot of improvement.;)


This is all based on my opinion, not fact.
Each to their own:)

Regards.
 
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Ray Britton

Nomad
Jun 2, 2010
320
0
Bristol
Sorry to come into this late, but I have to agree with Southey here. If the MOD put a load of the new multi climate rat packs into field textiles for disposal, that is up to them (be it a good or bad thing). What is petty, are busy bodies who assume (and remember what assume does lol) that the packs must be buckshee!

I have seen lots of gear arrive at field textiles, that is brand new, and has not even gone on issue yet!

If on the other hand, someone decides to sell of some rat packs to dealers etc, then if it was housed in UK bound stores, then it was not going overseas!. Yes, it is illegal, and wrong, but those IN THE KNOW, also know that this can be a two way trade, and many Q's have acquired kit from dealers, as the army do not have any surplus for their unit (having probably sent it to field textiles lol).

I often see rations for sale, and also know that the majority I see come from the cadet forces, and not the regular army. I have seen all kinds of gear 'go missing' from tins of paint to Bedford TM's and smaller armoured vehicles!

I have reported some sales on ebay to the RMP/snowdrops, but would not be overly bothered by a few rations.


Back on topic...
I love the new Brit multi climate rations......Although for 'multi climate', you are really reading 'hot' lol
 

nickg

Settler
May 4, 2005
890
5
69
Chatham
You can buy the current issue rat packs directly from the producer perfectly legally and completely above board.
Check out this thread
You can't assume that any tranxsaction is illegal, just as you cant assume that it IS legal

cheers
Nick
 

Harley

Forager
Mar 15, 2010
142
2
London
Vestey (Purple Food group) are the only legitimate suppliers of the complete Multi-Climate Ration and 12-hour packs, there have been no 'surplus' rations for some years.

Beware anyone advertising 'surplus' anything unless you know they are an authorised surplus dealer, I believe the phrase is Caveat Emptor (Let the buyer beware).
 

Everything Mac

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Nov 30, 2009
3,112
83
36
Scotland
before this thread goes wildly off topic (certainly a theme at the minute)

I am amazed at how different the meals are! - not just what they are made up of but the relative quantity of the packs. - I've only ever had Brit issue stuff and I love it! - saying that I only ever had to last two or three days on it.

the American ones do look very interesting as to the Aussy ones!

atb
Andy
 

tiger stacker

Native
Dec 30, 2009
1,178
40
Glasgow
Danish rations are unusual but are nice change from ours, French well there is a reason they like their red wine. Our new rations are a improvement, however when you have a choice of 10 similer menus, you wil eventually try Regge Regge Sauce or different kinds of Tabasco.
Who ever invented the BV deserves a knight hood though, with the small aladdin type flask, instant French onion soup never tasted better than Beef onion.
 

adestu

Native
Jan 19, 2010
1,717
3
swindon
going back to mre's you may want to check thier website regards the milkshake.there maybe a risk for some of them.check the site.
ade
 

Scots_Charles_River

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Dec 12, 2006
3,277
41
paddling a loch
www.flickr.com
I would say the Italian and S Korean packs looke the most tasty. And I'm a Veggy !

Thanks for the link, I set my S1 class a Survival Challenge and part of that is to design an eating/drinking/cutlery product from recyled bottles.

Nick
 

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