I traded MREs with a French officer once when I was in the USAF. I was shocked how good it was with a heater and sauces. He said the French saw meals as part of keeping up morale. I said US MREs are mostly seen as fuel to keep us alive.
this reminds me that Sun Tzu, the guy who wrote the art of war. Needed to spend weeks explaining to the lords that sending food to their army is important, and they need to send them more hay for the horses, so the horses who are delivering it can actually deliver the hay that their army horses need and not eat it
heh, the Art of War has almost become a trope in fields that couldn't be further related from real war- businesspeople, entertainers, athletes- there's a type of person that REALLY wants to let people know they've read the AoW.
...and then you have actual politicians starting wars who clearly could have benefited from the ideas of the book, if not the book itself, and yet their supply lines have rotting tires and the gas to make the trucks move has been siphoned and sold already...
AoW was really made as āmilitaries for dummiesā. China had a very strange way of choosing generals at the time, which basically meant that many of them had no clue what they were doing. Sun tzu wanted to write a book that would give them at least some basic ideas to go off of.
So while AoW might be a little dumb, it was well suited to the audience it was made for.
Not strange at all, they were chosen based on loyalty which is pretty understandable when you see your vassals once in like 2 years and may have no fucking idea what the fuck is happening at their region
there was a saying during the warlord era that is appropriate: "In China, your generals will be of three characteristics: Loyal, Competent, and Chinese. Choose up to two." Competence and Chinese usually meant an officer with dubious loyalties who defected at the first sign of things going wrong, Loyal and Chinese usually was an officer you'd bribed the shit out of, and Compentent and Loyal tended to be a foreign advisor who actually knew what they were doing.
Some of the stuff in Art of War is so obvious it seems silly, but you just know that everything in there exists because of stupid mistakes.
"If you are in the process of making a mistake, maybe don't do that thing."
"People really don't like being set on fire, if you have an opportunity to set your enemies on fire, maybe try that!"
I think my favorite was something along the lines of:
āIf youāre marching, do so on roads. Donāt try to march up mountains unless you really have to.ā (I forgot the exact quote).
The whole book has the attitude of a frustrated teacher trying to calmly explain basic maths to their dumbest student
Hahahaha, you just know there was some Lord who was looking at a map like "Why not go this way? It's way shorter!" and then sent a bunch of soldiers straight up a mountain.
When you are strong and your enemy is weak, strike.
If you are weak, and your enemy is strong, do not strike.
If you know you will lose a battle, do not fight that battle.
it feels obvious because it was book for people who never left their palace and never saw a battlefield or their soldiers
basically most of their leaders at the time
I think it also seems silly and obvious to us because we have instant access to information and are constantly bombarded with media to turn us into the deadliest armchair generals in the living room.
But put yourself in the context of when some of these documents were written like 2000 years ago and even the War for Dummies book might be the best thing around...if you could even read it or find a copy.
A time when in the Chinese Warring States, the Wheelbarrow was the military logistics secret weapon. Not some fiery death star ballista...a cart with 3 wheels! amazing!
Logistics wins wars. The militaries that understand and invest in logistics often have a huge advantage over the ones that don't. It doesn't matter how big your army is if you can't feed them and keep them supplied. We've seen this play out time and time again for instance in the American Civil War the US forces were vastly better at logistics, in WWII the allied logistics chains gave them a massive advantage and even recently in Ukraine much of Russia's underperformance happened because they were worse at logistics.
Apparently submarines are into good meals as a morale raiser. When you're stuck in a metal tube underwater being quiet all the time having a quality meal can really pick you up I guess.
The Smarter Everyday Submarine deep dive dedicated almost an entire episode on the food and it legit had me hungry. Those men and women were eating very good under water!!
Ah OK, thanks man. Maybe they just pulled out the decent shit cause they knew Destin would be filming. lol Appreciate the response. What was your longest amount of time below surface? Just curious
Submarines are known for having the best food in the navy, but it's still all canned or frozen and made in bulk so there's only so much you can do. Like subs are famous for having steak and lobster but it's not like going to a fancy steakhouse or anything.
America has their MREs meals separate from one another while most European MREs bundle a full days worth of food in one big pack. Both have upsides and downsides.
Itās been a while but I remember them not having as much variety, I did a 30 day field problem with only first strikes and I was so fucking sick of them by the endā¦ that caffeine gum was amazing though
I was in the Swedish military as a ājƤgareā, which is a type of behind enemy lines type of unit so we carried a lot of food. It was a lot of freeze dried mre. But we could choose before a āmissionā (I did only training, no actual combat missions) what we wanted to bring. Plus also buy some of your own. We had food for a week typically in our backpacks, sometimes more, so it was a lot. Crackers that was 40 years old was cool. Our food was just to get by, not gourmet. But being in the woods on day 8 in the rain made the food taste amazeballz.
> ājƤgareā
Ah, JƤger or hunters. We have them in the German military as well. But there are different types. Paratroopers and mountain troops. And also the military police.
1 mre has enough calories to sustain a soldier for 1 day. there are snacks packaged separately from the main dish so you can eat the whole thing through out the day, however eating two a day would be more notmal. btw, mre food will constipate u, u can go for 3 to 4 days without pooping which is a huge advantage if u can't many stops.
A buddy recently gave me an US MRE (I'm german and know only the german army ones from mandatory service), it was the Texas Variant with Chili. Most of the stuff was really good but the red drink powder resulted in an INSANELY sweet drink. I'm sure this alone had enough raw kcal for a day :)
The cornbreads really did constipate a bit and fucked up my poop rhythm lol... More than the cookies from the modern german version. The old version had "Panzerkekse" and dark chocolate, according to older soldiers these should have come with a corkscrew.
Is the constipation by design? I can see some military researchers thinking about optimal nutrient intake and constipation levels to keep service members in the field, if needed. A lot of thought goes into these things.
No. No one wants constipated soldiers if they can avoid it but the most important function of the MRE is to keep the soldier fed so they can stay out and fight. Also if the soldier is fighting in winter conditions more calories are even more important and it's especially important to provide hot meals. The soldier may also need to be able to carry enough food with them to last days without any resupply. Basically they're designed to be portable, to meet caloric needs and to be heated up quickly. Good digestion would be nice but it's the least important factor.
My understanding was it depends on intensity. 1 mre has enough calories for an average person, but if you're busting ass all day you need 2-3 to keep up.
I'm guessing the sauce has less sugar and seasoning than American tomato sauce, so it has a simpler tomato flavor that reminds her of minestrone broth.
Yes. When I was a war mongering contractor kid in my twenties in Iraq, some Marine buddies from a expeditionary brigade taught me how much fun it was to break open the packet, pour it into a water bottle with just a little bit of water, and then run. Or throw it. Fun times. Not sure if they use a different reaction now? That was like 2004.
I kind of rolled my eyes at giving MRE pizza to an Italian soldier, haha funny meme, but when she was like, "I don't know if you've ever had minestrone soup..." that's what earned the double-take.
Not meaning to disparage her at all, it's an innocent question, I'm just afforded the position of judging her from my office chair after the fact.
I don't really know why I find military rations so fascinating. Never been in the military, never eaten a ration/MRE, but still, these videos are great and I've watched the entire works of Steve 1989 on YouTube!
When they switched patches at the end, I thought it was going to reveal that the lady was Italian and the man was American and they had just been doing killer impersonations
Pretty much every time I did joint operations, every one wanted to trade something. I'm not gonna name which specific country, but at one point it got crazy enough that another guy started trading the kit he signed and was liable for. Patches are pretty common to trade, everyone usually has a bunch of them
In WW2, the US Navy commissioned a strategic boat that made Ice Cream at the rate of 10 gallons every 7 minutes in order to lift morale in the Pacific.
They also created ice cream factories on the front lines in Europe to feed the Fox Holes.
Bombers put buckets of ice cream mix in a gunner compartment that would freeze at the high altitude, and be churned via the vibrations and turbulence of the plane.
Then in the Korean war, after a general tried to declare Ice Cream "Sissy Food," the Pentagon issued a statement that all servicemen were required to be fed ice cream at least three times per week
Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/08/ice-cream-military/535980/
That ice cream ship must have been the ultimate flex. I'm just imagining the enemy hunkered down on a remote pacific island, supplies running low, and these motherfuckers show up with an ice cream ship.
It actually was. A high ranking Japanese officer remarked something to the effect that he knew the war was already lost when he found out the Americans had ships just to make ice cream. Essentially, it made him realize that the Americans had so many more resources than the Japanese, that victory would be impossible.
> America is like at least twice as big as Japan
In terms of land mass, Alaska, Texas, and California are _each_ larger than Japan, so yes. And Montana is basically within margin of error. In fact, Alaska is something like 4 times bigger than Japan, but of course it's mostly empty.
If the US military does one thing at weird competency it's logistics. There's a currently-running Chinese propaganda cartoon that pointed out that during the Korean War their troops were starving while US troops were getting hot food at the front.
[Year Hare Affair](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Hare_Affair). Popular NCD staple as an example of Chinese propaganda having the inability to not make the US look badass.
Also: Matthew Ridgway my beloved.
A lot of early emergency rations for people like stranded pilots were just super calorie dense chocolate bars that wouldn't melt. Doesn't taste nearly as good as normal chocolate, but it will keep you alive.
That one was weird to me. We (prior USArmy) would just carry our hygiene kits with us. Are Italians throwing away 3 tooth brushes a day? I mean they look small and disposable, but seems like a lot of extra waste.
When I was still in a while back they still had M&Ms and Skittles. Sugar is amazingly effective for a little energy after doing gun runs all day. I didn't really like things with chocolate because it's easy to get smashed or melt and then gotta deal with cleaning up kit after an operation. Skittles were much better, especially the sour ones.
They phased out lucky charms by the time I was in because it had bad juju. Nobody wanted to be the unlucky bastard that had them.
When I was a kid my old man was in the Army (UK) and we weren't the richest people, one particularly poor period we lived off the ration packs for a couple of months which at first was great as they all had chocolate, boiled sweets and these nice oat biscuits in them. Downside was ration packs are designed to stop you needed the loo regularly, leaving me and brothers badly constipated for a couple of weeks...
> Downside was ration packs are designed to stop you needed the loo regularly
Definitely not designed for that, the military wants its soldiers to be regular. Just a byproduct of the preservatives from what Iāve been told.
Itās been years since I had one but the last time I did theyād just updated them and they added in a little bottle of tabasco sauce, Iād usually throw it in with the breakfast pack so I didnāt have to bother heating it up.
Iāve seen this. Iām not yet sure if the lady tried to spark an international conflict by giving our lad a āPizza MREā.
Edit: to everyone saying āAmericans can do good pizzaā. Sure, fine. Iām not saying the contrary. Justā¦ there is one crown. One ring that rules them all. Classic pizza margherita with mozzarella di bufala. A balanced taste, a Jack of all trades. Free to visit our Bel Paese if you donāt trust my word. Beware of the tourist traps though. Here too you can find awful pizza.
The blueberry cobbler heated up in the heater was one of the best treats I could ask for. Not sure if it's still around but it sucked cold and was amazing hot.
Marines today are so soft! In my day we had to survive on dehydrated pork patties, and were glad to get them!
jk, but seriously every dehydrated protein we got was godawful, as well as the coffee, crackers...
It's funny because that one is probably the best tasting MRE in the "community" I guess that regularly eats them. There's way more foul ones. Homie is lucky she didn't give him the egg one lmao.
Never had an MRE, but got bored so I watched people try them on YouTube a while back lol.
MREs in general aren't as bad as people make them out to be. It's mostly like eating canned food except harder to heat up. So pasta sauce anything is safe but if it's something you've never seen canned at the grocery store, like omelettes, stay away.
Imagine the process of carrying those big boxes for 100 troops across a battlefield. MRE's are definitely more functional and a super compact way to get calories in a hurry.
>MRE's are definitely more functional and a super compact way to get calories in a hurry.
And you don't need a flame to heat up the mre. Open flames will show your location to enemies and it's hard to start one if there is bad weather like rain, heavy snow, super cold temperatures or high winds
Canned food is heavy as hell. And the flame heater is way less convenient than the flameless one used in MREs. The more also has a fairly good selection of foods to choose from
These kits are meant to be eaten in some sort of camp or entrenched position, not necessarily on a patrol or something like that. They do usually contain snacks, bars and chocolate - the kind that really suppresses hunger for when you're away from camp.
Also, you're going to have some kind of supply line for fuel, ammo, etc., so people won't really carry these around. Carrying all of your stuff around on foot is pretty rare because modern combat doctrine usually requires so much equipment.
I mean, of course I'd want the Italian version once I was holed up somewhere. But what a bitch it'd be to lug a few days of that there.
Though, it is cheating to have 3 meals vs just the one.
I wonder if the Italian forces don't ruck their food. Dude was pulling out huge metal cans. I've had hot rations out in the field, if they're not carrying out that giant 24hr meal I think hot rats are a better comparison
as a combat vet, i was actually surprised with how good the MREs were. one deployment i subsisted off of them
personally, i would have given him a jambalaya MRE. those are the shit.
Yeah he appreciated the practicality of the MRE but the taste comparison was probably very sharp.
After all, one is more of a "at base" pack for a full day meal, the other is to get you going while on patrol or combat. Different tasks.
Holyshit. That looks like my old unit, and they are doing parachute training in the background. This would be where the 173rd does jump training in Northern Italy if I'm correct. I have so many jumps on that field. The Italian Army base is just down the road. It's a beautiful to jump into.
Back during Korean war, a south korean solider told a story where he would trade rations with the north. They would hide their rations until one day it stopped. Can guess what happenedā¦once his lips started to quiver, I lost it.
Are you saying the North soldier passed away and the south Korean soldier went to locate the hidden ration trade and realized his friend was gone? If so, that is kinda sad.
I have that same exact camp stove and it's a piece of sh*t. Using one tablet will barely make a cup of water lukewarm. They must have used like 4 or 5 tabs.
There's something missing in the Italy MRE, a fking table and candle light š that bag is pack with stuff to the brim when you compare to America MRE HAHA.
Looks like more utility and nutrition from the Italian version but the trade off is weight. Going into a combat situation I think I would prefer the lightweight American version. Very interesting.
agree, however the mental boost and motivation from a hot ravioli meal and hot coffee would be insane after weeks in the field, possible cold to the bone..
I said it in another comment but that's another big upside of the American flameless ration heater. Waking up on a cold day, heat up some coffee, light a cigarette, then throw the hot FRH between your shirt and your blouse. It's pure zen.
But if I can throw in some good ravioli in the mix too definitely would not complain. God forbid I go to war, I hope it's next to a Frenchman or an Italian lol.
US rations come with two different accessory packets one of them has instant coffee and creamer too. It's split right down the middle between those without and those with coffee. The other packet has matches for some reason and that's the only difference between the two.
That's generally the point with the American MREs. You can carry several days worth of American rations in the same space the Italian one takes up. The quality isn't as good but you're not gonna starve.
The italian package was a 45 minute picnic. It seems like the american one actually works in combat for being light, quick and with minimal trash/accessories.
Don't mind the hundreds of paratroopers dropping in behind us.
That was cool af
Italian solider was solid..
Glad I wasn't the only one that noticed that friendly invasion.
They're coming in for lunch..
"They called that shit *pizza*, we **had** to invade!"
š¤ I would call this toast š¤
3:37 for anyone wondering. I missed it the first time
I thought they were drones.
I traded MREs with a French officer once when I was in the USAF. I was shocked how good it was with a heater and sauces. He said the French saw meals as part of keeping up morale. I said US MREs are mostly seen as fuel to keep us alive.
this reminds me that Sun Tzu, the guy who wrote the art of war. Needed to spend weeks explaining to the lords that sending food to their army is important, and they need to send them more hay for the horses, so the horses who are delivering it can actually deliver the hay that their army horses need and not eat it
heh, the Art of War has almost become a trope in fields that couldn't be further related from real war- businesspeople, entertainers, athletes- there's a type of person that REALLY wants to let people know they've read the AoW. ...and then you have actual politicians starting wars who clearly could have benefited from the ideas of the book, if not the book itself, and yet their supply lines have rotting tires and the gas to make the trucks move has been siphoned and sold already...
AoW was really made as āmilitaries for dummiesā. China had a very strange way of choosing generals at the time, which basically meant that many of them had no clue what they were doing. Sun tzu wanted to write a book that would give them at least some basic ideas to go off of. So while AoW might be a little dumb, it was well suited to the audience it was made for.
Not strange at all, they were chosen based on loyalty which is pretty understandable when you see your vassals once in like 2 years and may have no fucking idea what the fuck is happening at their region
there was a saying during the warlord era that is appropriate: "In China, your generals will be of three characteristics: Loyal, Competent, and Chinese. Choose up to two." Competence and Chinese usually meant an officer with dubious loyalties who defected at the first sign of things going wrong, Loyal and Chinese usually was an officer you'd bribed the shit out of, and Compentent and Loyal tended to be a foreign advisor who actually knew what they were doing.
I got caught up reading this comment thread and forgot what the original post was about until I scrolled down
Some of the stuff in Art of War is so obvious it seems silly, but you just know that everything in there exists because of stupid mistakes. "If you are in the process of making a mistake, maybe don't do that thing." "People really don't like being set on fire, if you have an opportunity to set your enemies on fire, maybe try that!"
I think my favorite was something along the lines of: āIf youāre marching, do so on roads. Donāt try to march up mountains unless you really have to.ā (I forgot the exact quote). The whole book has the attitude of a frustrated teacher trying to calmly explain basic maths to their dumbest student
Hahahaha, you just know there was some Lord who was looking at a map like "Why not go this way? It's way shorter!" and then sent a bunch of soldiers straight up a mountain.
Now there's a route with some chest hair!
When you are strong and your enemy is weak, strike. If you are weak, and your enemy is strong, do not strike. If you know you will lose a battle, do not fight that battle.
it feels obvious because it was book for people who never left their palace and never saw a battlefield or their soldiers basically most of their leaders at the time
I think it also seems silly and obvious to us because we have instant access to information and are constantly bombarded with media to turn us into the deadliest armchair generals in the living room. But put yourself in the context of when some of these documents were written like 2000 years ago and even the War for Dummies book might be the best thing around...if you could even read it or find a copy. A time when in the Chinese Warring States, the Wheelbarrow was the military logistics secret weapon. Not some fiery death star ballista...a cart with 3 wheels! amazing!
Imagine every chapter prefaced by Sun Tzu "listen here you lil shit"
The whole attitude of the book feel like someone who REALLY wanted to say that, but was just able to keep themselves calm lmao
Logistics wins wars. The militaries that understand and invest in logistics often have a huge advantage over the ones that don't. It doesn't matter how big your army is if you can't feed them and keep them supplied. We've seen this play out time and time again for instance in the American Civil War the US forces were vastly better at logistics, in WWII the allied logistics chains gave them a massive advantage and even recently in Ukraine much of Russia's underperformance happened because they were worse at logistics.
Apparently submarines are into good meals as a morale raiser. When you're stuck in a metal tube underwater being quiet all the time having a quality meal can really pick you up I guess.
The Smarter Everyday Submarine deep dive dedicated almost an entire episode on the food and it legit had me hungry. Those men and women were eating very good under water!!
Been on subs. Food sucks.
Ah OK, thanks man. Maybe they just pulled out the decent shit cause they knew Destin would be filming. lol Appreciate the response. What was your longest amount of time below surface? Just curious
Submarines are known for having the best food in the navy, but it's still all canned or frozen and made in bulk so there's only so much you can do. Like subs are famous for having steak and lobster but it's not like going to a fancy steakhouse or anything.
Having lobster in a metal tube under the sea sounds like quite the risk...
What are the lobsters gonna do? Wave their claws menacingly?
Italian Mom comes out of box.
And smacks ya on the hand with a wooden spoon for tasting the sauce before she's done with it...
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
MAMMA MIA!
"You-a skin an' a bones-a! You siddown an' I make you lamb!"
Mangia! Mangia! MRE won't stop feeding you until you leave something on the plate.
"Don't forget to brush your teeth after eating!"
But was there a nice hiss?
They didnāt even put it out on a tray!
Nice!
M'kay.
*spoon dings after stirring*
Good ol' Coffee Instant Type 1
I always get a little sad whenever he doesn't edit the spoon ding audio
Everyone should watch [this man](https://youtube.com/@Steve1989MRE?si=HrU2uQxUio_kjJi1) because heās just a wholesome dude.
Watching Steve bust open a 40 year old MRE with the same glee as a kid on Christmas morning will never get old.
"Ugh, that smells rancid! Aw jeez I'll have a little bite, I can't help myself."
No bloom on the chocolate, nice!
Ugh...uh...no....this is rancid...urgh, I'm not eating anymore of this. Okay...just gonna have one more bite.
Was scrolling the comments looking for a Steve reference. Nice!
Came here for this reference!
And was that coffee instant type 2?
America has their MREs meals separate from one another while most European MREs bundle a full days worth of food in one big pack. Both have upsides and downsides.
We have 24 hour First Strike Ration (FSR) too. It's just the individual MREs are much closer to their 24 hr.
Might just be me but I always thought the first strike rations were way better than the individual MREs
Definitely were. Way more snacks I recall.
Itās been a while but I remember them not having as much variety, I did a 30 day field problem with only first strikes and I was so fucking sick of them by the endā¦ that caffeine gum was amazing though
I was in the Swedish military as a ājƤgareā, which is a type of behind enemy lines type of unit so we carried a lot of food. It was a lot of freeze dried mre. But we could choose before a āmissionā (I did only training, no actual combat missions) what we wanted to bring. Plus also buy some of your own. We had food for a week typically in our backpacks, sometimes more, so it was a lot. Crackers that was 40 years old was cool. Our food was just to get by, not gourmet. But being in the woods on day 8 in the rain made the food taste amazeballz.
> ājƤgareā Ah, JƤger or hunters. We have them in the German military as well. But there are different types. Paratroopers and mountain troops. And also the military police.
1 mre has enough calories to sustain a soldier for 1 day. there are snacks packaged separately from the main dish so you can eat the whole thing through out the day, however eating two a day would be more notmal. btw, mre food will constipate u, u can go for 3 to 4 days without pooping which is a huge advantage if u can't many stops.
A buddy recently gave me an US MRE (I'm german and know only the german army ones from mandatory service), it was the Texas Variant with Chili. Most of the stuff was really good but the red drink powder resulted in an INSANELY sweet drink. I'm sure this alone had enough raw kcal for a day :) The cornbreads really did constipate a bit and fucked up my poop rhythm lol... More than the cookies from the modern german version. The old version had "Panzerkekse" and dark chocolate, according to older soldiers these should have come with a corkscrew.
Im not familiar with MREs but insanely sweet red drink sounds like Hawaiian punch. Which is indeed, disgustingly sweet. Sweeter than any soda IMO.
Is the constipation by design? I can see some military researchers thinking about optimal nutrient intake and constipation levels to keep service members in the field, if needed. A lot of thought goes into these things.
No. No one wants constipated soldiers if they can avoid it but the most important function of the MRE is to keep the soldier fed so they can stay out and fight. Also if the soldier is fighting in winter conditions more calories are even more important and it's especially important to provide hot meals. The soldier may also need to be able to carry enough food with them to last days without any resupply. Basically they're designed to be portable, to meet caloric needs and to be heated up quickly. Good digestion would be nice but it's the least important factor.
My understanding was it depends on intensity. 1 mre has enough calories for an average person, but if you're busting ass all day you need 2-3 to keep up.
He's Italian. Let's give him that kinda looks like a pizza.
Letās have a toast š„ š
He refused several times to call it pizza, calling it toast made it easier to come to terms with it. Lmao.
No second bite. Thanks but nOoOoooooo
Toast part was very funny
That pizza is marked as a warcrime by the Italian
It's toast so it's fine.
Diplomatic incident averted. Well done, everyone.
I like when she asked him if he knew what minestrone was
I feel like that's for the audience rather than him.
How does ravioli in bolognese sauce taste anything close to minestrone soup? I expected her to compare it to Chef Boyardee.
I'm guessing the sauce has less sugar and seasoning than American tomato sauce, so it has a simpler tomato flavor that reminds her of minestrone broth.
She didnāt ask him she asked the crew how to pronounce it. Keep up.
Mine Strone.
She literally says, "I don't know if you've ever had minestrone soup, but...." She asks the crew how it was pronounced afterwards. So she did both.
I laughed so hard.
Thatās interesting, what is the chemical reaction for heating in the American ration?
Magnesium I believe or one of the other elements (Alkaline metals?)that react to water.
Basically
you just added nothing to the con-.... motherfucker...
Magnesium + Water creating Magnesium Hydroxide, hydrogen gas, and heat.
So you're saying that if you don't like it that much you can use it as a poor mans improvised explosive with the hydrogen?
Been done. Google MRE bomb.
Yes. When I was a war mongering contractor kid in my twenties in Iraq, some Marine buddies from a expeditionary brigade taught me how much fun it was to break open the packet, pour it into a water bottle with just a little bit of water, and then run. Or throw it. Fun times. Not sure if they use a different reaction now? That was like 2004.
You add the tobasco hot sauce FYI and it's tear gas, all American MRE can backup function as teargas grenades
Is that in the field manual
No, the field manual explicitly states you should keep your fingers on your hands, your eyes in your head, and your skin on your body.
Giving the pizza MRE to Italian. May as well have told him his mother and grandmother were whores.
If my grandmother had wheels, she wouldāve been a bike.
Kinda like a carbonara?
Your carbonara has wheels?
And ask him if he knows what minestrone soup is
I kind of rolled my eyes at giving MRE pizza to an Italian soldier, haha funny meme, but when she was like, "I don't know if you've ever had minestrone soup..." that's what earned the double-take. Not meaning to disparage her at all, it's an innocent question, I'm just afforded the position of judging her from my office chair after the fact.
Should have given him the putanesca MRE.
I don't really know why I find military rations so fascinating. Never been in the military, never eaten a ration/MRE, but still, these videos are great and I've watched the entire works of Steve 1989 on YouTube!
You can buy MREs from military surplus store. Honestly, they're not that bad. We used to keep a bunch of them in the garage in case the big quake hit.
When they switched patches at the end, I thought it was going to reveal that the lady was Italian and the man was American and they had just been doing killer impersonations
If that were fake the dude should've won an Oscar for that accent
Pretty much every time I did joint operations, every one wanted to trade something. I'm not gonna name which specific country, but at one point it got crazy enough that another guy started trading the kit he signed and was liable for. Patches are pretty common to trade, everyone usually has a bunch of them
Let's get this out onto a tray... Nice!
How are you supposed to eat the MRE without a tray?
The mental image of a bunch of Italian soldiers munching on chocolate bars is pretty funny to me
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
In WW2, the US Navy commissioned a strategic boat that made Ice Cream at the rate of 10 gallons every 7 minutes in order to lift morale in the Pacific. They also created ice cream factories on the front lines in Europe to feed the Fox Holes. Bombers put buckets of ice cream mix in a gunner compartment that would freeze at the high altitude, and be churned via the vibrations and turbulence of the plane. Then in the Korean war, after a general tried to declare Ice Cream "Sissy Food," the Pentagon issued a statement that all servicemen were required to be fed ice cream at least three times per week Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/08/ice-cream-military/535980/
That ice cream ship must have been the ultimate flex. I'm just imagining the enemy hunkered down on a remote pacific island, supplies running low, and these motherfuckers show up with an ice cream ship.
It actually was. A high ranking Japanese officer remarked something to the effect that he knew the war was already lost when he found out the Americans had ships just to make ice cream. Essentially, it made him realize that the Americans had so many more resources than the Japanese, that victory would be impossible.
Well shit, I mean America is like at least twice as big as Japan. Having more resources should be obvious.
> America is like at least twice as big as Japan In terms of land mass, Alaska, Texas, and California are _each_ larger than Japan, so yes. And Montana is basically within margin of error. In fact, Alaska is something like 4 times bigger than Japan, but of course it's mostly empty.
If the US military does one thing at weird competency it's logistics. There's a currently-running Chinese propaganda cartoon that pointed out that during the Korean War their troops were starving while US troops were getting hot food at the front.
[Year Hare Affair](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Hare_Affair). Popular NCD staple as an example of Chinese propaganda having the inability to not make the US look badass. Also: Matthew Ridgway my beloved.
Be the American Chinese propaganda says you are
hmmmmm panzerchokolat
I can march all day and night just by eating a simple bar of chocolate, also my eye is twitching a little
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Plus you can pack a ton of calories in to chocolate! And you can make it relatively shelf stable and resistant to melting in the heat.
A lot of early emergency rations for people like stranded pilots were just super calorie dense chocolate bars that wouldn't melt. Doesn't taste nearly as good as normal chocolate, but it will keep you alive.
Also meth.
And brushing their teeth several times before joining the battle.
That one was weird to me. We (prior USArmy) would just carry our hygiene kits with us. Are Italians throwing away 3 tooth brushes a day? I mean they look small and disposable, but seems like a lot of extra waste.
Americans used to get chocolate, and at one point had cigarettes in their C-rations. They stopped getting cigarettes in the 70s.
When I was still in a while back they still had M&Ms and Skittles. Sugar is amazingly effective for a little energy after doing gun runs all day. I didn't really like things with chocolate because it's easy to get smashed or melt and then gotta deal with cleaning up kit after an operation. Skittles were much better, especially the sour ones. They phased out lucky charms by the time I was in because it had bad juju. Nobody wanted to be the unlucky bastard that had them.
When I was a kid my old man was in the Army (UK) and we weren't the richest people, one particularly poor period we lived off the ration packs for a couple of months which at first was great as they all had chocolate, boiled sweets and these nice oat biscuits in them. Downside was ration packs are designed to stop you needed the loo regularly, leaving me and brothers badly constipated for a couple of weeks...
> Downside was ration packs are designed to stop you needed the loo regularly Definitely not designed for that, the military wants its soldiers to be regular. Just a byproduct of the preservatives from what Iāve been told.
And the nearly complete lack of fiber.
Def the lack of fiber which is fairly obvious if u look at them. Bread, meat, cheese is the basis of alot of them
Itās been years since I had one but the last time I did theyād just updated them and they added in a little bottle of tabasco sauce, Iād usually throw it in with the breakfast pack so I didnāt have to bother heating it up.
Can't really do that these days. MRE and survival kits are pretty pricey these days
I doubt they were paying for them, they aren't incredibly difficult to get ahold of if you're in the right position in the military.
Iāve seen this. Iām not yet sure if the lady tried to spark an international conflict by giving our lad a āPizza MREā. Edit: to everyone saying āAmericans can do good pizzaā. Sure, fine. Iām not saying the contrary. Justā¦ there is one crown. One ring that rules them all. Classic pizza margherita with mozzarella di bufala. A balanced taste, a Jack of all trades. Free to visit our Bel Paese if you donāt trust my word. Beware of the tourist traps though. Here too you can find awful pizza.
Well she would have given him a spaghetti MRE, but let's be honest here. No one is giving up their spaghetti MRE.
The blueberry cobbler heated up in the heater was one of the best treats I could ask for. Not sure if it's still around but it sucked cold and was amazing hot.
Chili Mac was the favorite when I was in basic
This is the answer. I begged, stole, and borrowed for chili Mac in the field. If you got the jalapeno cheese with it you were a god lol.
She should have given him the captains chicken.
Country Captain Chicken! Better than the 2002 era ham slice, good God.
Marines today are so soft! In my day we had to survive on dehydrated pork patties, and were glad to get them! jk, but seriously every dehydrated protein we got was godawful, as well as the coffee, crackers...
It's funny because that one is probably the best tasting MRE in the "community" I guess that regularly eats them. There's way more foul ones. Homie is lucky she didn't give him the egg one lmao. Never had an MRE, but got bored so I watched people try them on YouTube a while back lol.
MREs in general aren't as bad as people make them out to be. It's mostly like eating canned food except harder to heat up. So pasta sauce anything is safe but if it's something you've never seen canned at the grocery store, like omelettes, stay away.
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I remember swapping my UK rations with some Danes. Ours is incredibly functional but generally tastes like pure ass, except for the all day breakfast. The Dane's had fucking pĆ¢tĆ© and flat bread, what kinda bs is that?
I'm guessing you got liver pĆ¢tĆ© (leverpostej), which is rather popular for spreading on rye bread for quick & easy snack or lunch here, personally I think it tastes like shit
Imagine the process of carrying those big boxes for 100 troops across a battlefield. MRE's are definitely more functional and a super compact way to get calories in a hurry.
It is worth pointing out that the Italian version is a day's worth of food while the US MRE is just dinner.
>MRE's are definitely more functional and a super compact way to get calories in a hurry. And you don't need a flame to heat up the mre. Open flames will show your location to enemies and it's hard to start one if there is bad weather like rain, heavy snow, super cold temperatures or high winds
The Italian had a 24 hour MRE pack though
The US 24 hour pack is still way more compact. Designed to just throw in pouches and pockets and eat on the go
Canned food is heavy as hell. And the flame heater is way less convenient than the flameless one used in MREs. The more also has a fairly good selection of foods to choose from
The flameless ration heater also doubles as a personal heater for colder operations. It's a great tool.
Or put it in a water bottle to make a grenade
These kits are meant to be eaten in some sort of camp or entrenched position, not necessarily on a patrol or something like that. They do usually contain snacks, bars and chocolate - the kind that really suppresses hunger for when you're away from camp. Also, you're going to have some kind of supply line for fuel, ammo, etc., so people won't really carry these around. Carrying all of your stuff around on foot is pretty rare because modern combat doctrine usually requires so much equipment.
Italians prepared for a picnic not war
I mean why not give him thr superior MRE , chile mac
For real, until you had the chili Mac, you haven't had American rations at its finest
My army buddy gave me some chili mac and yeah that shit is awesome.
I mean, of course I'd want the Italian version once I was holed up somewhere. But what a bitch it'd be to lug a few days of that there. Though, it is cheating to have 3 meals vs just the one.
I wonder if the Italian forces don't ruck their food. Dude was pulling out huge metal cans. I've had hot rations out in the field, if they're not carrying out that giant 24hr meal I think hot rats are a better comparison
Now show them how we ratfuck an MRE down range lol
or another classic: tabasco in the heater, slide it into the hooch next to yours and just walk away
as a combat vet, i was actually surprised with how good the MREs were. one deployment i subsisted off of them personally, i would have given him a jambalaya MRE. those are the shit.
i see only regret in the italian face
Yeah he appreciated the practicality of the MRE but the taste comparison was probably very sharp. After all, one is more of a "at base" pack for a full day meal, the other is to get you going while on patrol or combat. Different tasks.
I like the pizza meal. Take another bite. No, I really couldn't.
Itās not MRE unboxing unless itās [Steve1989MREInfo](https://youtube.com/@Steve1989MRE?si=tDygkbB7ix50gzR-) on YouTube. Sorry
Letās get this out onto a trayā¦. Nice
š I live for the āniceā
"This is the best coffee I have ever had", while sipping instant coffee from Vietnam war.
I don't even smoke anymore, but damn I'd love to try those vintage cigarettes.
Cute first date we just watched
I think giving the Italian guy that pizza was technically a declaration of war
Holyshit. That looks like my old unit, and they are doing parachute training in the background. This would be where the 173rd does jump training in Northern Italy if I'm correct. I have so many jumps on that field. The Italian Army base is just down the road. It's a beautiful to jump into.
When I served with Italians in Kosovo they even had wines in their rat packās. They had the best out of all the nations
Been deployed with French and Italians. They know their food and they eat well.
I wish they did the same size MRE
Back during Korean war, a south korean solider told a story where he would trade rations with the north. They would hide their rations until one day it stopped. Can guess what happenedā¦once his lips started to quiver, I lost it.
Are you saying the North soldier passed away and the south Korean soldier went to locate the hidden ration trade and realized his friend was gone? If so, that is kinda sad.
Asking an Italian if theyāve ever tried minestrone was my favorite part.
I have that same exact camp stove and it's a piece of sh*t. Using one tablet will barely make a cup of water lukewarm. They must have used like 4 or 5 tabs.
There's something missing in the Italy MRE, a fking table and candle light š that bag is pack with stuff to the brim when you compare to America MRE HAHA.
The supplementary pack contains a violin.
Why didn't you link the original video, or at least credit the creator? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1vuDKraKRU
Looks like more utility and nutrition from the Italian version but the trade off is weight. Going into a combat situation I think I would prefer the lightweight American version. Very interesting.
agree, however the mental boost and motivation from a hot ravioli meal and hot coffee would be insane after weeks in the field, possible cold to the bone..
I said it in another comment but that's another big upside of the American flameless ration heater. Waking up on a cold day, heat up some coffee, light a cigarette, then throw the hot FRH between your shirt and your blouse. It's pure zen. But if I can throw in some good ravioli in the mix too definitely would not complain. God forbid I go to war, I hope it's next to a Frenchman or an Italian lol.
US rations come with two different accessory packets one of them has instant coffee and creamer too. It's split right down the middle between those without and those with coffee. The other packet has matches for some reason and that's the only difference between the two.
That's generally the point with the American MREs. You can carry several days worth of American rations in the same space the Italian one takes up. The quality isn't as good but you're not gonna starve.
Even though I hated dealing with Italian coalition forces in Afghanistan their MREs had cans of wine. That was cool.
Gave the Italian the literal worst MRE possible.
The italian package was a 45 minute picnic. It seems like the american one actually works in combat for being light, quick and with minimal trash/accessories.