Marines mad about MREs in Leatherneck
I farted around too long at the regular job to put this story from NBC up, because they took the link down it looks like. But, it seems that the troops aren’t too happy about having a hot meal cut out of their daily diet. So unhappy about it, they hardly sound like Marines;
“This boils my skin. One of my entire shifts will go 6.5 hours without a meal. If we need to cut back on money I could come up with 100 other places,” one Leatherneck-based Marine wrote in an email this week to his wife and shared with NBC News. (The Marine declined to speak on the record.) “Instead, we will target the biggest contributor to morale. I must be losing my mind. What is our senior leadership thinking? I just got back from flying my ass off and in a few days, I will not have a meal to replenish me after being away for over 9 hours.”
That’s why they make MREs, guys. I preferred MREs to hot chow because it was like getting a meal delivered and I didn’t have to stand in line and then eat with a room full of noisy people. And the folks back home get into it, too;
“MREs are an alternative for when you can’t get to healthy food. They’re supposed to be for desperation,” said Babette Maxwell, founder and executive director of Military Spouse Magazine, the wife of a Navy pilot and an advocate for service members and their families. “These guys have six to nine months left on their deployment. These are highly athletic and highly physical people, toting guns, not working any less now than before — and not working out any less either. Now, they’re short a meal and they don’t have any healthy alternatives.”
The MRE is a healthy alternative, Babette. That’s why they make them. It’s not steak or lobster, but it’s food.
Now, I’m not saying that the troops don’t deserve three hot meals everyday, what I’m saying is that they shouldn’t whine about it to the media. I suspect that’s why NBC took the story down.
“Psychologically, midrats is probably the most important of all the meals because that’s the big social time — where first (shift) crew is coming off and second (shift) crew is coming on,” Maxwell said.”That’s where you get the esprit de corps, the camaraderie. It’s not just the food you’re taking away, it’s their social sustenance.”
They can just be happy that it’s MREs and not C-Rats. I’m pretty sure they guys who are out there kickin’ doors and patrolling, if there are any of those left, are eating MREs at least once a day. But ultimately it’s like RM3(SS) wrote went he sent us the link; no one in DC is missing a hot meal. Well, except Debbie Wasserman-Schultz’ staffers who can’t afford a meal in the Congressional dining room these days, she says.
If you want to read the whole article, you can paste the link above into Google or Yahoo and get the cached copy of it.
Category: Terror War
funny – I posted almost word for word your comments on the NBC story a few hours ago…..
It’d be different if there weren’t MRE’s… someone needs to tell the “Marines” to man up…
I posted almost the exact same thing on my FB.
I thought this was from the Duffel Blog at first, but I can see their point. If we can afford the security and meals, and extra costs of the first lady taking an extended vacation all summer, we can afford to feed the troops. Better yet, why not just send the troops home, we have wasted enough time over there.
The Air Force could do with replacing these luxurious foods with MREs, as well.
It’s one meal – MIDRATS, generally the left over crap from the other three meals re-heated, that is being replaced with the MRE. Suck it up, sunshine. It’s a meal. As we retrograde out of Afghanistan, there are going to be a lot fewer contractors around to heat up anything.
C-Rats….ahhh who can forget the lovely pink meat dotted with white flecks that were supposed to be some sort of egg product in some sort of ham product….all coated with a 1/4 inch of clear fat….first few days in the field tough to get him down, after a week you couldn’t wait to open them and suck the fat off to get the egg/ham product below.
C-rats with those way cool round chocolate bars or the peanut butter and crackers were worth their weight in PBR at one time….
I went 5 1/2 months with nothing but MREs. We did buy a goose and a couple chickens to eat but the skipper made us give them back. What a bunch of pansies.
In fairness, I read the article as posted and it seems to have been private spouse-to-spouse bitching that got forwarded and published. Pretty sure I can recall some whining to the wife myself back in the day… ‘course, that was SGT Wife at the time, too.
Hell, ANY hots beat Cs… but it’s all relative. I find MREs far better than Cs… my father commented a few times how much better Cs were than Ks. Guess it’s all your perspective.
The link in Jonn’s story above seems to be working OK again now.
Bobo: yeah, I noticed they were talking about “midnight chow” too. If having hot chow at midnight is so damn important, I have an easy solution. Simply move the freaking MRE meal to midday and let the folks doing routine “day shift” subsist on what used to be called an “A-C-A” ration cycle.
VOV: I agree. I’m old enough to remember C-rats – and to generally prefer them to MREs.
The P38 can opener (as opposed to the P38 twin engine WW2 fighter aircraft) was more than a novelty during the C-rat days…it was an absolute necessity unless you enjoyed using your bayonet to open cans, which was an ugly process…..
I really liked the turkey c-rats, and the ham and eggs were better over time…and there was also some sort of Chef Boyardee looking pasta that wasn’t too bad….that seems like a lifetime ago now…
MREs are for “desperation?” Wow, I had no idea how “desperate” the Army was! When we deployed to Haiti for OUD in 1994 we set up our FOB in late September and got our mess hall set up some time in mid-November. Until that time we were on C-rats three times a day. They would just have somebody bust open a crate of them and set it outside one of the big ARFAB tents and we’d pick our meals up out of the box. It got to where almost nobody was eating more than 1 meal a day and the commander and the battalion doctor were having to “remind” us to eat.
I’m curious. They’re doing this to cut costs? Aren’t hot meals generally cheaper than MREs at least INCONUS? I know that when they had to budget things, they talked about morale and price as reasons to go with normal food. Then again, the price of an MRE doesn’t go up much no matter who is contracting it does it.
Mike: MREs don’t require cooks and/or dishwashers. Support contractors in-theater are very expensive.
This should have been tagged with I hate POGs instead of terror war.
I believe you Hondo, I just never really believed the $20 dollar a plate stories they kept telling about KBR. Half the places I went that had midnight meals only had cold cuts and such anyway. This one just sounds to be a mountain being made of a mole hill.
Apparently war is hell for the REMF types.
Ok… They cant be serious here right? I ate MREs more than i ate at the chowhall at my COP. If those werent there it was FSRs or the stuff i got from care packages. Infact most my diet consisted of was beef jerkey and peanuts… These “marines” need to remember theyre deployed… The comforts of home are a luxury… And that theyre Marines part of our job involves giving up small comforts… Lets ask some of the iraq vetrans and see what think of this. I myself as an afghan vet am appauled at this. Just totally shocked.
Well, the night crew’s going to end up being the screwups and troublemakers. There’s a recipe for getting your medevac birds to mission-ready status…
Somebody needs to remind this chump that you can’t spell “Marines” without MREs.
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of the feeding plan is much worse. The person who has no hot chow, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless steak and mashed potatoes with gravy are made at 1 AM by the exertions of better men than himself.
I think that’s the point, Jonn….they’re obviously not starving these guys, but nobody in Washington is missing a hot meal. These guys should have a hot meal every time if at all possible because I believe they deserve it.
We need a petition to make the President serve HDRs at all state dinners…
No i forgot these arent grunts…. Theyre not even youre average non infantry marines… When i was in leatherneck on my way to and fro i realized something, these were barely marines, they were spoiled, they enjoyed the luxiouries of air conditioning, hot meals, ice cream, vehical rides to and fro between their living areas and air conditioned offices. Trust me had we spent fewer on their comforts and more on the neccesities of the units out in the COPs and FOBs life out there wouldnt have been half as misserable.
They need to suck it the f-ck up and quit whining.
According to the story I read, no Marines would actually speak with them on the record. It truly does sound like some mad spouses or family members who got the media’s attention with this story. But again, I say they deserve hot meals whenever possible because you know nobody in Washington is missing a hot meal.
Anonymous in Jax; the first quote is from a Marine who wouldn’t allow an on-the-record-quote.
Ok… Anonymous i see where youre coming from…. But i ddnt always get hot meals… Thats the nature of the beast… The signed the damn contract just as i did. They lived comfortably enough the entire time i was out there…
Looking at my fancy, dancy digital clock….I’ll say the “No War for Profit” crusaders should arrive in about…any moment now. Don’t remember our chow hall serving hot meals at midnight but if buttercup can’t embrace the suck, he needs to haul his happy, bitching ass to the commissary and buy some farhking beef or turkey jerky. *Wahambulance*
Having eaten plenty of MREs in my day, the only thing I can hear through all the whining is “constipation”. Hope you have enough ex-lax.
@5 Bobo–keep reminding me how many people keep telling us we got the best chow not just in the Navy, but in the military, period?
I don’t remember how many times midrats consisted of a #10 can of cold “pillows of death” with “horsecock sandwiches” with bread made from flour and yeast that came from the Crimean War.
Baboon’s ass, cat turds, elephant scabs, slumgolium, death milk, and the list goes on, and on, and on.
These fuckers are MARINES???? Seriously? Bitches, I dare you to go two weeks eating nothing but three-bean salad sandwiches, spaghetti sauce made from corned beef hash, or eggs browner than my ass.
I weep for my country.
It’s not steak or lobster, but it’s food.
They got rid of the dehydrated pork patties, right?
I prefer MRE’s to DFAC food anyday.
When I left the wire during my tour, we stayed out in till the mission was completed, whether it lasted any where from 4 hours(only happened a couple of times) to 72 hours. MRE’s and water with the little juice powder packets are all we consumed during the entire mission, and we were National Guard.
Damn, I hate FUCKING POGEY’S, even if they are Leathernecks.
*sigh* I miss the days when troops just bitched to each other.
This ‘anonymous’ and ‘not cleared to speak’ bullshit is getting on my nerves.
Even tho a whining Marine does rather make me gag, it really honks me off that while they are having to alter their eating habits, the fools and parasites who are doing nothing to earn it are not being asked to give up their taxpayer provided T-bones and beer.
Yeah, MRE’s aren’t the greatest eats going, but why are the troops, who have very few dining alternatives, the only ones being told to sacrifice? Again, some more.
@11, I remember that. We ate MREs for about three weeks. Me and my buddy went seven days before downloading them. After that it was whatever they served out of the MKT. Pretty much the same thing every day through November. There were no midrats.
Planet Ord: given that experience, you might get a kick out of this:
http://rhinoden.rangerup.com/the-damn-few-actionable-intelligence/
NSFW/wear earphones if children (or sensitive individuals) are within earshot.
And id like to clear up im not just calling the Marines who are bitchin about it pussies… I can also see where our parasites need to give up a lil too… But see… The days where presidents cut stuff out of their budgets has long ago past. To them cutting the spending used to defend the nation is enough. Theyll cut anything… So long as it doesnt impede THEIR comfort. But at the same time these Marines have got to learn its not their place to bitch but it IS their place to suck it up and deal with it.
I bounced out of Leatherneck on the 1st. There are a lot of Air wingers* at leather neck. There is also a pizza/steak house down the road at Bastion. I never got around to trying the steak but the Pizza wasn’t bad.
*Or as I like to call them the Navys Armys Air Force.
You gotta be fuckin shitting me, I went months on nothing but MREs in the beginning of OIF, and averaged one a day for the rest of my deployment.
Somebody needs to scrub the sand out………
Dam air wingers…. comparing air wingers to grunts is like comparing the puny penis of a Persian prince to the ponderous testicles of a Roman gladiator.
@32 – I’m with you there. IMO, to much DFAC chow and creature comforts tend to make people soft in the field. Granted, MRE’s every day for weeks on end sucks, but I do recall telling Marines to use their chain of command if there’s a problem. If they don’t and just keep bitching, I remind them to read the back of the DD Form 4 they signed, whic reads – in part:
“I understand that many laws, regulations, and military customs will govern my conduct and require me to do things under this agreement that a civilian does not have to do.”
and
“Required upon order to serve in combat or other hazardous
situations.”
It says other pertinent things, but no where does it fuggin’ say you get a hot meal and nice place to sleep every night.
@#35- That’s precisely my point. You don’t see anybody in Washington missing hot meals, taking pay cuts, or making ANY sort of sacrifice. They want to cut benefits, furlough employees, and cut back on meal services for deployed troops. In my opinion, REAL leaders don’t ask anything of the people they are leading that they aren’t willing to do themselves. I want to see a little cut back and a little sacrifice on the part of the Washington elite and then, maybe then will I say that I don’t care about this story. As it stands now, I stand by my opinion.
Hondo, it wasn’t quite like that. It was actually rather anticlimactic. I remember thinking where did all that stuff go? We guessed we burned it up in that damn humid heat chasing the tarantulas all day.
Of course you preferred MREs Lilyea you spent the majority of your career out in the field rat fucking them in your Bradley while your joes were busting their ass, when was the last time you missed a meal? When we were at Riley I remember you stealing all of the desserts out of them but I bet you don’t tell your buddies on this site anything about that.
So the guy is a remf cause he thinks that it’s asinine for guys deployed to not get hot meals while we piss away money on all kinds of useless shit in the military? Wow fellas. He mentions “flying his ass off” which implies he is a pilot, and given he’s a marine he’s likely flying combat patrols or possibly some medevac bird. But hey! He’s just a remf, right?
Idk… Seems a bit disenginous to critique the point he is making just because it was hard back in ‘nam or some shit. Bet he’s not a remf to guys on the ground when they need close air support or a quick evac. Give him a break.
Much as I love the drama of In the Wire/Out of the Wire discussions…
MRE’s are freaking delicious nowadays. Even the FOOD PACKET SURVIVAL RATIONS comes with shortbread cookie bars and a chocolate desert bar. One of the items is even a package of breath mints. My favorite is the caution on the box. (If you are exposed to salt water spray or have swallowed salt water, do not use the soup and gravy base.)
I ate MREs since 94 on. I have even had some old found C-Rats on a dare. I have eaten the white pack arctic rations loaded with calories. I have eaten MRE’s as recently as this week even though I am at BAF…
MRE’s nowadays are really freaking amazingly good.
@46, you’d be amazed how much Aviation gets called REMF. We mainly just laugh it off. Dustoff kinda takes it more personally but the Apache and Kiowa guys ignore it well.
They can always walk if they don’t like us.
MREs aren’t for desperation when there isn’t healthy food, they’re actually decent fuel.
Each MRE provides an average of 1,250 calories (13% protein, 36% fat, and 51% carbohydrates) and 1/3 of the Military Recommended Daily Allowance of vitamins and minerals. A full day’s worth of meals would consist of three MREs.
It does sound like Marines were bitching to spouses, and spouses were bitching to the media. Wasn’t the first quote out of an email to family members?
Hot food on Mid Rats? Never heard of um’. More like Horsecock and jellybeans washed down with Bug Juice. Or a boxed lunch with warm Moo juice. I heard that the mid rats at Kuma Station Japan were OK, never ate there. Ate at home home and packed a lunch. They were so good that most guys ate at the NCO club after the trick ended. No such thing as a hot meal after 1800 at 52nd ASA either. When we were in the field our “HOT” meal was often a garbage can full of C ration cans in boiling water. Cookie dipped out a can, and that’s what we ate. In 1965 most of the cans were dated 1943 – 44. we never had it as good as today’s troops. At a small boat station in Oregon if you were out all night on a SAR mission you were out of luck. No chow before 0630 and if you were late you would find the galley secured. That’s a real morale builder.
AtDrum@47, I did my first ad stint from ’84-’88, when the first gen. of MRE’s was introduced, and compared to the MRE’s of today, they were horrible, and even the old timers of that time were wanting the C rats back.
Like some others here, I spent over six months on the MRE diet during OIF 1. Later we started getting t-rats occasionally and then hot-A’s once a week. MREs back then weren’t bad, but today’s MREs are even better. Now I’m stuck on a typical FOB, complete with at least four DFACs which were supposed to stop serving midnight chow starting today. I’m not sure if this is country-wide, but the ones in my AO have been extended another month.
The DFAC hours are already extremely generous, and ours is open for 8 hours a day not counting the midnight meal. Speaking of which, the couple of times I’ve ventured over there during midnight chow I’ve found the place all but deserted. Maybe the facilities closer to our maneuver units get a little more business, but I remember them starting midnight chow at Tall Afar 10 years ago, and the single DFAC there wasn’t but so busy at night either.
Midnight chow isn’t the only thing disappearing. The specialty bars (tacos, etc; which aren’t needed anyway and probably only exist at BAF and other big bases) and the between-meal food and drink items are going away as well. I would think the latter affects many more people than midnight chow alone does, as people coming in from missions in the early morning or who miss a meal while doing their jobs will be out of luck regardless of the time of day. Currently we have the option of getting a sandwich and a cup of coffee or juice 24/7.
As we continue retrograding, quality of life is naturally going to get a teeny bit “worse”. Hell, ten years ago we were sleeping on the concrete in a hangar that had been full of goat shit a day prior. If I go from this comfy room back to that I may bitch. If all of us getting home means moving to a cot and eating MREs, so be it.
We’re skipping midnight chow (and breakfast in most places) because WE’RE LEAVING! Trucks are backhauling all the crap that’s built up on these FOBs over the last decade or so – including kitchens and the associated civilian contractors who run them. My FOB gets hot lunch and hot dinner, served by Soldiers paid by the Army to be COOKS. We have no breakfast, no midnight chow, and no complaints (beyond the normal bitching). I don’t even think I’ve eaten an MRE yet, honestly, and when I do, it’ll be far better than what my Grandfather ate while island-hopping in the Pacific.
Limiting “A” rations cuts down on the number of trucks that have to bring food in, and therefore, the number of Soldiers and Marines who have to risk their lives to bring midnight fatcakes. MREs do cost more than Hot “A” meals, but not after you factor in trucks, fuel, and the convoys that deliver them. MREs and UGR-As can be thrown out of an aircraft, and they don’t expire for years. And they’ve got all the fuel a Warrior could possibly need – that’s precisely why they’re made.
Cutting down hot meals is the right thing to do. But, if we weren’t bitching, we wouldn’t be happy, so proceed, Marines! We’ll hear more of this as more FOBs start shutting down.