The Perfect Soldier: Special Operations, Commandos, and the Future of Us Warfare by James F. Dunnigan
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Dirty Little Secrets
Retort Pouches and Combat Superiority
by James Dunnigan
June 30, 2003
MREs, military food delivered in pouches, was first
proposed in the 1940s, and perfected in the 1950s. The retort pouches
(thermostabilized, laminated food pouches named after the retort steam cooker)
used a three layered pouch that allowed food to be sealed and then cooked
inside and never exposed to the air again until eaten. In this way, the food was
sterilized in the pouch and the sealed pouch prevented contamination, and loss
of flavor, for a long time. NASA began providing retort pouch food for space
missions in the 1970s. The U.S. Army picked up on the idea in 1975 and began
delivering large quantities of MREs to the troops in 1981. Manufacturing methods
were becoming more efficient, thus making MREs cheaper. Campers and hikers
became a major market, and new pouch designs eventually made retort pouch food a
common product in supermarkets the world over. Since then, most armies have
adopted retort pouch food, at least in part, for their field rations. Some
canned goods, the favored field ration packaging for over a century, is still
used. But because retort pouch technology makes it easier to cook the food in
the field, and the MRE style chow tastes better than anything in cans, the
retort pouch MRE is taking over. Food stored in a retort pouch have a
shorter shelf life if they are stored in a hot location. If stored at 60 degrees
Fahrenheit, they will last for about 130 months. But at 80 degrees, they go bad
in 76 months. At 100 degrees they are inedible in 22 months, and at 120 degrees
or more, will last only a month. Because of this, military MREs are stored in
climate controlled warehouses until needed. This way, the MREs can be kept for
about ten years, before being used. Combat rations vary according to food
tastes and the military situation. The U.S. expects to send lots of troops
overseas on short notice, and to have small units of them operating in a
dispersed fashion. This makes American combat troops more effective, and
requires MREs that are self-contained. Most other armies don't operate like
that, and thus often have field rations boxed for four or more troops. This
makes it easier to keep track of and ship the rations. The Israeli field ration
comes in a box for four troops. Israeli troops spend most of their time
operating close to fast food outlets, so the field rations are more for
emergencies than regular eating. Despite the increasing popularity of retort
pouch food, a favorite component of field rations in many nations is still the
centuries old, and cheap, hard cracker. China uses rice cakes. Countries like
Russia, and Middle Eastern nations, use a lot of canned fish and meat. On the
other extreme, France delivers quite tasty food in retort pouches (previously
this stuff came in large, flat, cans, that could easily be bent and damaged).
One thing that has become a lot more common in the past few decades, including
the American field rations, is the growing number of accessory items (to the
main meal.) Mainly these are snack items, drinks (instant coffee, tea bags,
beverage powders) and scented wipes. Even in armies that use a lot of
conscripts, the brass note that quality food is a key morale item. In the past,
many armies did not send their troops out of the field for long training
exercises because of the expense. But looking at what the United States and
Britain have done in Iraq, and elsewhere, and how those troops gained their
skills from long periods in the field, more nations are accepting the fact that
more training is needed. But it's one thing to scrounge up the cash to pay for
lots of field training, but you'd better feed them good while you've got them
out there, or you well only have a lot of surly, well trained soldiers. This is
not a good thing.
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