Well, cold MRE’s are pretty lousy. Heat them up on the HMMWV engine, and they’re pretty damn good. It also seems that these days, every MRE comes with an exothermic chemical reaction heater pack, whereas in my day, they were shipped separately and sometimes we had 'em, and sometimes we didn’t.
I can say my morale was considerably approved when we had hot MRE’s versus cold ones.
Also my morale was vastly improved when I was assigned to the flight following unit and we were able to hook up with a battalion-sized encampment, and have hot, fresh made food with proper service. (The alternative was being with my company at the improvised air field, all on our own, eating MRE’s only for two weeks straight.)
Soldiers do expect and endure hardship. It’s a point that should not be overlooked that during the Vietnam war, the Vietnamese never defeated the US in the field. Their ability to “eat cold shit” didn’t lead them to victory.
The US loss of morale had nothing to do with the troops’ ability (or lack of it) to endure physical hardship in the field. It had everything to do with the political/social situation back in the US.
Hot meals were not, IMO, a key factor in the Vietnam war.
Well despite what Lust 4Life thinks, I was not in the ACC, I did in fact serve in The Royal Signals.
Typical fare at a British field kitchen:
Starters: Pate de Foi with hot toast or a choice of home made soups.
Main Course…take your pick from…
Sirloin steak
Roast leg of lamb
Lobster and hot melted butter
Roast duckling in any sauce you wish
Partridge or Pheasant
Gently poached fresh Scottish Salmon
A selection of vegetarian dishes.
All of the above are of course served with the usual trimmings
Dessert, again a choice…
Tirimasu and ice cream
Poached Apricots with a delicate brandy sauce
Baked Alaska
Hot apple pie and fresh dairy cream
Fruits of the Forest again with a delicate brandy sauce.
Well, I would submit it depends on who’s serving. A scruffy cook in a stained apron, nope. Some sweet young French waitress in a short skirt and a low top to display her cleavage?
While I agree with you that the answer is complicated, the key qualifier in my statement was “or else core temperature lowers” If core temperature lowers, body shuts down blood flow to extremities. Shell temperature lowers. If it’s a cold day, you feel bad.
Any heat needed internally to warm up cold food means less “waste” heat goes out. Less waste heat out means less heat reflected/trapped by clothing. Shell temp lowers, bringing on the onset of shivering sooner (whether or not its 20C or not I dunno, as I seem to shiver pretty often when the room is just a little chilly).
Anyway, I appreciate your cites in the earlier thread. Would’ve liked to have seen swyves come through, however.
To be quite honest,piss taking apart,some of the best food I’ve ever had has been A.C.C. at Hereford and in the M/E.
On R.N. ships it was usually pretty good but on their shore bases it was what I can only describe as cooking by sadists.
The R.A.F. was always pretty good but not like what many people raved about.
At the International Long Range Reco.School in Weingarten,Germany. the food was deliberately dreadful ,so bad that you didn’t eat it but instead went upstairs to the German equivalent of the N.A.A.F.I./P.X. and paid for edible foods which interestingly enough were cooked in and by the same cooks that had served up the inedible slop in the Cookhouse.
The difference was that they got a cut of the profits for themselves personally.
When you went out in the field it was a pleasure to eat German compo.though I must admit that I never knew that there were so many different varieties of sausage.
U.S.food was always pretty good as well,probably up to the standard of the R.A.F.s
I must apologise to CHOWDER ,I knew that you were an ex scaley but thought that you’d transferred to the A.C.C. so that you could kill more people.
Sorry mate was only taking the piss out of someone I consider a Doper mate.
Well, we are agreeing then. A hot meal can help raise morale a bit but a soldier who believes in what he is fighting for, even if he is eating cold shit, has much more morale than a soldier who does not believe in what he is fighting for, even if he is eating three hot meals a day. Many (most?) Americans did not believe that Vietnam was worth fighting while the Vietnamese were fighting with all their might for something they believed in. In other words the hot meals were just slightly masking the main problem.
Didya know I was seconded to RAF Cardington as a special operator?
Not a 007 type yunderstand, oh no! Muggins here had to train for parachute drops so that in the event of hostilities they could dump me behind enemy lines in order that I could transmit info about troop movements and the like.
