Vietnam era PIR

[Ruleryak]

Looks a ton better than I expected - I wonder if there are any of these left in existence. Since it was all dried or freeze dried they should be in decent shape if any survived.

[RockyRaab]

I don't recall seeing any of these while I was in-country. I inserted a lot of "little guy" teams into Cambodia but oddly enough never once thought about what they ate while out there. Since it was a MACV/SOG operation, I'm confident in hindsight that they were given PIRs. But I can't verify it.

[fdsman]

NATICK labs determined that it would take up to five years and at least five million dollars to develop a suitable ration.
Mr. Baker then spent $200 of his own money and developed the PIR in his own kitchen in less than eight weeks.

Government efficiency at it's finest

[donaldjcheek]

It occurs to me that this ration wouldn't be hard to reproduce. Everything in it was a commercially available, off-the-shelf purchase. Pre-cooked dehydrated rice is marketed in every US grocery store as Minute Rice. Almost every US city has an Asian market where you can buy dried Asian vegetables such as seaweed, mung beans, carrot strips, Chinese cabbage, garlic & sesame, etc. as well as things like bonito flakes, powdered soy, miso powder, pickled plums and honey-sesame candy. I saw dried cuttlefish and dried Chinese mushrooms in my supermarket aisle. Thi bo kho (Vietnamese dried beef) is a little hard to find, but IIRC, it wasn't too different from carne seca, available in most Latin markets, or the American jars of dried beef, once you wash out the salt. Small dried shrimp aren't hard to make if you have a dehydrator, and can be found in some Korean markets. So, 14-16 oz of rice, a little judicious packaging, a plain tagless teabag, a gallon size plastic freezer bag, and presto! I think you'd have a pretty good recreation of a PIR.

And no, I ain't looking for dried mutton.

Addendum: In 1998, Conrad Baker had one of the original PIR packets tested by a food lab; it was still safe to eat after more than 30 years storage in his garage.

[fdsman]

It occurs to me that this ration wouldn't be hard to reproduce. Everything in it was a commercially available, off-the-shelf purchase. Pre-cooked dehydrated rice is marketed in every US grocery store as Minute Rice. Almost every US city has an Asian market where you can buy dried Asian vegetables such as seaweed, mung beans, carrot strips, Chinese cabbage, garlic & sesame, etc. as well as things like bonito flakes, powdered soy, miso powder, pickled plums and honey-sesame candy. I saw dried cuttlefish and dried Chinese mushrooms in my supermarket aisle. Thi bo kho (Vietnamese dried beef) is a little hard to find, but IIRC, it wasn't too different from carne seca, available in most Latin markets, or the American jars of dried beef, once you wash out the salt. Small dried shrimp aren't hard to make if you have a dehydrator, and can be found in some Korean markets. So, 14-16 oz of rice, a little judicious packaging, a plain tagless teabag, a gallon size plastic freezer bag, and presto! I think you'd have a pretty good recreation of a PIR.

And no, I ain't looking for dried mutton.

Addendum: In 1998, Conrad Baker had one of the original PIR packets tested by a food lab; it was still safe to eat after more than 30 years storage in his garage.

Living in CA, and especially LA, I have access to at least a few specifically Vietnamese supermarkets. I'll check for the Thi bo kho next time I'm there.

[DPerdue-12]

Here are some videos of PIRs:
"Montagnard Soldiers Unload PIR Rations..."





(the PIRs are shown at around 2:34 minute-mark on this video)

[fdsman]

https://www.specialforces78.com/wp-cont ... tter-1.pdf

On page 3 there's a picture of Baker with a box of PIRs.

[fdsman]

Also of note, I noticed on some detailed pictures of the PIR cartons, you can see: "Packed by Yogi Shokai" which incidentally is also the company that made the first run of the SOG knife that Baker developed.

[Smitty]

To complete the loop, I had started a newer thread after finding some photos of them.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=10843&p=76641&hilit=PIR#p76641

[Dekard]

wow - interesting