First Strike Ration Availability

[cavguy]

I just thought I would drop some news I recently heard from a friend still on Active Duty in the Army. He told me at least on the Army side of the house the First Strike Rations are only being issued in country in Afghanistan and Iraq. He said that they are not available for stateside training, etc... and the only way they get extras here in the US is to actually bring them back from Afgh. or Iraq with you! I was surprised to hear this as it does account for the rarity of the ration and reason it does not show up often for sale!

[HungryMan]

Seeing that these rations were apparently the solution to a glaring need well over 5 years ago that was obviously not defined to any one geographical area...I hope that this is not true for the sake of those in the field both past and present.

[hannonmc]

Amazing that they haven't surfaced here during the normal "3 year rotation" schedule that MREs typically follow. When going to a gun show, I can typically see MREs from 3 years past up to 1 year past (2008-2010).

Treesuit and I were able to create passable copies using components we were able to obtain. The only 2 components we really couldn't get were the Zapplesauce and the ERGO drinks. So, if that is the case, why the big shortage of the FSRs?

I'm wondering if they are just so widely liked that "extras" just don't show up often. Demand is outpacing supply?

Thoughts?

[rebraunjr]

I have five Menu 1s, but you are correct, they are very hard to get. I live right beside the 3rd Infantry Division. They deploy a LOT and my contacts cant get any right now. No idea why.

[laughing_man]

In Japan, there are two or more FSRs sellers and purchase is not difficult.
However, they are very expensive and one is $60 to $100
Probably, those all were manufactured in 2009 and I think that "Army Rations" of Britain is a roots.

[cavguy]

The decision would have been made at a high level as to - who to approve distribution on the rations to. IE: Stateside or OCONUS, but I imagine some logistics activities on certain bases in the US do have a few pallets of these. But based on what I have heard I think all in all Army policy is not to issue these stateside, could change anytime though I guess.

[Treesuit]

Yes, a change is Army policy is very hard to do and if you look carefully at Natick Labs early reviews of special operational rations FSR's were classified into that category along with the high altitude extra rations.

If FSR's are being labeled as SPEC OPS rations then you can count on the fact these will only be issued on a "as-needed" basis in whatever war zone is going on at the time. That would follow Army logic as to issue a ration when your going to into a combat zone.

[HungryMan]

So if 'field stripping' of these meals (no matter in what branch of the service that our brave men and women serve or on what mission they may possibly be deployed) is 100% accepted by military leadership...and a glaring lack of proper nutrition is the problem (for what decades now despite literally billions spent)...why are these 'special' FSR meals (save cold weather, etc.) not distributed to every single soldier in our armed forces bar none? (save those who obviously eat out of a kitchen).

The premise here seems to be that a soldier is allowed to literally pick and choose or throw away any food offered them...yet if the mission (or just plain old 'job') is not deemed 'special' by heaven knows who...the guy or gal working their arse off or exerting themselves to exhaustion in whatever manner they are instructed...is indeed in danger of not receiving proper nutrition due to where they are deployed, how their mission is classified or how many items are indeed availble for them to throw away or not (in other words, their simple personal preference limited to fewer choices in a 'regular' MRE).

I look at this as a solution (given no obvious desire to daily monitor a soldier's nutritional intake) finally discovered in '06...yet not implimented (as the OP suggests) simply because leadership would actually have to monitor what is distributed dialy...or actually PAY billions extra (FSRs) to work within a 'do what you want' system that they themselves happily created.

As we get ready to cut the military (hopefully last) and more importantly the entitlement programs that got us in to this mess in the first place....it would seem that actually calculating the most basic of costs that we face to feed our (physically working) troops 'properly' would be more of a priority.