(Washington) The standard fare of the US Soldier out in the field is the Meal, Ready-to-Eat – commonly known as the MRE –which is a self-contained, individual field ration in lightweight packaging as illuminated below:
About ten years ago, the Defence Department's Combat Feeding Directorate began fielding the First Strike Ration, which was designed to give combat troops the equivalent of three Meals, Ready to Eat a day in a compact, lightweight package. At about two pounds, the FSR is about half the weight and size of three MREs.
However U.S. military nutrition experts hope to start testing a new assault ration, known as the Close Combat Assault Ration. That is a lot lighter than existing field rations by 2020.
Prototypes of the Close Combat Assault Ration weigh about as much as one MRE and take up about 75 percent less room as an equivalent number of individual meals inside a pack, according to Jeremy Whitsitt, deputy director of the CFD.
"It's designed for those guys like Army Rangers, special ops guys, light infantry -- guys that would potentially be in a mission scenario that would require them to carry multiple days of food, ammunition, water, other supplies, without the potential of being resupplied,"
As somebody who has spent a lot of time on ration packs and who really can't stand them anymore, I hope that the people behind this get it right.
