MREs not providing adequate nutrition

Paddlefoot

flying under the radar
Verified Military
Joined
Sep 29, 2006
Messages
754
Location
Between Paradise and Perdition
http://www.fcw.com/article97397-01-18-07-Web

BY Bob Brewin
Published on Jan. 18, 2007


Marines deployed in Afghanistan are not getting adequate nutrition from the Defense Department’s standard combat ration, Meals Ready to Eat, the Marine Corps Center for Lessons Learned (MCLL) said in its January newsletter.

Marine and Army troops deployed to Afghanistan conduct dismounted operations – meaning they walk instead of ride – in mountainous terrain and MREs do not provide enough nutrition for their mission, the MCCLL newsletter states.

As a result, “many Marines and soldiers lost 20 to 40 pounds of bodyweight during their deployment,” the newsletter states. It adds that at least one solider was evacuated because of malnutrition and a 60-pound weight loss.

But medical evacuations from Afghanistan take far longer than those from Iraq, the newsletter states. Medevacs from the field to the next level of care in Afghanistan take 72 hours, while medevac operations in Iraq take 24 hours.

The Army Soldier Systems Center, which is responsible for development of combat rations, did not return calls from Federal Computer Week about the lack of nutrition in MREs by deadline.

I can't believe this is still a problem 15 years after I left the service. MREs are perhaps the most unbalanced food items I've ever ingested. I'm not surprised that these guys are losing anywhere from 20-40 lbs out there. I probably lost somewhere between 40-50 during my deployment.

There has got to be a better way to ensure adequate nutrition in the field. Maybe they can set aside the funds for one F-22 to get a handle on this problem.
 
http://www.fcw.com/article97397-01-18-07-Web



I can't believe this is still a problem 15 years after I left the service. MREs are perhaps the most unbalanced food items I've ever ingested. I'm not surprised that these guys are losing anywhere from 20-40 lbs out there. I probably lost somewhere between 40-50 during my deployment.

There has got to be a better way to ensure adequate nutrition in the field. Maybe they can set aside the funds for one F-22 to get a handle on this problem.

Are you nuts,if you ate 3 Mre's a day you are more than good to go.These are not the Mre's of the 80's or the 90's,I think to carry all of them is Fucked,Thats why we always striped our Meals.I think the Prob was lack of MRE'S.Just my:2c:
 
Ive yet to see field rations better than the ones I had back in NZ, plenty of food, tasty and nutritious.

I did an exercise with the Aussies once, our first meal post ex, they let us in and we noticed very quickly the cooks were telling people off for taking more than we were allowed back home, so the boys piled the food on.
We completely emptied the kitchen before the SNCOs and Os even had a look in :D

Apparently we ate more than the standard aussie soldiers...
 
The only thing that MREs have a lot of it calories! I still stay away from them likethe plague, bleh:bleh:
 
They had to conduct a study to figure this shit out? I could have told them that when I was walking up and down the same damn mountains in 2002 and lost 15 or so lbs. :rolleyes:
 
Are you nuts,if you ate 3 Mre's a day you are more than good to go.These are not the Mre's of the 80's or the 90's,I think to carry all of them is Fucked,Thats why we always striped our Meals.I think the Prob was lack of MRE'S.Just my:2c:

Maybe it is more related to shortages, but I kid you not, I ate those meals constantly, as well as food from the field kitchen for dinner and also ate off the local market.

I lost 20 pounds by December, and after we went to a straight MRE diet in January, I was eating nothing but MREs for the next 10 weeks. For whatever reason, my body was not getting adequate nutrition, whether it was a metabolization issue or something else. I'll admit sometimes I was so busy that I probably skipped a meal or two, but not so many that I would have lost that much weight. Those meals sucked in so many ways.

Then there was the constipation problem, which took on gastronomic proportions toward the end. There simply was not enough fiber and roughage to facillitate a decent bowel movement.

Here's a scary scenario, and one of those situations where, if I had suffered a serious abdominal injury or a penetrating wound into my upper or lower GI tract, would have meant curtains for me. When I finally got to Khobar towers, and had a couple of decent meals with some roughage added in the form of vegetables, I finally took the dump of my life.

I filled, and flushed, the bowl three times before I was through. I hope I never experience a three flush dump ever again.
 
When I finally got to Khobar towers, and had a couple of decent meals with some roughage added in the form of vegetables, I finally took the dump of my life.

I filled, and flushed, the bowl three times before I was through. I hope I never experience a three flush dump ever again.
OMFG..Im really sorry..but this made me laugh so hard..Im just infantile.
 
Maybe it is more related to shortages, but I kid you not, I ate those meals constantly, as well as food from the field kitchen for dinner and also ate off the local market.

I lost 20 pounds by December, and after we went to a straight MRE diet in January, I was eating nothing but MREs for the next 10 weeks. For whatever reason, my body was not getting adequate nutrition, whether it was a metabolization issue or something else. I'll admit sometimes I was so busy that I probably skipped a meal or two, but not so many that I would have lost that much weight. Those meals sucked in so many ways.

Then there was the constipation problem, which took on gastronomic proportions toward the end. There simply was not enough fiber and roughage to facillitate a decent bowel movement.

Here's a scary scenario, and one of those situations where, if I had suffered a serious abdominal injury or a penetrating wound into my upper or lower GI tract, would have meant curtains for me. When I finally got to Khobar towers, and had a couple of decent meals with some roughage added in the form of vegetables, I finally took the dump of my life.

I filled, and flushed, the bowl three times before I was through. I hope I never experience a three flush dump ever again.

Now an't that the SHIT! To funny.See maby its me,When I eat MRE'S I dont shit for 3 or 4 Days then it's oh Mama,Feels like Johny the Wad is in the House.Then the Cycle Repeates itself.
 
Now an't that the SHIT! To funny.See maby its me,When I eat MRE'S I dont shit for 3 or 4 Days then it's oh Mama,Feels like Johny the Wad is in the House.Then the Cycle Repeates itself.

Same here, but for some reason it never cleared out completely. Prior to Khobar, the biggest dump I took was in the fertile crescent, which is now even more fertile...at least in the one square foot area I dug my hole. :D

OMFG..Im really sorry..but this made me laugh so hard..Im just infantile.

Chop, spend enough time in the field and you'll find yourself interested in all kinds of bodily functions you previously took for granted.

In retrospect, it is kind of funny. In a dark humor kind of way.
 
So dose Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers take their diet plan from the Military?

I am surprised that there would be that much weight loss by eating meals that are supposed to sustain our troops. Then again every"body" is different. I would imagine if they were that good at wight loss the Military could start it's own fad diet plan and make a profit center off of eating MRE's and extensive PT'ing. :-x
 
I filled, and flushed, the bowl three times before I was through. I hope I never experience a three flush dump ever again.
Hehehehehehehehehe.... :D I am sorry Paddlefoot, but that is just too damn funny!

My guys lost a tremendous amount of weight in the 'stan. I thought it was due to the physical exertion, heat, dehydration, and loss of appetite rather than bad nutrition...I will have to ask them what the deal was on that one...
 
Yeah, not likely. :rolleyes:

Looking forward to the All Blacks SOP of choking come World Cup time. }:-)

Big talk don't mean shit, action does. ;)

I'm looking forward to the world cup, I haven't seen a game for years now.

As for Feild Rations, our guys used to steal them, take excess home etc... they were so good people wanted them.
 
Hehehehehehehehehe.... :D I am sorry Paddlefoot, but that is just too damn funny!

My guys lost a tremendous amount of weight in the 'stan. I thought it was due to the physical exertion, heat, dehydration, and loss of appetite rather than bad nutrition...I will have to ask them what the deal was on that one...

Typhoon, we travelled over to Saudi by ship and we're accompanied by an SF medic who at that point in his career was a physicians assistant assigned to the hospital at Stewart.

He told us about a deployment he was on once where everybody on the team contracted dysentary and some other maladies. Finally, one of the guys had a solid bowel movement. He said everybody gathered around to pay homage to the turd. I think he was only half joking.

Now that was funny.:D
 
Back
Top