US Ration Spoons

[C-rats]

I'm not quite sure how to respond to that except.......


Ha Ha Ha Ha!!!

[mreheater72]

Hi guys,

today on a flee market in Germany I found a “grab box” with different US rations spoons and flatware . Amongst others there was a spoon still in wrapper which I have never seen before:

“Unknown” spoon in wrapper in comparison to standard MCI or early ME spoon:



Do anyone know whether that spoon was an MRE spoon?

So long mreheater72

[housil]

To me it seem´s non mil

[norge]

yes thats a genuin mre spoon,i have it in brown to+ white as yours in
my collection.

found my spoons in mid 1990s brown bag mres.

cheers ken

[mreheater72]

yes thats a genuin mre spoon

I´m surprised, never seen that kind of spoon in a MRE! I guess those ones were packed not so often!?

So long mreheater72

[norge]

i have only 2 "not regular spoons"
but i could only find the brown one,dont knoe where i put the white one
but i know i have one somwhere down in my basement.
will post a picture of the brown one tomorrow

cheers kem

[Imon]

[quote="mreheater72"][quote="norge"]yes thats a genuin mre spoon[/quote]

I´m surprised, never seen that kind of spoon in a MRE! I guess those ones were packed not so often!?

So long mreheater72[/quote]


I have the same one spoon (photo : spoon). I cant remember where from.But I dont think its out of a MRE.
If this kind of spoon has been in dark brown MREs then I must have more than this one because I had realy a lot of the dark brown MREs in the past...
I think its out of a commercial food paket e.g.GA Sun Meadow or another company which supports the Army with food.

[attachment=2]spoon 002.jpg[/attachment]

I took a look at my basement for other spoons and found:
dining packets out of a small cardboard box with fork and knife, marking "NIB 39083"(photo 2: packet fork.knife.spoon) I guess out of a former group ration.
[attachment=1]spoon 006.jpg[/attachment]
and one dining packet "Type II" with tan/sand spoon,fork,knife and other things.surprising is the original sugar packet like those in the MRE Acces.Packets. (photo : Dining Packet Type II)This kind of dining packet is from the late 80s/early 90s,maybe also out of a former group ration
[attachment=0]spoon 003.jpg[/attachment]

@ Hagen : if you also collect spoons and need some of those types on the photo then let me know

[DangerousDave]

I remember being trained to use an MRE spoon, to set up a Claymore mine, trip-wire activated, in the early '1980's. This was standard 11B AIT training at Ft. Benning. Not SF. This was not called a booby trap, because America does not use booby traps, however, we could employ a Claymore, with tripwires(Non command detonated), and call it a "Mechanical Ambush". The spoons where still white colored ones back then. Maybe thats why they changed them to brown, and made them longer.(No racial puns, intended). I just googled around, and could'nt find any pics.

[Richard w.]

Hi Dave- Yes, I remember that technique for setting Claymores with a tripwire, too. I was also US Army in the early 80s.

I found it in an old manual that I kept (FM 21-75, "Combat Skills of the Soldier"). The manual is dated 1984, but they are still calling it a "C Ration spoon". I recall that we were still eating the existing stocks of C Rats about half the time, and getting the "new" brown bag MREs the rest of the time. Same white spoon in both.

I've scanned the relevant pages for old times' sake. To summarize it, a Claymore's blasting cap is set to detonate by a battery. The plastic spoon is nonconductive, so its used in conjunction with a clothespin to keep two wires from touching and completing the circuit. A tripwire pulls the spoon out of the way to detonate the mine.

[norge]

the green and sand sets are from ugr/t rat kits.
cheers ken