Field Rations

[ArthurR]

A couple of friends and I, where passing the time at work (smoke break)
just chatting, One an American, 1st gulf war vet, Myself ex-RAF early 60's to Late 70's, we ended up talking about field rations, what was your favourite, ect. When I was in we had Compo rations. If you where lucky now and again the tin of cigarettes, would come your way, My question is, are they still included in todays rations, or have the PC brigade decided that smoking is far more dangerous to your health than war.

ps. The Irish stew and rice pudding mixed together was not that bad,
done in the dark in the miiddle of the Brecon beacons.

[taxydual]

Baby's Heads*!!! No doubt about it.


(*Tinned Steak and Kidney Pudding, just to avoid confusing non UKMIL mates).

[airborne_artist]

Any of the Ghurka rat packs - goat never tasted so good :ok:

[effortless]

I seem to remember some self heating cans of bully. If you didn't pierce them they could explode. Anyone else remember these?

[vecvechookattack]

We used to be issued with 300 fags a month. Pussers Blue Liner (Because they had a blue line running down the length of the ciggy).

There was a strange ritual where we were issued 6 stamps per month (3 stamps if you were in UK waters and 6 if you were outside UK waters). You would then go down to the NAAFI and exchange your stamps for cigs. Why they couldn't just give you the baccy I don't know.

Baby's heads were fantastic but I understand that they were withdrawn from service a few years ago as the content of them wasn't particularly healthy

[cornish-stormrider]

of course they withdrew them - babies brains are never healthy for you. :E

I just loved the powdered orange or lemon drink. try sniffing a line of it!

[Bicster]

The dreaded lemon drink better known as "screech", one of the only non alcoholic drinks that can turn your face inside out and leave you thirstier than before you drank it.

[Green Flash]

Slight thread drift. All praise and glory to the MCSU; what they could do with standard rat packs defied belief. From a bag/tin of 'something' to an absolute banquet fit for a king was something they could do in their sleep. Awesome:ok:

[Laarbruch72]

No tabs any longer Arthur, I joined in 90 and I've never seen them in rations... not sure when the practice died out.
The new rations are pretty good, 3 heatable foil pouches per day, lucozade sport to replace the screech, we even get tabasco and a marmite lookalike. I was eating rations only yesterday... the pork sausages with beans and omelette are surprisingly nice. I suppose it all depends on how cold and hungry you are.
My pick of the old lot was probably the bacon burgers.

[Basil]

When in the TA about 1960, recollect eating tinned jam rolly poly (Sp?) which had been canned in 1939. I could understand why, even in the depths of WW2, no one wanted to eat it however, as an 18yo on an exercise, one scoffed the lot :ok:

Can't remember much about RAF survival rations but on CSRO course etc. never came across that farmhouse, much loved by cartoonists, with a freshly baked pie cooling on the window sill. :p

[Landroger]

Never having been in the military, I wouldn't normally have know about such things, but I had to spend a week in Kuwait City about a month after GW1. I was trying to fix a CT Scanner that had 'blown its brains out' on a generator, the day the Iraqi's left and blew up the power station. I flew to Bahrain on Gulf Air and thence to Kuwait on Fat Albert via Jebail Naval Air Station, courtesy of the Foriegn Office!

There was no food in the shops or cafes and I was 'dossing down', with an ex-pat who had been a prisoner of the Iraqi's, in someone elses villa! Very bizzare. Anyway, we had to beg ratpacks off British and American troops still manning road blocks in the area.

My favourite - I found it strangely exciting - was Barbeque Pork and Beans. :) Probably an American one then? Mind you, the Hershey chocolate was 'orrible. :eek:

Roger.

[sisemen]

To a little water in a mess tin add the contents of the sachet of Drink, Beef. Heat then add the chopped contents of a tin of Bacon Burger plus one other tin (Irish Stew, Babies Heads - it matters not) and a tin of beans. Smash the contents of a pack of Biscuits, AB (brown or white) whilst still in the pack and then add the crumbs to the mess tin. Heat the contents through and serve.

Rock Stew. Probably named because a rock invented it but more probably because of its effect on your daily constitution. :}

[Fareastdriver]

In Borneo in the Sixties the rations included a tin of processed cheese. It was the best fishing bait ever invented. You could look down through the water and guide it towards the fish you wanted to catch out of the crowd of them fighting for it.

[Bicster]

Does anyone remember those tins of mystery meat in the silver tins? It looked like pate and smelt like cat food, disappeared out of the rat packs if I remember and the genetically modified cheese that also disappeared. I do remember some stories of people amusing themselves by making MRA bombs.

[goudie]

ISTR jungle survival packs containing a packet of condoms. Nothing to do with wearing them if 'offered' the Headman's daughter but to prevent leeches crawling into your willy.

[ArthurR]

Thanks Laarbruch, just confirmed what I thought, Fareastdriver, those tins of cheese (processed I think), they where good to eat as well, but the best had to be the tinned sausages. Sometimes served in the mess as well, you could always tell, only triangular sausages I have ever seen.
Basil, no such thing as use by dates then, Most of the old compo rations came from the WW2 to the late 50's, didn't liike the jam rolly poly..

[ShyTorque]

Slight thread drift. All praise and glory to the MCSU; what they could do with standard rat packs defied belief. From a bag/tin of 'something' to an absolute banquet fit for a king was something they could do in their sleep. Awesome

We got an " 'Arfur Daley" of a cook. We had roast lamb, bratties and beer. The local farmers seemed to like Compo.

Rock Stew. Probably named because a rock invented it but more probably because of its effect on your daily constitution.


Siseman, that recipe was clinically proven to make your hair fall out. :p

[SASless]

I have posted this before.....but it is a gem that bears reading.


MRE dinner date, The following is a true story....told from the point
of view of a Marine ...

I had a date the other night at my place. On the phone the day before,
the girl asked me to "Cook her something she's never had before" for
dinner. After many minutes of scratching my head over what to make, I
finally settled on something she has DEFINITELY never eaten.

I got out my trusty case of MRE's. Meal, Ready-to-Eat. Field rations
that when eaten in their entirety contain 3000+ calories. Here's what I
made:

I took three of the Ham Slices out of their plastic packets, took out
three of the Pork Chops, three packets of Chicken-a-la-King, and eight
packets of dehydrated butter noodles and some dehydrated/rehydrated
rice. I cooked the Ham Slices and Pork Chops in one pan, sauteed in shaved
garlic and olive oil.

In another pot, I blended the Chicken a-la-king, noodles, and rice
together to make a sort of mush that looked suspiciously like succotash. I
added some spices, and blended everything together in a glass pan that
I then cooked in the oven for about 35 minutes at 450 degrees.

When I took it out, it looked like, well, ham slices, pork chops, and
a bed of yellow poop. I covered the tops of the meat in the MRE cheese
(kinda like velveeta) and added some green sprinkly thingys from one of
my spice cans (hey, if it's got green sprinkly thingys on it, it looks
fancy right?)

For dessert, I took four MRE Pound Cakes, mashed 'em up, added five
packets of cocoa powder, powdered coffee cream, and some water. I heated
it up and stirred it until it looked like a sort of chunky gelatinous
organism, and I sprinkled powdered sugar on top of it. Voila--Ranger
Pudding.

For alcoholic drinks, I took the rest of my bottle of Military Special
Vodka (yes, they DO make a type of liquor named "Military Special"--it
sells for $4.35 per fifth at the Class Six ) and mixed in four packets
of "Electrolytes - 1 each - Cherry flavored" (I swear, the packet says
that). It looked like an eerie kool-aid with sparkles in it (that was
the electrolytes I guess... could've been leftover sand from Egypt).

I lit two candles, put a vase of wildflowers in the middle, and set
the table with my best set of Ralph Lauren Academy-series China (that
**** is EXPENSIVE... my set of 8 place settings cost me over $600 on sale
at the Lejeune PX ), and put the alcoholic drink in a crystal wine
decanter.

She came over, and I had some appetizers already made, of MRE
spaghetti-with-meatballs, set in small cups. She saw the dinner, saw the food,
and said "This looks INCREDIBLE!!!"

We dug in, and she was loving the food. Throughout the meal, she kept
asking me how long it took me to make it, and kept remarking that I
obviously knew a thing or two about cooking fine meals. She kind of balked
at the makeshift "wine" I had set out, but after she tried it I guess
she liked it because she drank four glasses during dinner.

At the end of the main course, when I served the dessert, she squealed
with delight at the "Chocolate mousse" I had made. Huh? Chocolate what?
Okay... yeah... it's Chocolate Moose. Took me HOURS to make... yup.

Later on, as we were watching a movie, she excused herself to use my
restroom. While she was in there, I heard her say softly to herself "uh
oh" and a resounding but petite fart punctuated her utterance of
dismay.

Let the games begin.

She sprayed about half a can of air freshener (Air Freshener, 1 each,
Orange scent. Yup. The military even makes smellgood) and
returned to the couch, this time with an obvious pained look.

After 10 more minutes she excused herself again, and retreated to the
bathroom for the second time I could hear her say "What the hell is
WRONG with me???," as she again send flatulent shockwaves into the
porcelain bowl. This time, they sounded kinda wet, and I heard the toilet
paper roll being employed, and again, LOTS more air freshener.

Back to the couch. She smiles meekly as she decides to sit on the
chair instead of next to me. She sits on my chair, knees pulled up to her
chest, kind of rocking back and forth slightly. Suddenly, without a
word, she ROCKETED up and FLEW to the bathroom, slammed the door, and
didn't come out for 30 minutes.

I turned the movie up because I didn't want her to hear me laughing so
hard that tears were streaming down my cheeks.

She came out with a slightly gray palor to her face, and said "I am
SOOOOOO sorry. I have NO idea what is wrong with me. I am so embarrassed,
I can't believe I keep running to your bathroom!!" I gave her an
Immodium AD, and she finally settled down and relaxed.

Later on, she asked me again what I had made for dinner, because she
had enjoyed it so much. I calmly took her into the kitchen and showed
her all the used MRE bags and packets in the trash can.

After explaining to her that she had eaten roughly 9,000 calories of
"Marine Corps Field Rations" she turned stark white, looked at me
incredulously, and said "I ate 9,000 calories or dehydrated food that was
made 3 years ago?" After I concurred, she grabbed her coat and keys, and
took off without a word.

She called me yesterday. Seems she couldn't s___ for 5 days, and when
she finally did, the smell was so bad, her roommate could smell it from
down the hall. She also told me she had been working out nonstop to
combat the high caloric intake, and that she never wanted me to cook
dinner for her again, unless she was PERSONALLY there to inspect the food
beforehand.

It was a fun date. She laughed about it eventually, and said that that
was the first time she'd ever crapped in a guy's house on a date. She'd
been so upset by it she was in tears in the bathroom while I had been
in tears on the couch.

I know, I'm an a__hole, but it was still a funny night.:=

[Rob Courtney]

Back in the mid eighties seem to remember the best items where lemon dextrose tablets, rolos and yorkies (always had chinese writing on the wrappers for some reason). There where 4 different menus back then labelled A,B,C and D menu A had Chicken curry and apple flakes but on one ex we got two weeks worth of the same one (D) which had minced beef :yuk:

Bacon roll and Garibaldis were also much prizes as well, I still have a couple of old hexi stoves hanging about.

[Molemot]

Ahhh, compo...only time I have ever seen greengage jam; in toothpaste tubes! And the tinned "Cheese, posessed" used to get served up in the Officers' Mess when the extra messing funds ran out....

[ian16th]

Wot about the Horlicks tablets from the out of date dinghy survival packs?

A sought after perk for Erks in the 50's.

[Landroger]

MRE dinner date, The following is a true story....told from the point
of view of a Marine ...


:D :ok: :)

Oh SASless, that was priceless. That is a very funny story - I have tears running down my cheeks - thank you. :)

Roger.

[Sempre 206]

How about Fry's '5 Boys Chocolate' bars in the 1960's

These were later replaced IIRC by Mars bars.

Mars bars then replaced by Rolo as the troops in Norway for cold weather ops started breaking teeth (literally) on frozen Mars Bars!

S206

[ArthurR]

Were not the MRE's known as Meals Rejected by Ethiopians. :E

[barnstormer1968]

From the old style compo and ten man packs, my favourites were: tinned sausages; bacon grill, tinned jam, and I also liked the 'cheese possesed' too:}

I used to always look forward to opening the rolo's, just in case I ever found a packet where the foil was NOT stuck to the rolo's.


The latest packs are really good, and my new favourite (apart from the lovely packs of nuts etc) is the muesli in a pouch, which I find very refreshing.

Boil in the bag favourites are: spicy rigatoni; bacon and beans and steak veg and potatoes.

I have always liked the boiled sweets, and they are even better now that they actually come out of their wrappers without a fight, and the pale green one is just yummy.

[BEagle]

Five Boys chocolate could still be found in compo YEARS after it had disappeared from normal circulation:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a341/nw969/5boys.jpg

OK, maybe not quite that old!

Best compo I recall was corned dog hash. Tin of corned dog, tin of instant potato, tin of margarine. Add water to the instant potato, turn into sludge, add corned dog. Then fry in margarine.

Boiled sweets from the Mark V emergency rations were pretty good - especially the red or purple ones!

[4mastacker]

Those oatmeal biscuits were pretty damn good either dry or mushed up with milk. During brat school week up in the Brecons, a tin of mutton and peas kept the pangs of starvation at bay. Worst of all was that bog paper that was in those packs - had the absorbant qualities of steel and the softness of sandpaper.

[FJJP]

Compo oatmeal biscuits. Perfect.

Stewing steak. Fat free. On Strike Force Dispersal, our chef used to make steak pie - it was out of this world. Often called for seconds or thirds!

[ArthurR]

Oatmeal, oatmeal, what was wrong with hard tack

Hardtack - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_tack)

Loved that stuff, damn pussies these days

4mastacker: youv'e given me an opening for this, sorry about it

mL7n5mEmXJo

Thanks


Damn to mutch beer

[RotaryWingB2]

Very bored in Kenya in 88, we stole a 10 man ration pack and tipped the contents out onto the table.

We turned all the tins upside down, shuffled them up and everyone chose one.

What ever you picked, you had to eat, all of it.

I got oatmeal blocks, tough going, but not impossible. I didn't need the bathroom for a few days after that, and when it came....:eek:

One lad got two tins of margarine... he was a frequent visitor to the s**tpit.

[4mastacker]

Hardtack?? Didn't that end up as the secret ingredient in Chobham armour?

[Melchett01]

Have to say I have always been a fan of biscuits brown. My first introduction to them came on the UAS when we did a week long survival course and I overdosed on them before we left the airfield. Needless to say the guidance we had been given on field hygiene was not needed, although I nearly cracked the bowl when their effects wore off .... something like 4 days AFTER we got back.

But talking of MREs, I have to say I got rather fond of the flat bread and chilli cheese dip. Even though when eaten in 55 degree temperatures having been left in the sun for a few months, the cheese dip had exactly the opposite effect of the biscuits brown all those years before.

That said, the best thing in the MREs had to be the heating element. Just add water to the pack, drop your food in and hey presto 10 mins later a cooked meal. OR, if you're bored during your 5th month of sitting in Corps HQ in Baghdad, get several heating elements, put them in a sealable container, add water and run. They make quite an amusing bang if you put enough elements in a container with a good enough seal.

Not that I would ever encourage anybody to do anything so childish or infantile when on ops ....:E

[alisoncc]

Still got a can opener, if anyone's got an unopened can they would like to share. ;)

http://alisoncc.com/nwimages/canopener.jpg

[Dan Winterland]

It was hard to get a bit "Masterchef"' with the 24 hour packs. But menu A (chicken curry and rice) had some potential to make quite a decent rice pudding. Oatmel blocks could me mashed, heated with milk and crunched up biscuits AB to make passable porridge. (AB stood for Allied Bakeries BTW - I always assumed it meant "Anal Blockage" due to thier effect). And the fruitcake tasted like christmas pudding when hot.

But they were still better than MRE's. Joint Ops with the Yanks usually saw them trying to swap their Meals Rejected by Ethiopians for our compo - which we were fairly reluctant to do until it was pointed out that MREs could be used to make a fairly impressive IED. What you do is take a 1.5 litre bottle of coke and empty out or drink half the contents. Then add the contents of one self heating MRE, put the top back on tightly, shake vigoursly for about 5 seconds and then deploy. Detonation time depended on the temperature of the coke. If it had come straight from the fridge, you had time to retire at leisure before the bang. But if the coke had been sitting out in the desert sun for a while, you had better be able to sprint faster than Usain Bolt!

[sisemen]

(AB stood for Allied Bakeries BTW

Beg to differ Dan. AB = Alternative, Bread

[NutLoose]

had the absorbant qualities of steel and the softness of sandpaper.

I believe the trick was to fold it in four, tear off the resulting corner and retain, unfold, push your finger through the resulting hole, use to "scoop," slide paper down finger to clean, then using retained wedge of paper, clean under ones nail..................:}:}
Remember the white shiny stuff also issued in accomodation with Government property printed on each sheet (as if anyone would steal it), It was the only Government white paper worth a sh**

Ahh the toothpaste tubes of Jam and Margarine with those hard Biccies to put it on, have still got the odd tube left, kept it as a souvenir..

Spangles, with the writing in Arabic....... prophetic that, wrappers were a permanent fixture.

Compo sausage, bacon burger stuff and babies heads...yummy

Garibaldis (fly pie) yuk!


which we were fairly reluctant to do until it was pointed out that MREs could be used to make a fairly impressive IED. What you do is take a 1.5 litre bottle of coke and empty out or drink half the contents. Then add the contents of one self heating MRE, put the top back on tightly, shake vigoursly for about 5 seconds and then deploy. Detonation time depended on the temperature of the coke. If it had come straight from the fridge, you had time to retire at leisure before the bang. But if the coke had been sitting out in the desert sun for a while, you had better be able to sprint faster than Usain Bolt!

Dan you need to get some menthos sweets, youtube menthos and coke, you will have some laughs as to what it does............

[NutLoose]

A slight side note for Dan Winterland

Meals ready to eat and their self heaters in action.... LOL

Meals; Readt To Explode Pt. 2 (http://www.cargolaw.com/2001nightmare_mre2.html)

http://johnglennmbci.com/090720-MREs.jpg

http://www.cargolaw.com/images/disaster2001.mre.10.GIF

BTW a fantastic site to browse, and see how the boaty people get it wrong....see

The Gallery of Transport Loss (http://www.cargolaw.com/gallery.html)

[Sloppy Link]

Tubes of condensed milk. You could hear peoples teeth falling out afterwards.

Bisciuts AB = Biscuits 'ard b**tards.

[outlaw51]

Crumbled oatmeal blocks mixed with the reconstituted powdered milk and bilberry flakes, plus one sachet of sugar, from a ten-man rat-pack made superb field porridge. The compo we had on the Falklands just after the landings in '82 had been boxed up in 1958! It also contained the giant Rollos we used to buy as kids. Those Dextrasol "go-faster" tablets kept most of us going on the yomp. The worst was "Bacon Grill". It consisted of bacon-flavoured grease hard-packed in even more grease. Handy for helping to waterproof boots, though.;)

[Gnd]

No, for me it was Bacon Burger/Grill, fry it until crispy, slice and re-fry soft bit. Repeat until full.

Not bad on AB but 'no way' to AB brown or the ones with rabbit Po*h

[Gulfstreamaviator]

My darling wife, who might read this, loves to surprise me with her cooking skills. Our garage is full of E Bay spoils.

The American packs are in her opinion slightly better than the British.

Almost all the selections are fantastic, I have a pack of Biscuts Fruit in front of me now.
The little tin of food cat, and biscuits brown are a nice lunch time snack too.

Packets of Instant tea, perfect. The instant soups, perfect too.

6000 cals perhaps over the top.

glf

[larssnowpharter]

MREs, Compo all fade into insignificance compared with what the Italians put into their ratpacks.

In addition to some pretty decent grub - probably with the pasta designed by Guigaro - there are two plastic sachets:

The first is a robust red wine
The second a brandy type substance of obscure origin but definitely rather potent.

[FlapJackMuncher]

Screech.
Is this the stuff currently served on the Akrotiri trooper?

[BBCapt]

The UK 'ratpacks' are very much better, the only advantage of the USA ones have is the variety of 'stuff' both meals and in the packs.

Personally, its got to be meat lump and beans, bacon/sausage & beans top scan too, as it the beef stew and dumplings.

MRE = Meal Refusing to exit - errr humm....

[Capt Pit Bull]

Biscuits AB = A*** Blocking

[Motleycallsign]

Can't beat the old 'Compo' sausage in my opinion. The big ones that came out of the tins square. A close second were the oatmeal block biscuits.

[Warmtoast]

At JHQ Rheindahlen in the early 70's "time expired" 10-man ration packs were sold for next to nothing by Army Stores at HQ BAOR.

My family and I were very much into camping and they were absolutely brilliant for our camping trips - kids loved the contents, especially KitKats in tins and a very good curry. Sausage and Bacon mix was good too - I still have fond memories.

Like all good things packs were sadly withdrawn from sale as political correctness ruled that as they were past the 'use by' date printed on the box, if anyone should become ill MOD would be responsible - or so I was told. Either way by around 1974/75 packs were no longer sold.

[barnstormer1968]

If MRE's are allowed too, then peanut butter is just scrumptious!:)

Is it me, or does anyone else see the irony in the MOD now issuing water bottles and some of the large black water containers with water filters built in, only to then issue lucozade, and other powdered energy drinks which block the filters, and make then useless!

My other half is very unimpressed with the new tea sachets that make 'black tea' and so now hordes all the old style instant white tea one she can find.:ok:

[Dan Winterland]

"MREs, Compo all fade into insignificance compared with what the Italians put into their ratpacks"..

Agreed. Bro in-law was in the Italian Army and used to bring home their ration chocolate. About 99% cocoa, it's the best choccie I have ever tasted.

[parabellum]

In the sixties the ration packs we had were 'lettered' A to H, some were not very interesting, H turned up seven times out of ten with 'M & V', (mutton and veg) but, I think, it was either B,F or G that was most popular and the most rare.

Standard essential extras, carried by the individual, was a large packet of curry powder, even the M & V became edible when spiced up!

[Bladdered]

Pilchards in tomato sauce.................fantastic:ok:

[sisemen]

During my time with the Mountain/Desert Rescue Team at Sharjah the trick with compo (for that is what we were issued with on exercises) was to dump virtually the entire contents of a 10 man pack into a large pot and add a full tin of curry powder.

.....and by everything I do mean everything - except the toilet paper and matches! (in fact I think that the toilet paper went in on one occasion - just to prove it could be done). The matches were never put in - we needed them to light the farts afterwards. :}

[Blacksheep]

Screech.
Is this the stuff currently served on the Akrotiri trooper?
I really hope not. The true original "Screech" is Maltese "Marsovin" wine, mixed 50-50 with lemonade to make it (almost) drinkable. A Rum & Coke was ninepence in the Gladiator Club at Luqa - sixpence for the coke and thruppence for the rum - On Thursdays we'd drink doubles for a bob a glass but by Tuesday we'd be down to Screech. It was truly horrible stuff but at one and thruppence a bottle it was all we could afford by Tuesday. (Pay Parade was always on Thursday).

For me, the best Compo was the mutton and peas; compo sausage would be my second choice. Powdered egg omelettes would be my TART (throw-away-rather-than-eat-it) choice.

[philrigger]

;)

For 'SCREECH' do posters not mean 'JUNGLE JUICE' ?

[ian16th]

........of Ganjuice, made with desalinated water. :*

[Blacksheep]

Marsovin seems to have been made by fermenting salinated water and vinegar... :rolleyes:

[Army Mover]

While running the Military Container Service; I was involved in outloading RNVD Botley (where the majority of the UK sourced compo came from); we shipped compo all over the world for all 3 services (and the Ghurka's); it was well worth a visit to see how they put the packs together; some of the recipes were made on site.

[Dan Winterland]

So you're to blame for my chronic constipation!

[Army Mover]

So you're to blame for my chronic constipation!

Yep, we (used to) put Movers wherever there would be a likely activity of sufficient importance to generate a blame issue ......... :ok:

[pedroalpha]

My favourites of all time were the Argentinian rations that were liberated from one of the iso-containers lying on Stanley race course at the end of the Falklands war. During the first days of peace, these ration boxes found their way over to San Carlos where they were gratefully raided for their contents. Of special interest were, the miniature Argentinian whiskey, pack of cigarettes and best of all tinned steak. This premium meat was perfect when placed in a mess tin to which was added some chopped potato, carrots, onions or even local cabbage and cooked in the oven of a peat-fired stove. Every box also contained a letter from an Argentinian school child addressed to 'an unknown Argentine soldier'. I still have one of these letters and a bottle of combat whiskey. I also have my bottle of Sunday Mirror Task Force Ale that is of course now undrinkable!

Pedro
I

[Whenurhappy]

I found that last post strangely moving....

'Every box also contained a letter from an Argentinian school child addressed to 'an unknown Argentine soldier'.



On a lighter note, I was at 'Al's Garage' in KSA in late 2001. Our Comfort boxes (courtesy of The Sun newspaper and Tesco, I recall) had sweets, toiletries etc. Unfortunately the Host Nation asiduously removed the Wine Gums, becaue of the prohibition on alcohol.

Hmmmm