C Rats. I still hate the ham and those muthas.

[M60]

Anyone remember the dreaded ham and Lima beans. Also known as ham and mother F*****s or ham and muthas. Ham and muthas was the booby prize of each case of C Rats. Not to mention that the date on the cans was always from the 1940's. I swore that if I made it out of Nam, I'd never eat another Lima bean as long as I lived. Well in an effort to eat healthy the Blonde brought home some Lima beans which was fine, but then she served the damn things to me. She didn't know. I had never said anything to her about them . Thought I'd just suck it up and eat the damn things. I couldn't get past the first damn Mutha.
40 plus years later and I still hate those Mutha F*****s. Rather have boiled and salted elephant grass,without the defoliant, but the defoliant probably tastes better than those damn Muthas.

 

[white feather]

Here is how you can recreate that culinary favorite:

"when they gave it to the civilians in Korea, they threw the cans back at them"

"I miss my Ham and Lima Beans."
White Feather

 

[BattleSnail]

I couldn't eat ham for 25 years....my mom used to serve warmed up canned ham with mustard. It was a weekly dinner in my house. No lima beans.

I wasn't until this past easter that my mother in law served a really nice ham that I tried it and like it. The thought of canned ham makes me want to vomit.


I don't know what a C Rat is.

 

[Lignum Vitea]

The best thing about the C-rats where that special chemical heat tab flavoring. The Apple jelly was pretty nasty.

 

[Windwalker]

M60, you've triggered a distant memory. Heated, they were horrible. Cold? Beyond description.

 

[mark056]

I'll take C's over MRE's.

 

[M60]

The best thing about the C-rats where that special chemical heat tab flavoring. The Apple jelly was pretty nasty.

We never used the heat tabs to heat C Rats. Too slow. C4, rolled in a little ball and touched off with a Zippo. Faster than a microwave. Great for heating a fast cup of that instant coffee when the monsoons soaked you and you were shivering your butt off. Just don't shock the the C4 when lighted and you were good to go.

 

[M60]

Here is how you can recreate that culinary favorite:

"when they gave it to the civilians in Korea, they threw the cans back at them"

"I miss my Ham and Lima Beans."
White Feather

What! You miss ham and Muthas! Wish I had you around to do some trading with. You must have been in Third Battalion at P.I.? Luv me some spam though.

 

[M60]

I'll take C's over MRE's.

Never tried MRE'S yet. I have a case or so. I should probably give them a try. Can't be any worse than ham and muthas.

 

[M60]

I couldn't eat ham for 25 years....my mom used to serve warmed up canned ham with mustard. It was a weekly dinner in my house. No lima beans.

I wasn't until this past easter that my mother in law served a really nice ham that I tried it and like it. The thought of canned ham makes me want to vomit.


I don't know what a C Rat is.

C Rat, Short for c rations.
Canned meals issued in boxes along with things like crackers and cheese, chicklets gum and 4 count pack of smokes. Mostly made in the 1940's and still issued in Nam. Most were ok, but those damn ham and muthas really sucked. Don't listen to white feather. Me thinks that he fibbs.
Almost forgot . Most guys carried a small bottle of hot sauce to doctor things up.

 

[Finalygotabeltfed]

You've never been hungry enough.

 

[white feather]

What! You miss ham and Muthas! Wish I had you around to do some trading with. You must have been in Third Battalion at P.I.? Luv me some spam though.

No, it was the first comment. I am not quite old enough to have been there...

 

[M60]

You've never been hungry enough.

Well, we sure got hungry on 881 north. Got socked in with cloud cover for four days and ran out of food. Choppers couldn't get a break in the cover long enough to drop supplies. Three days without food and ran out of the water on the fourth as well. How hungry does a guy have to be to qualify as hungry enough? I love it when people jump in and exemplify, but prefer that they jump in with knowledge rather than stupid since it makes for better reading.

 

[Quiggy]

I love it when people jump in and exemplify, but prefer that they jump in with knowledge rather than stupid since it makes for better reading.

This. I'm glad that I never got that hungry. That's why movies and people that haven't BTDT don't do anything for me on these subjects. Personally, my favorite was the beans and meatballs/weenies. Could usually trade the ham & muthas with some of the southern guys. I wasn't a smoker, so I had an advantage by bargaining the smokes.

 

[Lignum Vitea]

I still have a P-38 hanging on my tags, remembering those chocolate disks tasting like wax. The bean's & franks were edible. Had it good because I was the one opening the case to distribute the rats.

 

[dustoff22]

Most all our C's (probably all of them) were WW2 vintage in 1967. What I didn't notice was a comment about the greenish tint of the eggs & ham. We referred to the Ham & Lima beans as "green eggs & ham". Few cared for that meal. Favorite desserts were the pound cake and pecan cake......damn good!!

I was still in the Army when it transitioned to MRE's. Must say the MRE's were OK but my preference remained with C's.

 

[M60]

I still have a P-38 hanging on my tags, remembering those chocolate disks tasting like wax. The bean's & franks were edible. Had it good because I was the one opening the case to distribute the rats.

That had to be good duty.

 

[Tim L]

I liked beef and rocks, but they were rare.ham and eggs chopped were OK for breakfast also Sh** discs.dislikes ; beans and baby D***s.

 

[rick.benjamin]

I agree with M60, after the green machine, There hasn't been a meal I haven't been able to eat.

 

[M60]

I hated the Chocolate cover coconut cookies, Not a fan of lima beans either, but will eat them if need to. I think that is the only C rat that I could do without.

I have tried the MRE's don't care for them. The real reason is that there is no more stocking up to make a feast. Number 10 can or helmet dinner, ****!! can't even heat water in the new helmets.

I just found that out recently. I got chatting with a CWO and he had his helmet in the trunk of his car to show me. The first thing that I asked was" how do you cook in that thing". He looked at me and said" we don't cook in our helmets". I asked well how do you eat in combat then. He said, we go to the mess hall. Things are different now I guess.

 

[Richland]

MRE's have these totally cool flameless ration heaters. You drop the chow pouch into a plastic bag and add water. Chemical reaction heats your chow. Quite easy.

 

[zyx123]

Well, we sure got hungry on 881 north. Got socked in with cloud cover for four days and ran out of food. Choppers couldn't get a break in the cover long enough to drop supplies. Three days without food and ran out of the water on the fourth as well. How hungry does a guy have to be to qualify as hungry enough? I love it when people jump in and exemplify, but prefer that they jump in with knowledge rather than stupid since it makes for better reading.

2/3 or 3/26?

 

[M60]

2/3 or 3/26?

2/4. You? Wasn't 26 at the Rock Pile?

 

[zyx123]

2/4. You? Wasn't 26 at the Rock Pile?

The Magnificent Bastards. Were you at Dai Do?

All before my time, but I went to Lang Vei and the Laotian border, and Khe Sanh (for a memorial service in 1998) and saw the area. The Regimental CP at Khe Sanh during Tet was 26th Marines, but after the Tet offensive ended 3/26 went up 881N. As I recall, 2/3 did the original hill fights on 881N in mid '67.

 

[Arlo39]

I've eaten both, I'll take MRE's!

 

[M60]

The Magnificent Bastards. Were you at Dai Do?

All before my time, but I went to Lang Vei and the Laotian border, and Khe Sanh (for a memorial service in 1998) and saw the area. The Regimental CP at Khe Sanh during Tet was 26th Marines, but after the Tet offensive ended 3/26 went up 881N. As I recall, 2/3 did the original hill fights on 881N in mid '67.

I didn't think that they'd ever open up Khe Sahn for visits. I didn't get to the hills until 1968 and believe that you're correct about 2/3 getting 881N after Tet. I was still at P.I. when Tet started. Boot camp was cut from 16 weeks to 8 weeks to fill the vacancies faster. When I got there, I was with a Sgt. that I had known all my life. We lived a block apart. They were kind enough to leave some rock and roll time for us after the initial taking of 881 North. I guess that Mr. Charles was a little pissed about the whole thing.
Been through Dai Do a few times but never battled there. You mentioned the Laotian border. We never knew at that time and at our level that we crossed the darn border.

 

[zyx123]

I didn't think that they'd ever open up Khe Sahn for visits. I didn't get to the hills until 1968 and believe that you're correct about 2/3 getting 881N after Tet. I was still at P.I. when Tet started. Boot camp was cut from 16 weeks to 8 weeks to fill the vacancies faster. When I got there, I was with a Sgt. that I had known all my life. We lived a block apart. They were kind enough to leave some rock and roll time for us after the initial taking of 881 North. I guess that Mr. Charles was a little pissed about the whole thing.
Been through Dai Do a few times but never battled there. You mentioned the Laotian border. We never knew at that time and at our level that we crossed the darn border.

You can get into Khe Sanh these days, at least you could in 1998. I was with Bruce Meyer, who was CO of 26th Marines at the end of Tet '68. He could hardly recognize the place. It's a coffee plantation now. You can make out the airstrip, still find the location for Charlie Med, and stuff like that. Lang Vei is just west of Khe Sanh and just past that is the Lao border. You may have been too far down the food chain to know when you were in and out of Laos, but you would know if for sure because Co Roc was just the other side of the border and that's where all the NVA 122's were.

On the original post, I never had the aversion to ham and muthers that you had. My nemesis was tuna. Gawd I hated C-rat tuna. My platoon sergeant was pretty good about demanding that we always open the case of C-rats from the bottom, so we never knew what we were drawing until we owned it. With tuna all you could hope for was that there were some peaches in there for trading material. I eventually figured out that C-rats is the reason God invented Tabasco sauce.

Semper Fidelis.

 

[M60]

You can get into Khe Sanh these days, at least you could in 1998. I was with Bruce Meyer, who was CO of 26th Marines at the end of Tet '68. He could hardly recognize the place. It's a coffee plantation now. You can make out the airstrip, still find the location for Charlie Med, and stuff like that. Lang Vei is just west of Khe Sanh and just past that is the Lao border. You may have been too far down the food chain to know when you were in and out of Laos, but you would know if for sure because Co Roc was just the other side of the border and that's where all the NVA 122's were.

On the original post, I never had the aversion to ham and muthers that you had. My nemesis was tuna. Gawd I hated C-rat tuna. My platoon sergeant was pretty good about demanding that we always open the case of C-rats from the bottom, so we never knew what we were drawing until we owned it. With tuna all you could hope for was that there were some peaches in there for trading material. I eventually figured out that C-rats is the reason God invented Tabasco sauce.

Semper Fidelis.

Tuna! Hard to believe but I didn't know there was C rat tuna. I never saw tuna in a case of C rats. That must have been awful in the middle of the hot season at 100 plus degrees and 90+% humidity. Not to mention the smell. Guess that was reminiscent of Tijuana. LOL. My Seiko watch is called a tuna can. Probably came from a box of C rats. As I recall, everything else came in C rats too.

 

[fivepak]

I came in near the end of the c-rat era. There were no cigarettes in them when I came in. I thought c-rats sucked and MRE's were an improvement. MRE over the years have become better and better. Most come with little bottles of hot sauce. I guess the Army was sick of having all the bottles of hot sauce stolen from the mess hall. The newer MREs have a lot of goodies now like peanut M&Ms, Jalapeño cheese, Combos. Thought, they removed all the dehydrated stuff I liked, such as the potato, beef, and pork patties.

 

[45collector]

I'm never really in this sub-forum because I never served in any branch, but I saw the thread title and I always get a kick out of what guys have to say about c-rats and MRE's and the likes.

Anyhow, just want to thank you all who served.