Why are some US Rations almost never seen?

[alohakid]

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[OtisRNeedleman]

Re UGRs, most UGRs are built to serve 50 people. Talking several boxes, and for UGR-A you're talking one frozen box and two non-frozen boxes. UGR-E serves 18 but are only produced during wartime if there is a need. Would say the only whole UGR one might have any reasonable chance of getting would be the UGR-Heat and Serve, since none of the boxes are frozen. Otherwise, just trust to luck and see what parts of a UGR may show up.

[DangerousDave]

I found 3 unopened T-Rats(metal container) in an old training bunker at West Range, Ft. Sill OK, in 1990. Never seen a metal tray rat, since then. Chicken Breasts, Macaroni salad, and some kind of apple cake. I grabbed them, and smuggled them back home a few months later. Army had no T-rats then, must have been some Arty Marines training there.?

[Victor_88]

I thank every one for their replies

Where can one find 50 people to participate in an UGR review? Not very likely

I do have one question though: Why the need to maintain a seperate line of UGRs specifically for the Marines? It used to be called UGR-B,until in recent years they changed it to UGR-M

The given reason is "to provide Marines with group rations that do not require refrigeration and quick to prepare"

Why wouldnt The H&S serve the Marines just as well

[parafireboy]

Update on the U2 tube ration search. It sounds promising. That's all I can say about it right now, and again, everything is on the up-and-up. We might not be able to get one to spare for a review, but at least one for the museum sounds promising. It's working it's way up the chain, and I should hear something soon. Keep those fingers crossed everyone!

[wats6831]

I thank every one for their replies

Where can one find 50 people to participate in an UGR review? Not very likely

I do have one question though: Why the need to maintain a seperate line of UGRs specifically for the Marines? It used to be called UGR-B,until in recent years they changed it to UGR-M

The given reason is "to provide Marines with group rations that do not require refrigeration and quick to prepare"

Why wouldnt The H&S serve the Marines just as well

No, the UGR H&S is made for heating up in a field kitchen. Needless to say during a rapid assault there isn't a field kitchen necessarily.

The UGR-B is made like a huge MRE. They are prepacked and ready to go, you pull a ripcord and they self heat inside their own huge Flameless Ration Heater.

Sadly they don't make them unless it's a special run for war time or as needed.

[DonJa]

I would guess it comes down to volume. U-2 sortie numbers are classified, but are probably less than 100 annually. The aircraft is based at only a single facility ( though perhaps is staged operationally one or two other places OCONUS, as needed). The technology for feeding the pilots is as old as the aircraft itself, and is similar to what Mercury astronauts ate. While the menus have apparently been tweaked periodically, it would be unlikely that more than one manufacturing site is involved. I have no idea on shelf life, but I’m guessing close to 100% of what is produced is consumed.

You can try similar stuff though. Russian Soyuz-style astronaut food is out there and available for civilian purchase:
https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/a-m ... food-45676

[kwiklot]

Yes the ugr E is no longer being ordered by the DOD confirmed by some of the project leads

[gschultz9]

Hey battlemaster, it seems like you've gotten quite a few good responses/explanations. I'll put my two cents in as well. Forgive me for repeating what others have already said. I believe that the reason we mainly (only?) see MREs/TOTMs/MCWs/LRPs and the like is because they're produced in such large numbers (especially MRES). And MREs are handed out during times of natural disaster, which puts them right into the hands of civilians without having to purchase them secondhand. Most of the other rations are produced in such small quantities (like the Passover meals which are only produced around the time of Passover). They're probably out there, but in very small quantities and maybe owned by people who don't do reviews (or collectors who want to keep them intact because of their rarity). All that being said, it's interesting to see some of these "rare" items suddenly become easy to find (even if only for a short time), like HDRs and Halal MREs). Maybe the same thing will eventually happen with some of the other rations? We can hope!

I have reviewed a partial Kosher for Passover meal that was given to me by BlackDogBob (It's only the accessory pack portion, but still pretty interesting. Here it is if you want to check it out:


And also, while I've never gotten my hands on any complete UGR meals, I DID do a review of two UGR trays last year. For a while they were kind of easy to find (The Epicenter used to sell them and made a bunch of reviews of them), but seem to have dried up for whatever reason. I have a couple more that I need to review, but here's the video I made last year if you want to see that as well:
https://youtu.be/RXgYIbpozhQ

[rations_qa]

gschult9,
I liked the video review of the Passover menu you posted.
just wanted to let you know, during your review the canned fish that was included in that pouch made that a complete meal. The Passover menus have 4 beef, 4 chicken and 4 fish. The fish are 2 Gefilte fish and 2 menus with canned fish.