I was a baby-boomer Army brat living in West Germany for eight years during and after the Vietnam conflict. Let me tell you: I became just as familiar with them as the grunts in Vietnam were. They were cheap and delicious…but, (Ugh!) there were notable exceptions, chief among them the utterly disgusting POUND CAKE. Those "meals" had everything: Main course, bread-type item, dessert, moisture-resistant matches, toilet paper, P38 can openers, and these little 4-cigarette packs of name-brand smokes.
Let me ask you: The cashiers at the commissaries in West Germany…when a fourteen-year-old kid came through the checkout line with three cases of C-Rations [during and after the war], do you think they asked him for ID? No. They did not. The lady at the door carded you to see if you were an armed services dependent, but when you were buying multiple cases of C-Rations, it did not OCCUR to them to ask if you were old enough to smoke the cigarettes that came with the meals!
I didn't buy MCI [C-Rations] meals just for the smokes—the meals and sides and desserts were actually—for the most part—pretty great. The contemporary battlefield rations, the sorry-"ashed" MREs? OMFG—GROSS! Especially the yellow ones for folks with differing dietary requirements due to "alternative faith" strictures.
Ham-an'-"friggin," not so bad…actually tasty. The crackers? I've had worse. The main courses? Mostly pretty darned good. Then there were the desserts: A few different kind of chocolates: Milk chocolate with rice crispies, chocolate-covered coconut patties, and then these chocolate-nougat thingies. Oh—almost forgot about about the chocolates with almond flakes.
I'm just sayin': The old MCI "C-Rations" are WAY better than the garbage our soldiers chow down on today. That's not the fourteen-year-old I was talking; that's the almost 60 man I am today speaking from experience.
And, I wasn't just an Army brat—I joined the service, too, acquitting myself with distinction and honor, when I got old enough.
