MRE: Meals, Ready to Eat, Welcome to the Army.

Due to North Korea being on the border with a couple million men, South Korea has to run a large military. But just because the goverment wants to have to have a large standing army doesn't mean they want to pay for it. So they take a lot of shortcuts. And these shortcuts build hostility from within.

Korea's spends about 50% more annually on defence than Canada despite having a military 10 times the size in terms of boots on the ground. A whopping $16B a year, which really isn't whopping at all. In fact, it's pretty damn tiny all things considered. How do they keep the costs down you ask?

First, conscription. Every Korean male is suppose to serve for two years at a minimum, and it's not paid. Unless you consider the $25 a month a person makes to be paid. Though most also qualify for a $100 a month transportation allowance. How nice. Not having to pay for the army certainly helps.

Second, the Americans. The U.S. makes up the important bulk of the South Korean hardware defences. Counter-battery fire? The Americans. Tanks that can fire and shoot at the same time? The Americans. Assault helicopters? The Americans. Heavy bombers? The Americans. And so on. Up until recently, it was American soldiers in charge of defending Seoul from a direct ground assault from North Korea, and this assignment was not given back to South Korea at the request of the South Korean government. Several members of the SK military have stated they lack the skill and power necessary to hold the line like the Americans could do. In the event of war, the Americans are actually given control of the SK military.

And it's not even just the big things that the Americans have that are better, it's pretty much everything. The American's bulletproof helmets were actually bulletproof (the Korean bulletproof helmets only were upgraded to being bulletproof in 2003). SK has only enough ammunition to fight a war for ten days without American support. SK depends on the Americans to provide 90% of their intelligence on NK, and the Japanese recently noted that the Americans aren't sharing everything with South Korea anymore because everything they give them gets published in the papers here.

Recently, the media has focused on yet another thing the Americans have which is far better than what the SK military offers: The food. Yes, this was indeed covered by the Korean media as another example of the SK military screwing up.



The average SK soldier can pretty much expect this to be their food staple when in the field. A ball of rice with some seasoning. Not really practical, durable, and seriously lacking in the energy department.

So I decided to head out and buy some of the ration packs the American military uses.



Yes, MREs: Meals Ready to Eat in a easy to handle package. Almost like a little paperbag lunch.



Bought? I meant found. Alone and in the forest.



An entire box, sitting alone and looking for love. Or possibly awaiting conversion to be used as camouflage Solid Snake style.



Everything you could possibly want in a meal. Guaranteed not to have spoiled, offering 1200+ calories, includes side dishes and desserts with the meal, a heating unit, and condiments.




This particular box (which I found, not bought) contains several different choices. The primary meals include chicken and pasta dishes, beer teriyaki, vegetarian dishes, beef and mushroom, and other choices.





The side-dishes are many.



Even the drinks come in both hot and cold selections. Desserts include cakes, figs cookies, and other sugary snacks. Candies include regular candy to chocolate bars.




It's like a Russian doll, with the package in the package having many more items.



Cooking is done with a "just add water" pack. And that's exactly what you do. Add a bit of water, throw the food on top, and sit back for a couple minutes. It gets pretty damn hot in a hurry. Just find a rock or something.



My "something" was a phone box. I was gambling that it wasn't going to heat up hot enough to burn cardboard. I think I was suppose to stuff the heating until into the box or plastic case everything came in, but I didn't read ahead and it started to heat up in seconds.

This is not the correct way to cook with it. One is suppose to place the MRE into the water-filled heater bag and then slap it back in the box. My way still worked, just that it took longer.



The hydrogen economy will save us all! And am I quite temped to set it on fire as the amount of hydrogen being produced is quite high. I bet I could launch my lunch a good foot into the air.





And while one eats the dinner, they can read about why they should eat everthing and learn about why they are going to live forever.



So there you have it, your basic MRE. Better than a ball of rice.

OK, I'll ask. Did you like the MRE you found (not bought)?

This post has been edited by TheMatt on Jun 2 2005, 04:49 PM

"ROCK OR SOMETHING"
Such a professional ring to it. Now to determine what in my cube to use, as I think they'd frown on me bringing in a rock from the landscaping.

How much did it run you per MRE?

I've had two so far. The rice that was with the Thai chicken wasn't so great, but that was more to do with my screwing up the cooking of it (I didn't wrap it properly). Other than that, no complaints.

If I had bought them instead of magically finding the entire box, it would have cost me about $3US per unit. In contrast, a single stick of Gillette gel deodorant cost me $5 from the same place if I had bought them.

Does that price include the hot Korean señorita?

Whoooo! And here I thought that I wasn't cut out for the Military Lifestyle! Hell, there are MREs of one of my favorite recipes!

Cool stuff Gord, i have had MREs before, and i can't complain they are pretty good

I've bought (in the US at a discount store ironically) MREs before. They just came in the cardboard box though. Some of them can be pretty salty. Usually the desserts are decent (like apple sauce and spiced apples). It's hit or miss with the taste, but still good if you are into backpacking trips.

Beware of the burritos! They are bad!

Had seen a show about them on the Discovery channel or something. Think I remeber them costing quite a bit to make, like 13-17 USD.

Anyways costs like 2-3 times more for MRE's then regular mess hall food

It worth the cost for soldiers to have a good meal in the field is a huge morale boost. and as we know a well feed soldiers is a happy soldiers and a happy solder will kill more of the enemy.

My best friend confirms my statement from above as his unit was station remotely in Iraq for two years and the mre were a bright spot in that hell.

When i talk to him again ill get some info on the kinds of food she had over there.

Having eaten them myself in the field quite a few times, I can attest to their overall goodness. Some of my favorite parts are the peanut butter or cheese with crackers and the brownie. The "fruit cocktail bar", to which you are supposed to add water, is best when the water is not added, because you are then left with a portable chewy fruit bar instead of a goopy, drippy mess.

Considering what I noted for various meals included in a single MRE and the apparent ease at which you managed to get everything cooked and ready to eat, Gord, I'm not surprised the dudes in the Army eat better than I do (well, almost; I doubt they get any Quizno's sub sandwiches every day, but considering I'm wrapping up my two weeks this Saturday, a lot of good that comment does for me). I had the pleasure of munching on some MRE's bought at a local Army surplus store when I was out on a canoeing (sp) trip a few years ago. Surplus stores around the area (especially here in the South) are the best places to find these sorts of things, and since the MRE's last for a while, they make for great camping food when you can't lug around a cooler.

Back in the day when I was a cub scout my pack leader was a marine reserve, and one time he brought us all MRE's to eat. They were pretty damn good.

Do we really have that much influence in South Korea? Becaues that amount of control is amazing. Moreover, I think it's kinda sad that the SK soldiers get a rice ball. That's totally going to fill you up ;x

Anyone else reminded of that scene in Taegukgi when the brothers first go to war and they sit in a circle as the men in their unit introduce themselves over lunch. The staple then was a rice ball as well. I find it sad that the quality of South Korean field rations has not improved in 50 years.

This post has been edited by JavisKefka on Jun 6 2005, 07:47 AM

Online stores claiming commercially legitimate MRE stocks charge about $6 each from what I've found. Remains to be seen whether the same holds true in a military surplus store.

When i was in R.O.T.C. and we went on a "Training Trip" we could either ask for a small cash allowance for Fast-food or eat an M.R.E. All i am going to say is rarely was anyone eating fast-food. There good stuff. A friend of mine was in Ft. Hood here in the states for a while and his company was selected to try new recipes (i guess that's what you'd call them). He said they had cheese burgers, tacos/burritos, pizza (not traditional, but same taste), and even some kind of sweet and sour chicken.

I still use them on back-packing trips and the sort and by my house a box of 10 runs about $50 from the surplus store.

Wait a second, where did you buy them? Those meals look great for lazy cooks such as myself.

Get frozen dinners at Walmart, much cheaper and a lot more legal.

Don't those things have like a 3% chance of exploding or something? I love exploding food.

Nolan filled his up with too much water and I thought it was going to burst... Thank goodness it didn't, those things get freaking hot!