How do soldiers cope with the poor quality food while being deployed in combat zones for long periods of time?

How do soldiers cope with the poor quality food while being deployed in combat zones for long periods of time?

In my day in the field and combat zones like War Zone C Tay Ninh Province or War Zone D Long Khanh Province in III Corps, Vietnam, food was in cans called C Rations.

There were breakfasts, lunches, dinners, cakes, fruit, crackers jam and cheese; all in cans you had to open up with a small can opener called a P-38 that was carried on your dog tag chain.

There was no coping. You either ate what there was or went hungry. Some of the c rations were good, some were bad. The cans of fruit were like gold. You ate the can of rations you liked.

Today, they are in stores called Chef Boy R Dee spaghetti and meatballs, Dinty Moore Stew, chopped ham, and fruit cocktail, peach halves or pears. Tankers never touched the canned apricots though; bad luck.

They were not poor quality, they weren’t great either but hey, when your hungry, you have to eat right? As I said, some were very good and some were not. Each had their favorites.

Tankers were lucky, they could heat theirs on the engine as long as you poked a hole in the top of the can to let out steam or it would burst from the heat, burn on the engine and stink up the tank worse than it was, for days.

Grunts in the field would chow them down cold usually. They did carry little stoves that folded and could be carried in their packs but usually had little time to light them.

They would carry the cans in their spare socks tied to the back of their packs. Tankers would carry crates of rations in the tank bustle. Tankers were lucky. They could also carry coolers of beer.

It was later, that the MREs or meals ready to eat came out and again, some are good and some are bad or so I hear.

But that’s what we ate in the field until a Chinook came and delivered tank parts, ammo, mail and sometimes, hot meals which were enjoyed very much. Salute to the cooks.