C-ration
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Meal, Combat Individual (C-ration) was the name of combat rations issued by the United States of America from World War II to the 1980s. Each ration consisted of a canned entrée, a "B2 unit" containing cheese, crackers and candy, a canned dessert, and an accessory pack. The accessory pack contained a P-38 can opener, mix for a hot beverage, salt and sugar packets, plastic spoon, chewing gum, a pack of four cigarettes and several sheets of toilet paper. Each complete meal provided approximately 1200 Calories (1200 kcal or 5000 kJ).
Due to health concerns, cigarettes were eliminated from the packages in 1975. C-rations were phased out in favor of the MRE beginning in 1983.
[edit] Contents
A sample Korean War-era C-ration (stamped March 1954) contained:
- 1 Instruction sheet
- 2 Cheese bars (1.5 net ounces)
- 2 "Cereal Class 5" (1.5 net ounces)
- 3 Type XII Style 1 Enriched chocolate bar (1 ounce)
- 1 "Jelly Bar" (2 ounces)
- 2 "Fruit Cake Bars" (2 ounces)
- 3 sticks Topps peppermint chewing gum
- 3 Domino sugar packets
- 2 Nestea "soluble tea product"
- 1 Pure soluble sugar
- 1 "Soluble cream product"
- 1 bottle Water Purification Tablets, Individual, Iodine
- 1 plastic bag
Presumably it also contained a canned "entree" of some sort.
