Vietnam War field rations, were WW2 K-Rations still being used?

[Calif-Steve]

1971 in RVN we had, (never saw LRP Rations), only C Rations. I was an Advisor and the Viet Namese would kill for the C Rat cans. You had to keep your US Army spoon in your hands at all times. If you put it down for a minute it would walk away. The local Viet Namese shops sold cheap aluminum spoons and no one wanted them.

[Peter Laidler]

We had little petrol cookers..., I think that they were called No1 burners, that you pumped up to pressurise. Every tank and Infantry section had a couple (at their forward base) They gave out a lot of heat but as soon as the petrol gave way to diesel and the petrol became low grade lead free, the No1 burner didn't seem to work as well so were discarded in place of small gas cookers. But they weren't a lot of cop in the cold. Did anyone else use HEXAMINE cookers?

[bigduke6]

The last Rat packs I had never had Tabasco, but had a different make and similar bottle, don't know if this was just a temporary measure or they have changed for the other one.

The pre 75 rations with 4 pack of cigarettes is a nice touch........

Hexamine cookers have now shrunk and are an oblong shape, ( no pics of them, but found these below of the standard one) the new type is still issued if you want them, but the fuel is still the old stuff, so you can't fit the full pack inside. Many use the small gas burner like the one pictured, this is the poor mans version, a few lads use the Jet boil but for the price compared to the Chinese one (as pictured) with inbuilt pizo for £3.00 including postage from China.......its a no brainer, plus I always get the heximine cooker just as a back up.


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[fjruple]

If any one ever deserved a Distinguished Service Medal it is the unnamed genius who had them include Tabasco in the MRE accessory pack.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...scosauce-1.jpg

Absolutely agree!!

--fjruple

[browningautorifle]

US Army spoon

I still have mine. It has a loop of 550 cord to button it to me.

Did anyone else use HEXAMINE cookers?

I had a case I procured baksheesh from the BATUS group in Alberta, I had them for years and they were gold. Just used for heating rats, the fumes were poison...

the Jet boil

These new stoves were gorgeous but not issue until I was done. We had a few on overseas deployment on the OP's but not common use. Wish I had that to carry instead of the mountain stove, which was better than a two burner or C1B1...

[BEAR]

Did anyone else use HEXAMINE cookers?

We used Trioxane tablets. We just called them "heat tabs". The fumes were awful but one tablet would heat a C ration meal and coffee.... if you were careful. We would make our stove out of a C ration B-4 can.
Attachment 86951 Attachment 86953

Personally, I think the achievement medal ought to go to the person who designed this little Gem.
Attachment 86959Attachment 86960

I still have a dozen or more floating around the house. All of my emergency packs have them, and one in each car glove box.

BEAR (BDY)

[Peter Laidler]

Those little tin openers came in the small odds and sods envelopes in the 5man/1day ration packs as they still contained tins of stuff. The little bag also contained the usual toilet paper, matches etc. 1 tin also contained sweets, a couple of bars of chocolate (made by Jamiesons of Glasgow as I recall) and later 5 bars of YORKIE chocolate that was specially made for the MoD and didn't contain any salt. Any Australians remember getting UK rations and ration packs in Nui Dat. I think it was when the wharfies were on strike so UK Far East spec stuff was flown up from Singapore along with ammo.

And while we're here...., what about those self heating tins of soup/drinks etc etc. used on ops. Nobody really trusted it as it was vitally important to keep the fuze part dry under a plastic pop-off lid. I mean......, really....... We couldn't even keep ourselves and ammo dry so those self heating tins were a failure waiting to happen

[browningautorifle]

this little Gem.

Mine is lying at the back of my work bench. Ours was about five times the size. We always tried to get a US model...

what about those self heating tins

We also had fireless heaters that required a bit of water. They could actually scald a man's hand if he wasn't careful. Those were late additions, too late to be of real use to me.

[BEAR]

Yep, MREs had the flameless heaters that you added some water to then slipped it into a pouch with the mylar food container and after a few minutes you have a hot meal.
Attachment 86974
I never used them for MREs but since they have carbide as a catalyst they come in handy for other things. Take an empty plastic water bottle, cut open the heater and pour the carbide in, then add 1/3 bottle of water, cap it then throw. Wait about 60 seconds or less and the sucker goes off like a grenade simulator minus the flash and flame.
Awesome!

BEAR (BDY)

[BEAR]

Oh, yeah! Don't stand too close or you'll splattered by the hot mixture. The stuff sticks to windows also and hard to clean off (personal experience....wife was not pleased).