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1980s mres


fallout
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Hello, I was wondering if there is a good place to get mres from the 1980s? I would like a case or 2 but any would do, I already know about ebay but is there a better place? I know this belongs in the wanted section but I don't have 50 posts so it would not let me. Also I know that they started using MREs in 1981 but I know they still used MCI but how long in the 1980s did the use MCIs like did you still have the in 1985 or were they already gone, and when they started issuing MREs would you see troops with both MREs and MCIs or one or the other?

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I was active duty Army for 22 years (Infantry) and saw my first MRE's in early 1982 while in Korea.. The last C Rations I remember seeing issued were late 1982 into early 1983.. only MRE's after that.

 

Kration

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I was active duty Army for 22 years (Infantry) and saw my first MRE's in early 1982 while in Korea.. The last C Rations I remember seeing issued were late 1982 into early 1983.. only MRE's after that.

 

Kration

I went to basic training in mid to late 83 and were were issued C-rations. In 84 when I went to AIT, we got a mix of C's and MRE's. So C's were definitely on their way out. For a couple years after that, we would get both issued as they were cleaning out the stocks. My last issued C was in 86

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By the way fallout, do you need them in the cases? I have two in my garage that the boxes are water stained pretty bad, but the packages inside are fine. If that interests you, drop me a PM and we can work a deal.

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Never saw a MRE till we went to Cp. Bullis from Hood summer 84. Had the dehydrated beef patty and hashbrown. No heaters then, and they sucked bad. I liked my C-rats. was detailed to unload a truck for the messhall and almost fought this dude when he threw a case at me. I thought they were C's and that weighed about 30lbs turned out MRE cases were a lot lighter.

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They found out real quick that dehydrated was not the way to go... it doubled the water ration needed per day to sustain the soldier. also, when the MRE's were fielded depended a lot on where you were and what unit you were attached to. I was in the Ohio Guard and we were still getting MCI's well into 1985 before we started receiving the first issue MREs in the dark brown bags. By 1991 I'd transferred to Active Duty and those dark brown bagged MREs had reached the end of their shelf life. In Korea we were finding lots of bad ones, especially the ham slices. By the end of 1992 I had transferred from Korea to Fort Hood. I went to Kuwait with the 1st Cav and we were getting the second issue MREs in the tan bags while Korea was still fielding the older dark brown bagged dehydrated stuff. In 1994 I transferred to Fort Huachuca then Germany in 1996 and in all that time never saw an MRE. By the time I reached Fort Carson in 1999, they'd jumped like two other versions of MREs, and by Iraq in 2003 they were on the third or fourth generation of the tan bagged MREs. The ones they have now are pretty awesome.

 

Hope this helps... At least it shows how what you received depended on unit or assignment and often region of deployment.

 

Wayne

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This thread made me look through my boxes in the shop. A little bit of everything except the later stuff.. nephews must have taken that....

post-2641-0-97511000-1371693271.jpg

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This thread made me look through my boxes in the shop. A little bit of everything except the later stuff.. nephews must have taken that....

Any of that for sale?

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Loved that LRRP "Beef and Rice". I liked all the LRRP meals. MREs were good too. I actually enjoyed the dehydrated beef and pork patties. After about 10-12 years of eating C-rations I'd had it. Got tired of the dog food quality of the beef w/ all the veins and arteries . Found veins in Beef Slices and Potatoes, Spiced Beef, and even the Spaghetti. Pound cake, cookies, bread, and peaches disappeared. Fruit seemed like it was limited to Applesauce, and Apricots, and the horrible fruitcake. Nothing I like better tha making a parachute jump with 1/2 dozen cans in your cargo pockets. Butt packs were filled w/ all the other stuff we had to carry. Nope, didn't miss "Cs" SKIP

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Old Marine- I don't think the younger troops on here believe it. The beef quality was probably lower tha dog food. I suspect someone violated, or took advantage of their contract, at the troops expense. Sorry, not trying to drift off MRE.s. reddevill1311 mentioned the mreinfo site. It's interesting, and you can determine what year ihey were produced by the menus.SKIP

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msgt norway

yes im one of the hardcore collectors of old style mres on the mreinfo

and if you need any help with id on mres let me know.

 

when it comes to buying old style mres,you dont find any regular shop selling them

with some luck you migth find some in surplus shops now and then

but its getting harder to find them.

best place is on ebay,and specialy german ebay

shipping is a pain in the a::: but when it comes to collection

and you just need it :) do like me buy it.

 

a tip! : most of the first run mres in the brown bag was made by cadillac.

 

cheers ken.

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Old MRE's are kind of cool. i have found if you want to find them look for post Vietnam C-RAT's. the old MRE case looks like a C-RATION case and the two are often mixed up.

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How many MREs did they carry on them during the 80s and where did they put them(I know that during DS they had 6 MREs in there alice pack)? Also did they field strip MREs like they do now?

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msgt norway

the us marines carried 6 mres in the alice pack when training in arctic condition

here in norway.some even field theyre side trousers pocket with mre items

for easy reach when on skies or snow shoes.in the sledd they used to

have 2 to 3 cases of mres+1 can of water

yes they did field strip mres as they do today,even the c rats was stripped

 

cheers ken,norway

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Ok so I have 3 MREs from the 1988-89 menu 2 sealed 1 opened(the only one I have opened, did a YouTube video on it also ) and 3 more on the way(anywhere from 1981-1987 menus because they don't have the menu #s on the sides of the bag like my 88-89 ones), and possibly 2 cases. So I was wondering who got the LRRP rations?

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Freeze dried beef veins sounds slightly better than the Navy's version of chitlin's , my last serving smelled of vomit. I should also mention it was my first serving also.

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Fender Rhodes

By the mid- to late 90's we weren't carrying MRE's in cold weather environments. We had RCWs (Ration, Cold Weather) in the white plastic packages. Instead of getting three MREs a day, the daily meal came in two parts, a breakfast ration (with cereal bars, etc) and a supper-style meal (generally dehydrated meals like chicken and rice, spaghetti in meat sauce, etc). They were extremely heavy in calories and were waaaay better than standard MRE's.

 

Yes, we would field strip the RCW's and because they were dehydrated, used a system much like what the LRRPs in Vietnam did. We added water to the meal, taped them closed and placed them in pockets close to our bodies. Body heat would warm them and help the rehydration process so by the time we NDP'ed, you had a somewhat heated meal ready to go.

 

Unfortunately the RCWs required extensive water usage and carrying a ton of water slowed us down considerably. Melting the snow for a water source was time consuming and required a heat source, which if you were carrying field stoves, necessitated carrying white fuel. Liquid = weight.

 

I enjoyed my three trips to Norway but operating in field required a different set of operating procedures, mostly because you were fighting the elements as much as any fictitious enemy...

FR

 

the us marines carried 6 mres in the alice pack when training in arctic condition

here in norway.some even field theyre side trousers pocket with mre items

for easy reach when on skies or snow shoes.in the sledd they used to

have 2 to 3 cases of mres+1 can of water

yes they did field strip mres as they do today,even the c rats was stripped

 

cheers ken,norway

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