# Army Issue personal stoves (of the World) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 2, 2004, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-issue-personal-stoves-of-the-world/222344 "2004-01-02T19:32:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rue\_DeDay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/41988e/32.png) [@Rue\_DeDay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rue_DeDay)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-issue-personal-stoves-of-the-world/222344/1 "2004-01-02T19:32:24Z")
_or_ If we let them _cook_ their food, they won’t be angry enough to kill people. For no good reason, I was looking into C-Rations. They gave you cigarettes and toilet paper, but no way to actually cook your food. Not to worry, the Army being what it is, [a way around that was found](http://www.homestead.com/gruntfixer/files/crats.html). Using a little can out of the C-Ration pack, plus the P-38 can opener (or better yet a “church key”) and a block of Trioxane and you’re all set. But a lump of C-4 works even better. (!) Which, I’m sure, led to the old saying: If a man has access to C-4, no meal will be eaten cold. But I looked around a little more. The [British Army](http://www.allthingsmilitary.co.uk/ishop/800/shopscr1868.html) had a personal cooker. It used hexamine tablets instead of Trioxine or C-4. And it looked an awful lot like an Esbit stove. Sure enough, the [German Army](http://www.northridgeinc.com/sn-112.htm) were in on the stove thing too. It seems the [Swiss](http://www.fatiguesarmynavy.com/store/item/SW3002) and the [Swedish](http://www.allthingsmilitary.co.uk/ishop/800/shopscr521.html) Armies also had theirs. So. The British Army, German Army, Swiss Army and Swedish Army had an issue stove. If I get these (plus a big ol’ lump of C-4), is my “Army Stoves of the World” collection complete? (Not counting the big “mess hall” stoves or the new chemical packs for the MRE’s.) Was it a more common practice for Modern Armies to issue or not to issue stoves along with modern rations? ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-issue-personal-stoves-of-the-world/222344/2 "2004-01-05T15:08:41Z")
Good question. ---
**Author:** ![adirondack\_mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5a626/32.png) [@adirondack\_mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adirondack_mike)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-issue-personal-stoves-of-the-world/222344/3 "2004-01-05T15:33:06Z")
open up tin of crackers. punch holes in bottom. Tear up box. Stuff the pieces in the perforated cracker tin. Heat entree. Bon Apetit. ---
**Author:** ![adirondack\_mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5a626/32.png) [@adirondack\_mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adirondack_mike)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-issue-personal-stoves-of-the-world/222344/4 "2004-01-05T15:35:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by adirondack\_mike \* > \*\*open up tin of crackers. > > punch holes in bottom. > > Tear up box. > > Stuff the pieces in the perforated cracker tin. > > Heat entree. > > Bon Apetit. \*\* Light the torn up box place the entree tin on the perforated cracker tin. heat etc… I got this wicked cold that killing me:smack: ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-issue-personal-stoves-of-the-world/222344/5 "2004-01-05T15:51:47Z")
I do not understand the problem. My boat has a stove. My home has a stove. I can go for weeks or months without using them. I can eat canned food, cheese, deli, bread, wine, cold cereal, fruits and vegetables and lots of other things which do not require cooking. Most of the time I only use the stove for making tea or coffee. When I go for weeks without cooking I do it only because I find it more convenient that way and I do not miss anything. And I am in the relative comfort of my boat or home. If I was in a war zone with people shooting at me, complaining that the food was cold would be the last thing on my mind. ---
**Author:** ![KP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@KP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KP)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-issue-personal-stoves-of-the-world/222344/6 "2004-01-05T17:12:20Z")
> [@](#): > > If I was in a war zone with people shooting at me, complaining that the food was cold would be the last thing on my mind. I’m sure it seems that way to you, but complaining about cold food has been widespread among all armies, in all campaigns, as long as men have been shooting at each others. In fact, It was a complaint before they were shooting at each other, even when most of their meals weren’t hot at home (e.g. when meals were cooked in hearths and fireplaces, or where wasting fuel was an issue) According to current DoD figures, a soldier can burn 4000 kcal/day, but it is a real challenge to get them to eat more than 3000 kcal in combat rations. Hot palatable meals are more than just an issue of morale, they are important to sustained combat effectiveness. I have better cites around here somewhere, but [Not Eating Enough: Overcoming Underconsumption of Military Operational Rations](http://www.nap.edu/openbook/0309053412/html/411-416.htm) (Institute of Medicine report, 1995) should suffice. ---
**Author:** ![QuizCustodet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ba0ec/32.png) [@QuizCustodet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuizCustodet)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-issue-personal-stoves-of-the-world/222344/7 "2004-01-05T17:15:29Z")
Note that in most of the places you mention, you’ve got somewhere to go inside and get warm. For soldiers in the field, particularly in winter conditions, warm food and particularly hot drinks do a lot to keep them feeling warm (I don’t know whether it helps objectively, but it certainly helps with how you feel!) and keeps morale up. Put it this way: soldiers are some of the keenest people in the world on light packing. If they thought that life would be acceptable without the stoves, they wouldn’t be carrying them! ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_B.Phart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Capt\_B.Phart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_B.Phart)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-issue-personal-stoves-of-the-world/222344/8 "2004-01-05T17:55:49Z")
When I bought a hexamine stove the chap selling it said “these are the things that get put in ejection seats” and sure enough, when I saw a doc on ejection seats, a guy (at Martin Baker I guess) was putting in ration packs - including a stove. I don’t know if it’s just RAF chaps who feel the need for a nice cuppa tea and a biscuit after pranging the old kite. (I seem to remember the Russians make do with a cigarette, judging by that oft-screened footage of a dramatic low-level ejection from a MIG-29 at some airshow) ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-issue-personal-stoves-of-the-world/222344/9 "2004-01-05T18:19:07Z")
As I understood the OP, it was more of “Which armies issued stoves to their soldiers?” than “Should (and why) armies issue stoves?” ---
**Author:** ![Rue\_DeDay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/41988e/32.png) [@Rue\_DeDay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rue_DeDay)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-issue-personal-stoves-of-the-world/222344/10 "2004-01-05T18:38:33Z")
Yes. The question is: Was it a more common practice for Modern Armies to issue or not to issue stoves along with modern rations? Who _did_ issue stoves? (Not “_Should_ stoves be issued?”) ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2004, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/army-issue-personal-stoves-of-the-world/222344/11 "2004-01-06T00:15:53Z")
You’re right, **Rue** , these Dope®s can’t answer this question.