the first mre,holy grale

[dirtbag]

The last ones I was issued was in 1973, but I can't remember how old they were then...
Still had the cigs...

[Treesuit]

Yes, I seem to remember that around 1972/73 contractors were issued a directive to take cigarettes out of MCI's. Something to do with a no smoking law. The MCI's before then still had them and it would have taken awhile for the cigarettes to be totally gone.

[rationtin440]

Thanks for the info guys, I was not sure. I do recall some of the older guys in my guard unit saying that they had them in their MCIs in the early 1970s, but never occured to me to ask when they were discontinued in the MCIs. Of course it would have been nice if they replaced the cigs with more snack/dessert items but hey.....

[dirtbag]

My only complaint about the smokes was the god-awful brands...

Benson and Hedges, disgusting !

Whichever was cheapest, I guess...

But, since they were free...