Old style Ratpacks
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The 12 man ration boxes always had at least one item that we weren't allowed to eat, usually the sardines. We'd throw them onto the mid-exercise Smoker and stand back, after about 2 mins they went off like a White Phos round...oh how we laughed as we dodged red hot fishy shrapnel !!
Was anyone around when they supplied fags ? My old Squadron in Germany had a huge flagon of Brandy to be issued if we were to fight the WP in winter, or maybe it was for a bit of Dutch Courage.
I can't believe Screech hasn't had a mention, that stuff was the Devil's invention.
Was anyone around when they supplied fags ? My old Squadron in Germany had a huge flagon of Brandy to be issued if we were to fight the WP in winter, or maybe it was for a bit of Dutch Courage.
I can't believe Screech hasn't had a mention, that stuff was the Devil's invention.
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Bacon grill.....mmmm! Straight out of the tin having just taken it off the hexie/wood fire.
Rolled oats with plenty of chocolate powder & sugar, made up to the consistency of thin porridge.
The best bit was if you were the best cook, the guys would do your stag on guard so you could conjure up something good!
Rolled oats with plenty of chocolate powder & sugar, made up to the consistency of thin porridge.
The best bit was if you were the best cook, the guys would do your stag on guard so you could conjure up something good!
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Second the rolled oats and choccy powder. The bovril was a decent enough drink at night coz the coffee was **** . Anyone remember the curry (I think it was Menu F)? Little sachets of tommy ketch nicked from Maccy D's used to brighten up the scoff. I think cheese possesed and the sausages were in the 10 man packs though. Oh, and thank God for the tins of boiled sweets! Was it just my QM, or do they all have a pact with the devil when it comes to buying Fresh? I know CILOR doesn't run to much, but do they all have to buy Sunblest bread? I suppose the one advantage of this is that it is stale the second it leaves the oven so it lasts for ever.
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The path of my life is strewn with cowpats from the Devil's own Satanic HERD!
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The path of my life is strewn with cowpats from the Devil's own Satanic HERD!
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Boil in the bag stuff is brilliant. In the TA we are always issued these, not the old style ones. Big relief compared to a few years earlier.
I even had a boil in the bag stew for dinner at home once. I'd got it left over from an ex, made a nice dinner ... boiled in a saucepan on the hob!
I even had a boil in the bag stew for dinner at home once. I'd got it left over from an ex, made a nice dinner ... boiled in a saucepan on the hob!
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Oh this modern stuff!! Back in 1969, the combination of corned dog, potato instant and compo marg fried in a billy can was the dog's wotsits. And yes, 'Five Boys' choccie and 'Tiffin' could stil be found amongst the Korean war tinned compo mountain....
The fruit sweets in 'Mark 5' emergency rations weren't bad either!
What a thoroughly inefficient vehicle the Land Rover must be (the ba$tard heap I was allocated in the Islas Malvinas last year certainly was....0-40 mph allegedly) particularly if one can cook compo snorkers on the INLET manifold! Bratties from the local Huns cooked in foil over the EXHAUST manifold worked better!!
[This message has been edited by BEagle (edited 29 June 2001).]
The fruit sweets in 'Mark 5' emergency rations weren't bad either!
What a thoroughly inefficient vehicle the Land Rover must be (the ba$tard heap I was allocated in the Islas Malvinas last year certainly was....0-40 mph allegedly) particularly if one can cook compo snorkers on the INLET manifold! Bratties from the local Huns cooked in foil over the EXHAUST manifold worked better!!
[This message has been edited by BEagle (edited 29 June 2001).]
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Gotta agree with Release, all the boil in the bag stuff I've had in the past few months has been great, It's a vast improvement on the sh!te the cooks manage to come up with!! (but maybe thats just my unit's bad luck)But the orange choccy bars in the 10 man packs are tops.
PS anyone out there who crewed the C130 to Gib from GLA yesterday? Hope you made the bas***ds sick from taxi to landing - 2.5 week holiday in the sun, gettin paid, mutter, mutter.
PS anyone out there who crewed the C130 to Gib from GLA yesterday? Hope you made the bas***ds sick from taxi to landing - 2.5 week holiday in the sun, gettin paid, mutter, mutter.
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I agree, the boil-in-the-bag really is good stuff, but it does get a bit samey when you've been on it for 5 weeks solid. The sad bribery that goes on just to get a menu G is the material that Cracker would love. PS - Why is there no good, traditional English food, like chicken curry anymore?
[This message has been edited by MG (edited 29 June 2001).]
[This message has been edited by MG (edited 29 June 2001).]
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Bacon Grill was the bees b*ll*x.
I do like the new boil in the bag....though the natives of a West African Nation got to know what was good and what wasn't last year...they begged for tucker, we gave them the butterscotch pudding, they ate it for a few days and then started a) giving it back or b)Refusing to take it in the first place!
I do like the new boil in the bag....though the natives of a West African Nation got to know what was good and what wasn't last year...they begged for tucker, we gave them the butterscotch pudding, they ate it for a few days and then started a) giving it back or b)Refusing to take it in the first place!
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Mad Pax originally posted:
"Some of us also used to wind the Cadets up by telling them that the rolos (with their arabic(?) writing) are leftovers from the Suez campaign. This stopped after the staff got sick of telling the kids what the Suez campaign was."</font>
"Some of us also used to wind the Cadets up by telling them that the rolos (with their arabic(?) writing) are leftovers from the Suez campaign. This stopped after the staff got sick of telling the kids what the Suez campaign was."</font>
Just the 2 cents of another highly opinionated NCO here <G>.
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Up Very Gently originally posted:
"Have you seen/tasted the new "Training" rat packs?"</font>
"Have you seen/tasted the new "Training" rat packs?"</font>
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Biggles Flies Undone originally posted:
"The strong tea with condensed milk from the tube was a great kick-start after a crummy nights sleep."</font>
"The strong tea with condensed milk from the tube was a great kick-start after a crummy nights sleep."</font>
Still, there remained an important advantage to the tea bags versus the little Vitamin-C fortified instant coffee packets we had in the American C-Rats in those days (early 1980's): having the real thing available in the field, rather than that "instant" imitation cr@p!
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Thud_and_Blunder originally posted:
"My best was while trying many moons ago to get into a TA unit which had a joining procedure that virtually guaranteed honorary Welsh citizenship."</font>
"My best was while trying many moons ago to get into a TA unit which had a joining procedure that virtually guaranteed honorary Welsh citizenship."</font>
I still haul out that particular OS map when I'm explaining contour lines to support pogues. Which reminds me of another fun wind-up idea.... Next time you take a bunch of REMFs on a navex, be sure to walk point, signal a freeze in some dark draw, look intently at the ground as you pad along ninja-fashion and quietly whisper "There's one" as you warn the guy behind you "Don't step on the contour line — pass it back!"
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Llademos originally posted:
"Porridge oats....</font>
"Porridge oats....</font>
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Talking Radalt originally posted:
"MREs... best bit is the miniature bottle of Tabasco...."</font>
"MREs... best bit is the miniature bottle of Tabasco...."</font>
You're spot-on re: all else however!
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Will take your word for it - under the rusting slab of tin that passed for a Land Rover bonnet, there lurked a piece of stone-age ironmongery dripping with oil. I wouldn't have wanted to touch the damn thing - my man took it for it's weekly check in any case.
It was during a holding posting with the Harrier force in 1975 that one of the groundcrew came up with the bratties-on-the-exhaust manifold trick!! They did taste rather oily though!!
It was during a holding posting with the Harrier force in 1975 that one of the groundcrew came up with the bratties-on-the-exhaust manifold trick!! They did taste rather oily though!!
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Constable,
I know, I know, but then they don't learn history at school, and we have enough to try to get through to them - most of them think that Nelson is a WCW move...
Rourke's Drift is a dance track.
The Relief of Ladysmith is something you pay £20 for.
Anyway, I still think the Oatmeal Block takes some beating.
I know, I know, but then they don't learn history at school, and we have enough to try to get through to them - most of them think that Nelson is a WCW move...
Rourke's Drift is a dance track.
The Relief of Ladysmith is something you pay £20 for.
Anyway, I still think the Oatmeal Block takes some beating.
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Yep — I wish we had the Oatmeal Block in the MREs over here. Those damnable re-packaged commercial "Granola Bars" just don't cut it.
As for the WCW, I'd say "don't worry!" — given the poor standard of education among the younger generation on both sides of the Pond, with just a little more hard work doing those pint-curl in front of the TV, they'll attain the same nadir the WWF occupies over here.
Imagine my reaction as well when, upon walking into a Borders book shop in one of our major cities a few weeks ago, I asked these two early-20-something individuals manning the inventory computer whether they had a copy of Mark Bowden's Black Hawk Down (I know — we've always spelled it as one word in the US military, but Bowden's a mere journalist who's never served), and being asked: "Fiction or non-fiction?"
Biggest firefight involving US forces since 'Nam, and already there are multiple-body-pierced TV-watching brats who think the Battle of Mogadishu took place on The Sci-Fi Channel!
As for the WCW, I'd say "don't worry!" — given the poor standard of education among the younger generation on both sides of the Pond, with just a little more hard work doing those pint-curl in front of the TV, they'll attain the same nadir the WWF occupies over here.
Imagine my reaction as well when, upon walking into a Borders book shop in one of our major cities a few weeks ago, I asked these two early-20-something individuals manning the inventory computer whether they had a copy of Mark Bowden's Black Hawk Down (I know — we've always spelled it as one word in the US military, but Bowden's a mere journalist who's never served), and being asked: "Fiction or non-fiction?"
Biggest firefight involving US forces since 'Nam, and already there are multiple-body-pierced TV-watching brats who think the Battle of Mogadishu took place on The Sci-Fi Channel!
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....just to break it in to bite size chunks you mean?
As for cooking on vehicle exhausts, Bedfords are far better, particularly the Atlas/HIAB Crane variant, on which the exhaust runs across the underside of the front of the cab as opposed to lengthwise underneath the chassis, thus allowing better access and therefore allowing bacon butties to be reheated to the consumers exact preference. Just don't try it whilst on the move...
As for cooking on vehicle exhausts, Bedfords are far better, particularly the Atlas/HIAB Crane variant, on which the exhaust runs across the underside of the front of the cab as opposed to lengthwise underneath the chassis, thus allowing better access and therefore allowing bacon butties to be reheated to the consumers exact preference. Just don't try it whilst on the move...
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Ah Biscuits Brown - mmm!
Throw one in a swimming pool and 5 seconds later theres a slightly damp 300 ton biscuit sitting in the bottom of an empty pool. Not bad with the pate-type-stuff though.
Used to like the instructions for the bacon burgers - 'slice thinly and fry till golden brown'. Yeah right! If you had a laser scalpel the stuff would still come off in lumps. Much better cold than in burnt lumps.
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PCD
Throw one in a swimming pool and 5 seconds later theres a slightly damp 300 ton biscuit sitting in the bottom of an empty pool. Not bad with the pate-type-stuff though.
Used to like the instructions for the bacon burgers - 'slice thinly and fry till golden brown'. Yeah right! If you had a laser scalpel the stuff would still come off in lumps. Much better cold than in burnt lumps.
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PCD
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Sunday Times 01/07/01
Army scientists have found a way of using food that soldiers eat to protect them from accidentally being shot at by their own side. The special meals contain compounds that are expelled from pores in the skin or from soldiers breath. When viewed by specially equipped pilots or satellites above a battlefield, the troops would appear to be brightly coloured.
You can read the full article on the S.T. web site - afraid I failed (being a computing dwarf) to get the specific address.
I bet they have a missile that homes on unfriendly farts as well!
Army scientists have found a way of using food that soldiers eat to protect them from accidentally being shot at by their own side. The special meals contain compounds that are expelled from pores in the skin or from soldiers breath. When viewed by specially equipped pilots or satellites above a battlefield, the troops would appear to be brightly coloured.
You can read the full article on the S.T. web site - afraid I failed (being a computing dwarf) to get the specific address.
I bet they have a missile that homes on unfriendly farts as well!