U S Army Field Rations: (
K Ration, C Ration, D Ration, etc.)
What did you
have for breakfast today? - Eggs & Bacon, Fried Potatoes, or
maybe, trying to avoid "Heart
Attack Material"
- beans, marmalade or VEGEMITE
on toast? - Perhaps you're a WEETBIX
kid – or other grain cereal type, - all swimming with milk (hot or
cold?) Yummee !
- Wikipedia
says that Dr Ancel Keys, a University of Minnesota
physiologist, designed a Ready To Eat non-perishable meal in 1941 for
the US War Department. Planned to be a pocketable one man emergency
meal that would supply enough food value (2830 calories a day) to
keep a man going when neither A or B field rations were obtainable.
Contents varied but might be pemmican biscuits, raisins, a peanut bar, and a bouillon paste plus lemon beverage powder, canned processed meat, and a small D Ration bar. All packed in a military unbleached tan rectangular card box with black lettering. - An inner box printed with the meal type was later waxed cardboard for water resistance and proved useful to troops for fire lighting.
Contents varied but might be pemmican biscuits, raisins, a peanut bar, and a bouillon paste plus lemon beverage powder, canned processed meat, and a small D Ration bar. All packed in a military unbleached tan rectangular card box with black lettering. - An inner box printed with the meal type was later waxed cardboard for water resistance and proved useful to troops for fire lighting.
- N
Philbrick (in 'The Heart Of The Sea')
relates how Dr Keys
during WW2 conducted an experimental study of starvation with
conscientious objectors (volunteers)
held in a stadium on campus at the University of Minnisota where they
were fed a limited
diet similar to the kind of foods refugees
might scavange during wartime, for six months - to lose 25% of their
body weight.
Despite the clinically safe circumstances of the experiment,- the volunteers suffered both severe physiological and psychological distress. As they lost weight, the men became lethargic, increasingly irritable, weak, suffered blackouts, swollen limbs, and had difficulty concentrating. - Even during the recovery period the men continued to loose weight for weeks. The K Ration was named after Dr Keys as 'K' sounded distinct from A, B (Cooked or fresh foods), and C, D types.
C
Ration was an individual canned cooked
wet meal (often beans)
issued to military forces to supplement K Ration. It was replaced by
the Meal Combat Individual
( MCI) in 1958 and by
the MRE in 1975.Despite the clinically safe circumstances of the experiment,- the volunteers suffered both severe physiological and psychological distress. As they lost weight, the men became lethargic, increasingly irritable, weak, suffered blackouts, swollen limbs, and had difficulty concentrating. - Even during the recovery period the men continued to loose weight for weeks. The K Ration was named after Dr Keys as 'K' sounded distinct from A, B (Cooked or fresh foods), and C, D types.
D Ration
was Military Chocolate, - meant to "taste a little better than
boiled potato" – Wrapped in aluminum foil it was hard, heat
resistant, and not meant to be pleasant to eat. Each
bar gave 600 calories as an emergency supplement.
Marty K.
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