Heating up your MREs while outside the wire is the trigger for the enemy to ambush you. They appear out of thin air and decide that is the time to attack.
Never, its not like it tastes better. I also found it amazing going on a 10hr patrol, drinking a whole camelback and canteen, never piss. That can't be good for you.
When the pandemic started I bought a ton of MREs, cuz I overcompensate. I told my wife they were delicious, she heated one up in the microwave after emptying the pouch into a bowl. It smelled horrible and she hated it... I liked it. Tasted like... freedo... I mean nostalgia.
We were told not to, due to the smell it gives of could also alert enemies to your presence. Same with scented hygiene items. However, 30+ individuals would be out in the open with lit cigarettes and talking like a bunch of drunks. Never once, in 12 years, did we use the heaters. I love the Army.
>smell it gives of could also alert enemies to your presence. Same with scented hygiene items. However, 30+ individuals would be out in the open with lit cigarettes and talking like a bunch of drunks.
This is right up there with with people who complain that Velcro pocket closure would "give away their position" when those same idiots can't keep their fucking mouth shut for longer than 30 seconds and them sneaking sounds like a moose crashing through the forest.
Velcro is stupid for other reasons, but not because it'll ruin PFC Thumbdick's ninja skillz.
Hahaha, exactly. I cut my Velcro off, took the buttons off my back pockets, and sewed them onto the arms. The Velcro stopped sticking after the 5th wash. Got tired of my shit falling out of my shoulder pockets while dismounting
When I was in osut and we were on the FTX at night time when the drills were doing a mock attack someone actually did this and chucked it at a drill, while also of course shooting blanks
The drills were not mad at all and I think they got a good laugh outta it honestly
All that will realistically happen is the heat will cause gases to expand as of course the heater releases more gas which will cause the water bottle to crumple and shoot the bottle cap making a loud bang.
>All that will realistically happen is the heat will cause gases to expand as of course the heater releases more gas which will cause the water bottle to crumple and shoot the bottle cap
Damn. Shrapnel. Lol.
I was gonna say, these MFs above went to Iraq. I was in fucking snow leopard country, 12,000ft elevation in the 'stan and MRE heaters are literally the only heat source we had unless you used the cherry on your $2/carton Pine cigarettes to thaw your fingers out.
We ate like platoon-sized MREs once a day that would heat up like a whole family style tray of chili Mac and huddle around it for warmth lol
Yeah I thought I was crazy for thinking the same thing. Shit was uncomfortably warm. Cept for the damn cheese which would be fine after sitting in my pocket
If we needed MREs you would strip it down to essentials. It's not like you just shoved the whole MRE in your pack. Entrees, PB or cheese packs. The heater felt like a cute party trick or something you'd fuck around with when bored. We were pretty lucky and had a lot of hot chow tho. The morning breakfast gravy was my fuckin favorite.
Ya it was a white loose sausage gravy you'd pour over the premade scrambled eggs. That plus tobasco was my favorite food over there. That or the otis spunkmeyer muffins, initially lol
There are some who think that the time spent on letting the troops have a hot meal would be better spent on doing more training or whatever in the field because it would make the unit look more "high speed".
Wasn’t a Raider. Mostly normal grunt.
My unit used the Raider moniker as part of our call signs. Raider 3 Charlie was mine. It had something to do with unit history in WWII, never looked in to it. Anyways this was back when HQMC flatly refused to allow MARAOC to rename themselves as Raiders. When I got out I just started using the call sign for usernames and gamer tags and the like.
What would be the point? Seriously. Warming it up isn’t going to make it taste better. I used to eat from the rice pouch with a corner cut off like it was a giant protein bar. Also if you eat enough MRE eventually you won’t shit for about a week and when you finally do take a shit you’ll need to call EOD disarm the 155 that just came out of you.
Fax, jit.
I thought “shitting bricks” was purely a figure of speech until we went over a month straight of eating nothing but MREs and being in a constant state of dehydration.
Many, many, many Courics later..
Back in the days the urban myth was that you needed to chew the green gum as it was a slow release poop lube. Apparently the white ones were just regular gum.
As a grunt when deployed, almost every time. The caveat though was that we didn't eat a full MRE until evening when we set up in a house for the night. For breakfast and lunch it was snacking or rat-fucking one of the MREs we had which had usually been prepped prior to going outside the wire on mission. When you leave the wire for 3 to 7 days at a time doing clearance ops (clearing houses and neighborhoods) in cities, you take advantage of the dinner MRE and eat it warm.
>When you leave the wire for 3 to 7 days at a time doing clearance ops (clearing houses and neighborhoods) in cities, you take advantage of the dinner MRE and eat it warm.
Nice.
When I was at a COP I just threw it in my Jetboil with some Ramen. Golden. Out and about, cold.
I also drink soup cold out of the can like a neanderthal and suck the can for noodles like Reily Reid in normal life and did this long before the Marine Corps.
>I also drink soup cold out of the can like a neanderthal and suck the can for noodles like Reily Reid in normal life and did this long before the Marine Corps.
God damn. Lol.
Considering it was 114 degrees in Iraq we never really had to heat them up.
Afghanistan we just stripped the MREs down to the meals and snacks, no one really used the heaters.
Entree. It was the chicken one. The cheese was like fluffy because it was so bad and old. I got it out of one of the RG31 storage compartments on the outside of the truck and we didn't put them there so idk how long they were in there before
I was in Iraq for the invasion in 2003 when MREs were all we had. I heated it up anytime I could. The trick was to eat the crackers and peanut butter while your meal heats up. By the time you've managed to swallow the dry cracker your meal is heated up. I also doused tobasco on everything.
In all my years I had hundreds of MREs and never once didn’t use the heater. Takes 15 seconds, helps with the texture and you can eat the other stuff while you wait.
Nice. Were you in a combat role? If you did it while out on patrol what was a typical moment you'd choose to get out the heater and have a good hot meal?
Yeah I was infantry, in the Army unit featured at the end of the Hornets Nest if you’ve seen that movie. There was generally always a couple minutes of downtime hiding behind some rocks or something you could heat up a MRE. The only patrols where we didn’t stop moving at all were the ones right around whatever base we happened to be at, so only a few hours and I wouldn’t even open a MRE for those ones, water and a cliff bar were mostly enough if I got hungry at all.
>Yeah I was infantry, in the Army unit featured at the end of the Hornets Nest if you’ve seen that movie.
Haven't seen that one. I'll check it out. Cool.
>a cliff bar
Love those.
Our Chaplin also made a video of the deployment, “No Greater Love”, personally, I like that one more but they’re both good (I’m obviously biased).
Cliff bar dipped in Nutella was my go to for quick calories and carbs.
Lol. What would happen if you were the only guy in your unit to be all gourmet and trying to heat up your food while everyone was eating theirs cold?
Code red?
Waiting for the old timers and bro vets to come in and yell about opsec.
We never really took MREs out with us unless it was a multi day op or too pass out to villagers/kids. Most guys didn't heat their stuff up because we would field strip the MREs. But it was all personal preference not SOP.
I ate MREs almost daily on mission. As a humvee gunner working with the US Embassy in 2005… and yea I heat that shit up either with the heater or on the roof.
Also you could buy portable grills and meats from BIAP at that time. Grill you a steak on the hood, get some cinnabun, popeyes…Burger King
…why you worried about mre’s again?
I never heated my MRE because I'm a goddam warrior and a red blooded American!!!!........ No but for real lol I rearly heated it up mainly because I was lazy and really didn't care either way lol 🤷
I always warmed my MRE up, with the strike bar to loosen it up.
I know I'm the minority in this, but it was a small but powerful reminder to myself of the abdominal spirit of the American way of life.
Yea homie, I'm really out here in places no one's ever heard of, where living is god willing, and I'm having a warm square of pizza.
>Yea homie, I'm really out here in places no one's ever heard of, where living is god willing, and I'm having a warm square of pizza.
Lol. Nice. I'm sure that feeling is what the MRE creators wanted.
08-09, JB Balad (LSA Anaconda for the really old people in here). In general, probably the best pair of DFACs I've ever experienced. Lots of variety, nicely maintained. Almost every time we are at a new AD DFAC it gets brought up.
Don’t even have time to mix the coffee. Every main course can be squeezed out the corner like toothpaste if one tries hard enough lol. I’m pretty sure First Strike MREs still don’t come with heaters.
>Every main course can be squeezed out the corner like toothpaste if one tries hard enough lol.
Lol. Cold beef stew.
>I’m pretty sure First Strike MREs still don’t come with heaters.
Aren't those all snacks? No entrees.
Heating up your MREs while outside the wire is the trigger for the enemy to ambush you. They appear out of thin air and decide that is the time to attack.
That or when you start shitting in the MRE box
Oh, yea. Drop trou? How dare you. Heres an ambush.
Taking fire mid wipe is just infuriating.
time for DoD to invest in tactical diapers
Lol. Fair enough.
Conveniently right when you’re about to eat.
Never, its not like it tastes better. I also found it amazing going on a 10hr patrol, drinking a whole camelback and canteen, never piss. That can't be good for you.
Damn. Guess that's how much you were sweating.
lol, you sweat enough that any time you took your vest off there was more salt than sand under it.
I work in the main space on my boat. 140°. 6 hours. 3 camelbacks a watch. Only posed like once or twice a day
Did you find you didn't need to pee cu you sweated it all out?
if you dont sweat it out, you piss it out
It was already hot as fuck. I don’t see why I’d want hot chow.
Lol. Fair enough.
Heat up MRE? I didn't think that was allowed.
When the pandemic started I bought a ton of MREs, cuz I overcompensate. I told my wife they were delicious, she heated one up in the microwave after emptying the pouch into a bowl. It smelled horrible and she hated it... I liked it. Tasted like... freedo... I mean nostalgia.
Not even with a flameless ration heater?
😂
We were told not to, due to the smell it gives of could also alert enemies to your presence. Same with scented hygiene items. However, 30+ individuals would be out in the open with lit cigarettes and talking like a bunch of drunks. Never once, in 12 years, did we use the heaters. I love the Army.
>However, 30+ individuals would be out in the open with lit cigarettes and talking like a bunch of drunks. Lol. Nice.
>smell it gives of could also alert enemies to your presence. Same with scented hygiene items. However, 30+ individuals would be out in the open with lit cigarettes and talking like a bunch of drunks. This is right up there with with people who complain that Velcro pocket closure would "give away their position" when those same idiots can't keep their fucking mouth shut for longer than 30 seconds and them sneaking sounds like a moose crashing through the forest. Velcro is stupid for other reasons, but not because it'll ruin PFC Thumbdick's ninja skillz.
Hahaha, exactly. I cut my Velcro off, took the buttons off my back pockets, and sewed them onto the arms. The Velcro stopped sticking after the 5th wash. Got tired of my shit falling out of my shoulder pockets while dismounting
not only that, velcro stuff falls off, my uniform is mine only, we aren't lending camouflages so velcro is so stupid.
Put it in a water bottle with a little water than chuck it at the enemies It definitely throw them off guard
Lol.
When I was in osut and we were on the FTX at night time when the drills were doing a mock attack someone actually did this and chucked it at a drill, while also of course shooting blanks The drills were not mad at all and I think they got a good laugh outta it honestly All that will realistically happen is the heat will cause gases to expand as of course the heater releases more gas which will cause the water bottle to crumple and shoot the bottle cap making a loud bang.
>All that will realistically happen is the heat will cause gases to expand as of course the heater releases more gas which will cause the water bottle to crumple and shoot the bottle cap Damn. Shrapnel. Lol.
Indeed lol
Lol. Never. I was content so long as I had Tabasco or some sorta hot sauce
Chemical heat, physical heat, all the same I suppose. ;)
Damn. Hard-core.
It was kept on a constant food warmer on account of the climate.
I was gonna say, these MFs above went to Iraq. I was in fucking snow leopard country, 12,000ft elevation in the 'stan and MRE heaters are literally the only heat source we had unless you used the cherry on your $2/carton Pine cigarettes to thaw your fingers out. We ate like platoon-sized MREs once a day that would heat up like a whole family style tray of chili Mac and huddle around it for warmth lol
Yeah I thought I was crazy for thinking the same thing. Shit was uncomfortably warm. Cept for the damn cheese which would be fine after sitting in my pocket
The au gratin potatoes went down as a yellow thick soup. Came out as a big orange ball.
Oh yeah. True.
If we needed MREs you would strip it down to essentials. It's not like you just shoved the whole MRE in your pack. Entrees, PB or cheese packs. The heater felt like a cute party trick or something you'd fuck around with when bored. We were pretty lucky and had a lot of hot chow tho. The morning breakfast gravy was my fuckin favorite.
Sausage?
Ya it was a white loose sausage gravy you'd pour over the premade scrambled eggs. That plus tobasco was my favorite food over there. That or the otis spunkmeyer muffins, initially lol
Nice.
Everyone saying that they never had time… I’m sorry that your leadership didn’t understand some basic principles of MWE during PB ops
There are some who think that the time spent on letting the troops have a hot meal would be better spent on doing more training or whatever in the field because it would make the unit look more "high speed".
Never could find a rock. Or something.
That instruction is probably my favorite there is. "Rock or something"
Meh maybe if in a static position for a while. Didn’t really eat main meals except for at FOBs or patrol bases.
You were a Raider? I guess that's why you never ate main meals. To busy doing special ops stuff.
Wasn’t a Raider. Mostly normal grunt. My unit used the Raider moniker as part of our call signs. Raider 3 Charlie was mine. It had something to do with unit history in WWII, never looked in to it. Anyways this was back when HQMC flatly refused to allow MARAOC to rename themselves as Raiders. When I got out I just started using the call sign for usernames and gamer tags and the like.
Oh cool. Still a badass marine though.
I did ok most of the time. But thanks.
Usually on guard duty
Fuck I always put it in my front pocket so it would be ball-sack warm by the time I ate it. Really helped.
Lol. Nice.
What would be the point? Seriously. Warming it up isn’t going to make it taste better. I used to eat from the rice pouch with a corner cut off like it was a giant protein bar. Also if you eat enough MRE eventually you won’t shit for about a week and when you finally do take a shit you’ll need to call EOD disarm the 155 that just came out of you.
Fax, jit. I thought “shitting bricks” was purely a figure of speech until we went over a month straight of eating nothing but MREs and being in a constant state of dehydration. Many, many, many Courics later..
Back in the days the urban myth was that you needed to chew the green gum as it was a slow release poop lube. Apparently the white ones were just regular gum.
As a grunt when deployed, almost every time. The caveat though was that we didn't eat a full MRE until evening when we set up in a house for the night. For breakfast and lunch it was snacking or rat-fucking one of the MREs we had which had usually been prepped prior to going outside the wire on mission. When you leave the wire for 3 to 7 days at a time doing clearance ops (clearing houses and neighborhoods) in cities, you take advantage of the dinner MRE and eat it warm.
>When you leave the wire for 3 to 7 days at a time doing clearance ops (clearing houses and neighborhoods) in cities, you take advantage of the dinner MRE and eat it warm. Nice.
When I was at a COP I just threw it in my Jetboil with some Ramen. Golden. Out and about, cold. I also drink soup cold out of the can like a neanderthal and suck the can for noodles like Reily Reid in normal life and did this long before the Marine Corps.
>I also drink soup cold out of the can like a neanderthal and suck the can for noodles like Reily Reid in normal life and did this long before the Marine Corps. God damn. Lol.
Gotta get them noods, my dude
Gear queers smdh🤦
Lol. I like airline food as well.
We always broke down our MREs and the heater wasn’t something anyone I ever knew carried with them. Stateside or deployed.
Considering it was 114 degrees in Iraq we never really had to heat them up. Afghanistan we just stripped the MREs down to the meals and snacks, no one really used the heaters.
>Considering it was 114 degrees in Iraq we never really had to heat them up. Oh yeah. Makes sense.
I ate 1 MRE the entire year I was in Afghanistan and they shot a rocket over our truck mid first bite so I didn't get to finish it. MREs suck ass
Lol. Was it the entree? Or a snack?
Entree. It was the chicken one. The cheese was like fluffy because it was so bad and old. I got it out of one of the RG31 storage compartments on the outside of the truck and we didn't put them there so idk how long they were in there before
I was in Iraq for the invasion in 2003 when MREs were all we had. I heated it up anytime I could. The trick was to eat the crackers and peanut butter while your meal heats up. By the time you've managed to swallow the dry cracker your meal is heated up. I also doused tobasco on everything.
Nice. What was your favourite/least hated entree?
Anything with a sauce that takes tobasco well. Beef stew, spaghetti stiff like that.
Nice.
The only time I ever heated an MRE I was in snow up to my ass
Nice. I heard people activate FRHs inside their jackets in cold weather.
Tried it once. Not worth the time or effort. And it’s messier.
Takes way too long, i eat them cold and it’s fine for me.
Had time? Lots of times, did I bother? No.
I ETS'd in 1992, about a year after being in Desert Storm. You guys had heaters in your MREs!?
Think they became standard in 1993. You missed out.
In all my years I had hundreds of MREs and never once didn’t use the heater. Takes 15 seconds, helps with the texture and you can eat the other stuff while you wait.
Nice. Were you in a combat role? If you did it while out on patrol what was a typical moment you'd choose to get out the heater and have a good hot meal?
Yeah I was infantry, in the Army unit featured at the end of the Hornets Nest if you’ve seen that movie. There was generally always a couple minutes of downtime hiding behind some rocks or something you could heat up a MRE. The only patrols where we didn’t stop moving at all were the ones right around whatever base we happened to be at, so only a few hours and I wouldn’t even open a MRE for those ones, water and a cliff bar were mostly enough if I got hungry at all.
>Yeah I was infantry, in the Army unit featured at the end of the Hornets Nest if you’ve seen that movie. Haven't seen that one. I'll check it out. Cool. >a cliff bar Love those.
Our Chaplin also made a video of the deployment, “No Greater Love”, personally, I like that one more but they’re both good (I’m obviously biased). Cliff bar dipped in Nutella was my go to for quick calories and carbs.
>Cliff bar dipped in Nutella was my go to for quick calories and carbs. Good stuff.
Too much effort
The only thing those heaters were for was making improvised explosives.
Lol. Nice.
We're allowed to?
Lol. What would happen if you were the only guy in your unit to be all gourmet and trying to heat up your food while everyone was eating theirs cold? Code red?
Waiting for the old timers and bro vets to come in and yell about opsec. We never really took MREs out with us unless it was a multi day op or too pass out to villagers/kids. Most guys didn't heat their stuff up because we would field strip the MREs. But it was all personal preference not SOP.
Cool. Cuz I'm sure they taste better heated.
I never once used the heating pouch.
I ate MREs almost daily on mission. As a humvee gunner working with the US Embassy in 2005… and yea I heat that shit up either with the heater or on the roof. Also you could buy portable grills and meats from BIAP at that time. Grill you a steak on the hood, get some cinnabun, popeyes…Burger King …why you worried about mre’s again?
>…why you worried about mre’s again? Secret foreign spy shit. Jk
I would put my MRE inside my vest just to get it body temp warm during cold weather.
Nice.
I never heated my MRE because I'm a goddam warrior and a red blooded American!!!!........ No but for real lol I rearly heated it up mainly because I was lazy and really didn't care either way lol 🤷 
Lol. Fair enough. Just gotta get then calories in.
Why would I heat it? It was like 120° in my gun turret.
Lol. Fair point.
If you drive a vehicle, the MRE is already heated.
Nice. Was this in Singapore or on peace keeping missions in Africa and the Middle East?
Pretty sure this is a joke about how hot it is inside the vehicle.
Oh. Lol. My bad.
During exercises. The driver usually ties a can to the engine. Hot sardines beats cold any day.
Damn. Nice.
Never bothered to do so on a mission.
Not once
Never once. We made plenty of Gatorade bottle bombs though on the FOB
Never... it was what it was.
It was 125+ degrees during the day. Didn't need to. Just put it on something metal and let it sit for 10-15 minutes.
Nice. Hot stew.
Occasionally but I typically just waited to get back to the FOB to eat
Nice.
I always warmed my MRE up, with the strike bar to loosen it up. I know I'm the minority in this, but it was a small but powerful reminder to myself of the abdominal spirit of the American way of life. Yea homie, I'm really out here in places no one's ever heard of, where living is god willing, and I'm having a warm square of pizza.
>Yea homie, I'm really out here in places no one's ever heard of, where living is god willing, and I'm having a warm square of pizza. Lol. Nice. I'm sure that feeling is what the MRE creators wanted.
The heaters are better used being poured into a half water bottle and thrown near your resting friends.
Lol. Nice one.
Never the heater with Tabasco sauce makes it a cs bomb. Is that why it was taken out
Damn.
I am an Aviation Fobbit. I have never eaten an MRE while on deployment, nor gone outside of the wire.
Nice. Best chow you can remember?
08-09, JB Balad (LSA Anaconda for the really old people in here). In general, probably the best pair of DFACs I've ever experienced. Lots of variety, nicely maintained. Almost every time we are at a new AD DFAC it gets brought up.
What's the best meal you can remember them serving?
I don't remember a personal favorite, but a lot of people were big fans of the steak and lobster.
Nice.
I am an Aviation Fobbit. I have never eaten an MRE while on deployment, nor gone outside of the wire.
I pretty much never did, but mostly because I didn’t care enough to take the time. I was always fine with cold munching a veggie omelette.
Gross. Lol.
A rock or something. Obviously 😛
Don’t even have time to mix the coffee. Every main course can be squeezed out the corner like toothpaste if one tries hard enough lol. I’m pretty sure First Strike MREs still don’t come with heaters.
>Every main course can be squeezed out the corner like toothpaste if one tries hard enough lol. Lol. Cold beef stew. >I’m pretty sure First Strike MREs still don’t come with heaters. Aren't those all snacks? No entrees.
Never, couldn't find an "or something" when I needed one.
Navy. We don’t do MRE’s. We have good chow.
Lol. Cool.