I wonder if the men at Lima Site 85 in Laos ate this type of ration? It was a small, remote location and occcured in the 1965-1974 time frame. CMSgt Richard Etchberger received the Medal of Honor in the 1968 battle for the site against North Vietnamese commandos http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_...

I'm going through a case of 2010 Sopacko MRE's and none of mine contain any af the irregularities that you have described and shown. If anything my pouches are super durable and I couldn't easily tear them apart. It does seem strange.

That Potato Cheddar soup is really delicious. I would like to see them create a type of offshoot to be made into a main entree item. Like if they added some chunks of ground hamburger, maybe some bigger chunks of potato and thickened the gravy just a little. Also make it a bigger serving size.

My favorite is the Pork Chow Mein from the late 90's/Early 2000's era. It's the crunchy noodles that do it for me.

A close second is Menu#9 Beef Stew