# Does the word tactical have any meaning in advertisements? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 20, 2025, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-word-tactical-have-any-meaning-in-advertisements/1018587 "2025-05-20T16:24:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-word-tactical-have-any-meaning-in-advertisements/1018587/121 "2025-05-25T21:49:18Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > when eating a can of tactical pudding. Do you have a recipe? I have ideas, but an expert on tactical pudding would help. I mean, most of mine involve popcorn and sugar, but tactical ice-cream? With a tactical waffle? LETS GO!!! (tactical Maple Syrup optional) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-word-tactical-have-any-meaning-in-advertisements/1018587/122 "2025-05-25T21:57:59Z")
I don’t remember the details well enough to reproduce now, but there was a technique for combining the snack stuff from a couple of boxes of C-rats (1950s / 1960s era DoD predecessor to MREs) to produce a sorta pudding that was then cooked on the engine of your vehicle. Something like an envelope of cocoa, a couple envelopes each of non-dairy creamer & sugar, something, something, water, stir well, pour into an empty rat can, place on running engine for 20 minutes: Yummy thickened hot pudding. With the distinct taste of diesel fumes and desert dust, but that sorta goes with the territory. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-word-tactical-have-any-meaning-in-advertisements/1018587/123 "2025-05-25T21:59:45Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > I mean, most of mine involve popcorn and sugar, but tactical ice-cream? With a tactical waffle? LETS GO!!! Tactical waffles are for poseurs. Only accept mil-spec waffles. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-word-tactical-have-any-meaning-in-advertisements/1018587/124 "2025-05-25T22:04:49Z")
Oh… oh no. Now I want to make three batches of food-coloured camouflage waffle mixture, green, brown and the usual yellow. Mixing on the waffle iron. My kids will love this. I mean, not mil-spec but I can pitch it to the military. I’m not familiar with the mil-spec for desserts, but I can try. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-word-tactical-have-any-meaning-in-advertisements/1018587/125 "2025-05-25T22:18:29Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > I mean, not mil-spec but I can pitch it to the military. I’m not familiar with the mil-spec for desserts, but I can try. Powdered eggs. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2025, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-word-tactical-have-any-meaning-in-advertisements/1018587/126 "2025-05-25T22:19:17Z")
Well, that tactically ruined my idea. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2025, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-word-tactical-have-any-meaning-in-advertisements/1018587/127 "2025-05-26T10:05:39Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > Now I want to make three batches of food-coloured camouflage waffle mixture, green, brown and the usual yellow. I made some of that. Now I can’t find it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2025, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-word-tactical-have-any-meaning-in-advertisements/1018587/128 "2025-05-26T12:13:03Z")
I don’t know about tactical pudding, but here’s the actual recipe for [milspec chocolate chip cookies](https://www.dla.mil/Portals/104/Documents/TroopSupport/Subsistence/Rations/pcrs/ugr/ugrm01/43205.pdf). ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-word-tactical-have-any-meaning-in-advertisements/1018587/129 "2025-05-27T14:56:06Z")
The key is always ingredients. To make a good tactical pudding it’s imperative to use high quality tactical sugar (and not the sort of sugar some slovenly civilian would use). And before you ask, you can readily identify tactical sugar by the prominent camouflage pattern on the packaging. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-word-tactical-have-any-meaning-in-advertisements/1018587/130 "2025-05-27T15:35:31Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > I mean, most of mine involve popcorn and sugar, but tactical ice-cream? With a tactical waffle? LETS GO!!! “Hooah!” ( or “Oo-rah” if you are a jarhead) is the correct acknowledgement of battle orders, as in: “We are going to charge the waffle bar; ‘A’ Squad to secure the whipped cream depot; ‘B’ Squad pincers the buffet, SAW team covers the left flank, rifle team has the overwatch. Clear your corners, watch your background, don’t get mobbed by toddlers or mired in the syrup. Rangers, are you ready to eat some breakfast?!?” “Hooah!!!” Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-word-tactical-have-any-meaning-in-advertisements/1018587/131 "2025-05-27T15:38:25Z")
“Commence Operation Jemima.” ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-word-tactical-have-any-meaning-in-advertisements/1018587/132 "2025-05-28T07:07:34Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > With a tactical waffle? Also known as a “twaffle”. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-word-tactical-have-any-meaning-in-advertisements/1018587/133 "2025-05-28T16:59:12Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I don’t know about tactical pudding, but here’s the actual recipe for [milspec chocolate chip cookies](https://www.dla.mil/Portals/104/Documents/TroopSupport/Subsistence/Rations/pcrs/ugr/ugrm01/43205.pdf). Nitpick: That spec defines three types of cookies (or technically, three types of dry mixes for cookies). None of them are chocolate chip. Type I cookies are chocolate flavored, but not chocolate chip. -WildaBeast, who has to deal with actual milspecs at his job. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-word-tactical-have-any-meaning-in-advertisements/1018587/134 "2025-05-28T17:08:36Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Tactical waffles are for poseurs. Only accept mil-spec waffles. This would be a good time to re-read one of the Dope’s best threads about the Kodiak Power Cake waffle mix with the bear on the package. The thread even got noticed by the company that makes the mix. And I still buy a box every now and then. > [@Pancakes that make me feel like a man](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pancakes-that-make-me-feel-like-a-man/808884): > > [Kodiak Cakes. Power Cakes.](http://www.kodiakcakes.com/power-cakes/) So friggin’ manly, they couldn’t contain the manliness in one name. There’s a damn bear growling at you right on the front of the industrial-grade cardboard box, so don’t wet yourself, Francis, when you see it on the counter next to my carpenters axe and blowtorch. It’s a big black box, with two massive bags of protein-packed flapjack mix inside. Now listen up: This thing contains almost three-thousandths of a ton of Y-chromosome-polishing powder, so don’t drop it on y… ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-word-tactical-have-any-meaning-in-advertisements/1018587/135 "2025-05-28T22:30:16Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > Nitpick: That spec defines three types of cookies (or technically, three types of dry mixes for cookies). None of them are chocolate chip. Type I cookies are chocolate flavored, but not chocolate chip. Too late to edit, but now I see adding chocolate chips to the mix is an approved variation in the preparation instructions, among other variations. But that seems like something that would be added by the mess officer or whoever was preparing the cookies, not the contractor manufacturing the MIL-C-43205G cookie mix. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-word-tactical-have-any-meaning-in-advertisements/1018587/136 "2025-05-28T22:46:10Z")
I get a chuckle out of this thread. Now, trust me when I say I’ve been through a _ **lot** _ of legit, real-world-_needs_-to-be-hardened ‘tactical’ gear, and some crapola that’s straight up lame-ass ‘Gucci gear.’ I shall yield to my esteemed colleague @Bear_Nenno to confirm my observations and expectations. Nowadays, everytime I hear the word “tactical’ I am immediately reminded of those 'Tac Glasses” commercials that used to play on TV, with some random wanna-be\* dressed in now-obsolete woodland camo, standing in front of a HMMWV and camo netting. IIRC, that dude wasn’t even military. The ‘glasses’ themselves were “inspired” by “our deployed heroes overseas” and were nothing but geriatric fit-over sunglasses my Pop-Pop used to wear over his prescription lenses, so he could drive during the daytime. Discourse doesn’t have an icon with eyes that roll that far back into my head, so this one for ‘[Nick Bolton](https://celebanswers.com/was-nick-bolton-in-the-military/)’\* has to suffice . . . 🙄 \*Note: at first I couldn’t remember his name. And then, unfortunately, I did. . . Tripler Don’t get me started on “tactical” nukes. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2025, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-word-tactical-have-any-meaning-in-advertisements/1018587/137 "2025-06-02T01:16:08Z")
> [@Tripler](#): > > Don’t get me started on “tactical” nukes. How about tactical Tic-Tacs? 😁 ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2025, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-word-tactical-have-any-meaning-in-advertisements/1018587/138 "2025-06-02T01:27:25Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > > [@Tripler](#): > > > > Don’t get me started on “tactical” nukes. > > How about tactical Tic-Tacs? 😁 - Tac-Tic-Tals. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-word-tactical-have-any-meaning-in-advertisements/1018587/139 "2025-06-05T17:09:27Z")
I was looking into getting some sort of holder/holster for my smart phone, and found this :- > **[Universal Tactical MOLLE Belt Hook Holster Nylon Pouch Mobile Phone Case Black...](https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/386889692290?_skw=mobile%2Bphone%2Bholster&itmmeta=01JX0GVWQTDP4GVWGC4Z2671PA&hash=item5a146c3482%3Ag%3AtmoAAOSwD-xkyAyV&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA8MHg7L1Zz0LA5DYYmRTS30noemZ7n5cNqTHVhP4gIWeyLXFuBk6GoOFz9SCBLqlxp%2BaTerTjug0C7rn%2FwOO5RL17OA1HUrF7xNGVXBU%2BincDYe7cPRYK71k3zzMNu8WNiRE15bzdaD%2FmS84pPEtNADR377b5Qr1nNpaW4TZFeryIYkBzkghGelHVbO7Jls1%2FOIOD3tP4d9y5gtsqImkSstzY%2FDnIFfUiY8tDCIRBRLUDff%2Fed5u2oUmSunMK%2BMuP4GEOCGgicfsA%2F%2BhvUYswJHq6oWDNTxPOiLNFnuSNsffUj0%2BwmJXe5eIaZmP9xRRoOw%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABFBMhMzvkOhl&var=654150767180)** > > Strong webbing belt loop on rear. 1 Tactical phone bag. Material:1000D Waterproof Nylon. ..so obviously I will want that one, because it’s Tactical ! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-word-tactical-have-any-meaning-in-advertisements/1018587.md?page=6)