Hey Kman, this would make another good forum room. You could call it MRE RECOMMENDATIONS and in this room we could have our say on what the US Government could add to the MRE to make it better or entrees that would be a nice inclusion, etc.
Case in point, upon browsing theepicenter.com I was reading all about the HEATER MEALS and I noticed something very clever about that meal. It includes a little package of water in the meal to activate the heater with. Now why that is not part of the regular MRE meal I will never know. To me that would be a great inclusion to the MRE current. I know the military person should have a canteen full of water, but what if he loses that canteen in the dessert with no one else around him/her and no water for 100s of miles, etc. Hey, if they can include it in a civilian HEATER MEAL that has water available to him/her every five feet in the city, then the military man/woman should have it available as well.
MRE Recommendations
MRE Recommendations
"THEY CALL ME DIRTY...DIRTYDAVE"
Hey Dave. I see what you're saying about why don't they include water with the MREs. But I can understand why they don't. For one, the MREs are heavy enough already without weighing them down with the extra weight of water. Also, if the person has lost their canteen in the desert and all they have is an MRE, they're in a lot bigger trouble. 
The other reason for not including water is that seeing as the MREs are expected to survive things like 1000' drops, I'd worry about the water packet accidently leaking and mixing with the FRH and causing all kind of damage.
Have you seen this site:
Meals, Ready to Explode
http://www.cargolaw.com/2001nightmare_mre2.html
Here's a pic of what happened to a shipment of FRHs that got exposed to water during shipment - some of them activated, the hydrogen gas built up, and the next thing you know...fire!


The other reason for not including water is that seeing as the MREs are expected to survive things like 1000' drops, I'd worry about the water packet accidently leaking and mixing with the FRH and causing all kind of damage.
Have you seen this site:
Meals, Ready to Explode
http://www.cargolaw.com/2001nightmare_mre2.html
Here's a pic of what happened to a shipment of FRHs that got exposed to water during shipment - some of them activated, the hydrogen gas built up, and the next thing you know...fire!

Don't worry Dave! No MREs were lost in this fire - these were just cases of the heaters.
What'll make you cry is the cold storage warehouse in Georgia that caught fire and burned sometime last year (before the hurricanes hit). That warehouse was one of the main long-term storage areas for MREs. I'm not sure how much was lost, but it sounded like a lot.
What'll make you cry is the cold storage warehouse in Georgia that caught fire and burned sometime last year (before the hurricanes hit). That warehouse was one of the main long-term storage areas for MREs. I'm not sure how much was lost, but it sounded like a lot.