Military rations - all periods

[autorifle]

Any original K, C, D, 5 in 1, or 10 in 1 items out there? Crates or boxes?

[dustin]

This ration is Navy, also a pre war ration. Ealry Navy rations consisted of biscuits, tomato juice, malted milk tablets and pemmican. All were found to be insuffcient. Malted milk provoked thirst as did biscuits, pemmican was considered not very palitable. In the long run it was all about calories. That was the reason for the developement of the new tablet ration.

 

[bilko1]

Dustin, in reference to the Arctic First Aid Kit I mentioned, you said its aircraft related, so what emergency rations would be issued with a air crew operating in the arctic?

[dustin]

Dave, just for clerification there are four recognized climatic zones JUNGLE, DESERT, ARCTIC & OCEAN. A region your kit fits in one of these catergories. The use of the term "Arctic" in the AAF is very loose, the U.S. or most of it, Canada and Europe would be considered Arctic regions. We think arctic is the north pole or Alaska, so me living in Oregon is an arctic region to the AAF sense. These four climatic regions determined the development of rations. One main criteria was that a ration has to withstand all types of enviromental changes. The D and K ration originated with the AAC. First the Logan bar, then D, then the K, then the packaging was changed to tin. The type of rations used would depend on the era 1940-41 then it would be the D-ration 1942-43 then K then 1943-45 the parachute ration as for emergecny use but most generally the K ration. Large aircraft had portable galleys, ground crews would most likely use the A ration which I believe cooked food all depending on the station.

[solcarlus]

the next

 

[solcarlus]

the end

[dustin]

I made an error, the correct specification is M-539, A & B not M-566 which is the Navy dye marker packets.

[dustin]

a couple variations of pemmican rations

[Kration]

Here's a case of Hills Bro's K rations, Crate dated 10-44 Please forgive the massive size but I couldn't get it any smaller

 

When I get the size issue worked out I'll post examples of: complete examples of 10 and One, Five and One, crated Air crew rats, crated K rats, lots of neat stuff.

Kration

[BEAST]

Here is my contribution. Not exactly a standard issue ration but...

 

 

Please note the Da Nang depot markings!

[Beau-Brummel]

Here's the dreaded D-Bar, YUM YUM! These were re-called with a view to reclaiming the chocolate and marketing them as a snack with added fibre a la Granola. the mind boggles!

[Beau-Brummel]

Getting better, here's the early waxed carton K Ration.

[Beau-Brummel]

Now the familiar 2'nd pattern K's with their cheerful Art Deco boxes. These aren't really a million miles away from the compo rations the British Army were using 20 years ago. They were pretty heaving but compared to Pemican they were delightful.

[Beau-Brummel]

Dinner.

[Beau-Brummel]

Supper. It's funny how little parity of contents there is. Sometimes toilet paper sometimes not, sometimes wooden spoon sometimes not, etc, etc. I think these were a bit of a suprise package for the poor old GI in the field. seems to depend on manufacturer amongst other things.

[Beau-Brummel]

Same in colour.

[Beau-Brummel]

Here is the full C Ration. From development in the 30's it had a somewhat troubled teething period and was not really "cracked" as a ration as we know it until very late in the conflict. Post war it transitioned into the C Ration we all know and love from the Vietnam period, however during WW2 it shared more in common with the 5 or 10 in one packs. The inability of the QMC Subsistence Division to get it right caused a whole range of supplementary packs to be spawned which only partially addressed the c's deficiencies. It was in essence a great idea but wartime procurement problems along with other factors stymied it from inception.

[Fixbayonets!]

Manufacturer

[Beau-Brummel]

Here's the Mountain Ration. Not very compact is it? Must have been a pain to haul all that crap up a mountain!

[Beau-Brummel]

As mentioned previously the C ration was a good concept but somewhat flawed in execution. Too many menus, procurement problems, and lack of clear intent all contributed to make It's evolution a slow one. That and the fact that Subsistance Command were trying to develop dozens of different rations at once didn't auger well for the poor old C. It wasn't really until Vietnam with It's 24 hour C Ration in a box that things really started to work. Even then there were still various B (bread) units and accessory pacs that were issued seperately.

 

The self contained Ration Unit wasn't really down pat until the MRE arrived in the early to mid 80's after over a hundred years of development. Back in the early 50's things were still rather unclear with Large meat units and various B units still being issued. Things had come on a bit though as some bright spark suggested painting them green .

 

Below are Bread B units 1 through 3 which were issued with the post war C Ration. These particular units are dated between 1951 and 1953 and with only tiny minor differences and green can are identical to WW2 items. Again yours truly couldn't keep his fingers off the corned beef key so here's some more inedible, half century old victuals.

[Beau-Brummel]

Contents.

[Beau-Brummel]

B2

[Beau-Brummel]

contents.

[Beau-Brummel]

B3.

[Beau-Brummel]

contents.