Veterans love today's field rations
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geo said:Guns....
On one of the Reforger exercises in 73-74 time frame.... we were issued Brit rations.....
collectively we dug a big hole, a deep hole & rations were returned to the earth where it came from.....Yetch!
SQMS turned around, wheeled and dealed & we ended up with some West German rats in it's stead...
In 1980 in Norway I had the displeasure to eat at a Brit. field kitchen. I soon figured where to term "sh*t-eater" came from.
Also I had the occasion to try West German field rations & I remember the had some excellent chocolate in them.
In 1988 in Norway our platoon was attached to the Coy from Luxembourg. Their field rations included a hot meal once a day. When the En Force attacked up the wrong mountain valley we were cutoff behind En lines. When they were unable to deliver our fresh rations the Luxembourg soldiers threaten to go on strike. The result was a hot meal choppered in once a day. Result: the quietest and best feed exercise I remember.
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Tried Brit rats one in the early 80's over in Norway; would rather eat my wool socks at the end of an ex. Remember the Italians and/or French had wine and cognac pouches with their rats.
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Suffield c.1993
Was in the British WO's and Sergeants' Mess for breakfast one morning....
Deep fried toast, deep fried eggs - holy shyte, over.
I asked for pancakes, and got a stupid look, and I said 'know wonder why you fuckers have heart attacks at 40, how can you eat that crap'!
I did get my pancakes, and a few dirty looks.
Yes, the Poms really do go overboard with deep frying stuff, but the deep fried eggs, that did it for me - No thanks!
Was in the British WO's and Sergeants' Mess for breakfast one morning....
Deep fried toast, deep fried eggs - holy shyte, over.
I asked for pancakes, and got a stupid look, and I said 'know wonder why you fuckers have heart attacks at 40, how can you eat that crap'!
I did get my pancakes, and a few dirty looks.
Yes, the Poms really do go overboard with deep frying stuff, but the deep fried eggs, that did it for me - No thanks!
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Wesley Down Under said:
Know what you're going through, In 50's at 1 FDB Germany, we were in the British Zone and of course drew our rations from them, " 24/7 Morning-Noon-Night God D.... BRUSSEL SPROUTS and BANGERS which were 95% Sawdust or something close to it.
Best Regards and watch your six.
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Wesley Down Under said:
Spoken by a guy who lives in a land where the national Dish is a Vegemite sandwich.
I did an attachment to the Field Artillery Battalion of Brigade North in September 1973 and went on the annual exercise. Among the low points was the Norwegian ration scale which included whale hamburger. One bite was guaranteed to make one a dedicated Save the Whales advocate.
On the other hand, in June of the same year I was attached to the Italian First Mountain Artillery Regiment for their annual practice camp. At that time, except for one battery, they were still carrying their gun on mules. The rations were pretty good, even the vino that arrived via Jerry Cans on one of the kitchen mules.
On the other hand, in June of the same year I was attached to the Italian First Mountain Artillery Regiment for their annual practice camp. At that time, except for one battery, they were still carrying their gun on mules. The rations were pretty good, even the vino that arrived via Jerry Cans on one of the kitchen mules.
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Geo,
Damn, we must have crossed paths during that Reforger. :gunner:That is the only time that I can remember we were issued Brit Rats. :-X
Can't remember what I did with the Brit Rats. Never ate them that's for sure.
Our gun crew always carried sufficient emergency supplies(normal food) in case of such situations.
Does anyone remember being issued " a shot of navy rum" during ex. in Germany? :warstory:
Damn, we must have crossed paths during that Reforger. :gunner:That is the only time that I can remember we were issued Brit Rats. :-X
Can't remember what I did with the Brit Rats. Never ate them that's for sure.
Our gun crew always carried sufficient emergency supplies(normal food) in case of such situations.
Does anyone remember being issued " a shot of navy rum" during ex. in Germany? :warstory:
geo said:Guns....
On one of the Reforger exercises in 73-74 time frame.... we were issued Brit rations.....
collectively we dug a big hole, a deep hole & rations were returned to the earth where it came from.....
SQMS turned around, wheeled and dealed & we ended up with some West German rats in it's stead...
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Rhum rations used to be an integral part of training exercises & ration scale of issue.
The supply depot used to have alcoholic AND NON-alcoholic versions of the Rhum.... Who ever head of a non alcoholic Rhum ration ???
Remember one ex when the CQs driver was bringing up the bottle to our lines. Climbing over a fence, he lost his balance, dropped and smashed the 40oz ... He cried, the boys cried - we all cried over the spilledmilk RHUM!
WRT Brit rations... chances are that, if you don't remember what was done with em is a clear sign that you're getting old......
Memory is the Second thing to go AND I can't remember what's the 1st thing ???
The supply depot used to have alcoholic AND NON-alcoholic
versions of the Rhum.... Who ever head of a non alcoholic Rhum ration ???Remember one ex when the CQs driver was bringing up the bottle to our lines. Climbing over a fence, he lost his balance, dropped and smashed the 40oz ... He cried, the boys cried - we all cried over the spilled
WRT Brit rations... chances are that, if you don't remember what was done with em is a clear sign that you're getting old......
Memory is the Second thing to go AND I can't remember what's the 1st thing ???
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You are so right about British breakfast.
Was sent to a Brit base in N. Germany, my first breakfast was how you described it. Deep fried toast and deep fried eggs.
The tea cup could be described as a "tea pail", what a size of a cup.
Never made a good first impression with the cook, ask for my eggs" over-light"
I could not eat the breakfast but I never found much trouble for "takers".
Was sent to a Brit base in N. Germany, my first breakfast was how you described it. Deep fried toast and deep fried eggs.
The tea cup could be described as a "tea pail", what a size of a cup.
Never made a good first impression with the cook, ask for my eggs" over-light"
I could not eat the breakfast but I never found much trouble for "takers".
Wesley Down Under said:
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Quite the experience being attached to a Brit Engr Sqn...
Some aspects of their daily routine mystified me somewhat.....
- some really hard drinking to the wee hours of the morning
- big run at the crack of dawn
- Fried everything washed down with a generous portion of tea
The fact that all the booze was at duty free prices probably contributed to the hard drinking.
The morning run after a week of nightly drinking certainly was NOT something I looked forward to
Oh to be young & stupid! I'd probably do it all over again - with nothing changed >
Some aspects of their daily routine mystified me somewhat.....
- some really hard drinking to the wee hours of the morning
- big run at the crack of dawn
- Fried everything washed down with a generous portion of tea
The fact that all the booze was at duty free prices probably contributed to the hard drinking.
The morning run after a week of nightly drinking certainly was NOT something I looked forward to
Oh to be young & stupid! I'd probably do it all over again - with nothing changed >
These stories bring back memories for a lot of us proving Napolean right.
We were in Norway in 1965. We felt sorry for the Brits and their rations, however their kitchens produced small loaves of bread that were distributed to the Canadians and possibly to other troops as well. I remember them as a great supplement. Also, I remember as was typical for those who remember, there were quite a few items that we threw out. Our platoon Sgt told us to save them. He subsequently took it all down to the Brits with a bunch of empty 40 oz bottles left over from our rum rations. He came back with, I think was seven full bottles of rum as part of the exchange. Apparently, while our rum ration was dispensed by the bottle I was told their rum was stored in small kegs...and great rum it was!
We were in Norway in 1965. We felt sorry for the Brits and their rations, however their kitchens produced small loaves of bread that were distributed to the Canadians and possibly to other troops as well. I remember them as a great supplement. Also, I remember as was typical for those who remember, there were quite a few items that we threw out. Our platoon Sgt told us to save them. He subsequently took it all down to the Brits with a bunch of empty 40 oz bottles left over from our rum rations. He came back with, I think was seven full bottles of rum as part of the exchange. Apparently, while our rum ration was dispensed by the bottle I was told their rum was stored in small kegs...and great rum it was!
In the bad old days when 4 CIBG was 'up north' in BAOR, we drew our rations including the dreaded Compo from the British supply system. Part of the agreement was that we would not accept a couple of menu varities of Compo. One was something called Mutton Scotch Style; I can't recall the other, but it must have been equally loathsome to stand out from the usual standard of Compo.
We also had put some restrictions on the fresh rations, including that we were not to be issued offal as part of the meat ration and we would not accept 'biscuit' aka hard tack in lieu of bread.
We also had put some restrictions on the fresh rations, including that we were not to be issued offal as part of the meat ration and we would not accept 'biscuit' aka hard tack in lieu of bread.
Aerobicrunner
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GUNS said:
Ha Ha. Same situation for me in Dumbarton, Scotland at the Brit Submarine Base. All the eggs deep fried, so I asked for over easy because I thought they would have to cook them separately. The Brit cook said, no problem mate, and started to spoon the grease on to the top of the eggs. Had to carefully walk back to the table so the eggs wouldn't slide off the plate.
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The two months I spent at Larkhill I had the stewed tomatoes every morning......about the only thing that wasn't deep fried.
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1980, exercise Medecine Man at BATUS. All live fire, a great go. Went to ground on top of a cactus, set fire to the grass between my legs firing the Carl G. from prone - lots of fun. Then my lung collapsed.
So, they send me back to the Brit med unit at BATUS. They promptly diagnose me as constipated, but send me to a civvy doctor in Medecine Hat for a second opinion. He says it's the lung, benches me for the rest of the ex.
Lovely. Now I'm by myself in the barracks having to eat at the Brit mess.
I did that.
Once.
Sh!t-eaters indeed. The only thing worse, (yes, there was worse) was the Brit field rations. Imagine badly made beef-steak and kidney pie. :-[ Now imagine it canned and four years old. :-X
The only thing that saved me was convincing a sympathetic Cdn. sup. tech. to provide me with RP 4's for the duration of my convalesence. I "cooked" them on the radiators in the shacks.
So, they send me back to the Brit med unit at BATUS. They promptly diagnose me as constipated, but send me to a civvy doctor in Medecine Hat for a second opinion. He says it's the lung, benches me for the rest of the ex.
Lovely. Now I'm by myself in the barracks having to eat at the Brit mess.
I did that.
Once.
Sh!t-eaters indeed. The only thing worse, (yes, there was worse) was the Brit field rations. Imagine badly made beef-steak and kidney pie. :-[ Now imagine it canned and four years old. :-X
The only thing that saved me was convincing a sympathetic Cdn. sup. tech. to provide me with RP 4's for the duration of my convalesence. I "cooked" them on the radiators in the shacks.