Looks like new FSR's are on the way!

[Bypah]

I concur with Cav about the easy access of the Redbull,Monster type drinks for our troops. I can say that my son was almost "fueled" by this type of drinks in the field plus a lot of chew ( tobacco). What he told me was that in the field the troops dislike the MRE's and the other rations. They eat them because is better that stay hungry....
They even had a concession truck delivering this type of foods to the field @ Ft. Erwin NTC
IMHO..they need to keep what is palatable to the troops and what it works. Too much changes will affect the performance of the troops.
Another factor we have to consider is the age of the average soldier...mostly are kids that are used to power drinks,chips, and hot pockets, a lot of junk food....even from high school the menus in the cafeterias are not so palatable....

[cavguy]

Yep we have that truck that comes out to the field it is called the "Gut Truck" hahaha, some bases even have pizza delivery guys that will deliver to 10 digit grids.

[Bypah]

No wonder they have "weight problems"....

[dirtbag]

Yep we have that truck that comes out to the field it is called the "Gut Truck" hahaha, some bases even have pizza delivery guys that will deliver to 10 digit grids.

We called our trucks "Roach Coaches"...

[HungryMan]

Thanks for the link, Ken. I had read that earlier and it somewhat sparked my earlier question:

Are we taking literally years at a time to develop what is truly needed in a conflict...and will the current (by all acounts 'desperate') cold weather ration 'need' literally be a mute point before over a decade is spent trying to figure this out?

Kudos to the men and women in uniform running these programs and the suppliers having to wait months (or years) on end for a report to be issued or a production decision to be made...yet I read that update and wonder if some brave guy up on a cold mountaintop truly believes that everything possible is being done to streamline this approval process for his direct benefit at that moment (especially absent any new 'wonder food' evidently having come down the pipe in recent memory).

Note to the upcoming big government budget cutters:

If you have enough exhaustive research and a good supplier already...use said suggestions (not to mention money already spent for such) and your supplier's solid reputation to rapidly implement any 'second' phase for the direct benefit of your boots on the ground trying to send everybody home.

We owe it to them.

[Bypah]

You're right Hungryman....
They forgot this axiom...."an army runs on its stomach"

[HungryMan]

"...They even had a concession truck delivering this type of foods to the field @ Ft. Erwin NTC
IMHO..they need to keep what is palatable to the troops and what it works. Too much changes will affect the performance of the troops.."

Agreed.

If wholesale changes need to be made costing millions of dollars, time we don't have and most importantly a perception that nobody has figured out in the year of our Lord 2011 what should be on a hungry hero's plate...then somebody needs to take a look at this vital part of the procurement system itself a lot harder.

[HungryMan]

You're right Hungryman....
They forgot this axiom...."an army runs on its stomach"

Very true! ...and while I don't believe in depriving our brave men/women or even not treating them on occassion...there has to be a middle ground between what Michelle O is preaching for our school children and what you and others have related to us here with the constant barage of junk.

[Bypah]

They need to keep the rations simple and nutritious.Then they need to keep the ol' field kitchens and cooks up and runnin'.... with good wholesome foods when available. I have seen ans ate some of the rations from other countries and for example look at the RCIR's , the EPa's and the freeze dried rations of the norweigans they are awesome!!!!!
At least they are not like the chinese.....rice galore!!!!

[Treesuit]

Hungryman,

I guess I'm not understanding fully what the context of your argument is?

If your saying that the relative ease of troops getting junk food is pretty bad then "yes" I agree. I see it everyday and the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) is the conglomerate that has a stranglehold on everything in and out of the country on every US military base. They do provide a critical service to the troops who want this stuff and sometimes rather than going across the street to the Dining Hall which is better,some troops would like to have Burger King, Pizza Hut or something else readily filling. If you want to argue that point I doubt it will much difference you'll be a mouse fighting a gorilla.

Now if your saying that Natick Labs are putting more junk food in the high altitude rations than I think that's a stretch, in the report dated May 2010 it said that the SOCOM and Special Forces folks who were operating at high altitudes in the A-Stan requested supplemental ration packs becuase the standard 3 MRE's a day weren't cutting it as far as caloric intake. Most of what I found in the report stated that they wanted to construct rations with existing MRE parts and then maybe go to some existing OTC foods that were readily noticeable. If the folks at Natick Labs whipped something up and made it readily satisfying and somewhat nutritious, then put it out, then that's a win-win situation. What I was trying to figure out was what readily accessible over the counter foods they put into the MORE packs. All I saw in those PPT slides were tan pouches and sliver tubes with generic labels on them. They weren't much help to garner some ideas or try and do some research for all of us here on the forum.