Operation Ration Man

[crazyleggs]

Remember the movie "Super Size Me"?  Where one man ate rotten ronnie's for every meal for thirty days straight and developed a few complications to say the least.

Well, a journalist from Esprit de Corps is doing the same with our IMPs (Individual Meal Packs).  He is writing a daily account on his blog and some of the comments are pretty funny.

http://rationman.blogspot.com/

 

[Black Watch]

Wll, our imp's are packed with calories, that's a fact. But, each ration contains 1000 cal., but the soldier in the field burns 1500cal between each meal.

 

[meni0n]

Is he actualy eating the honey? Because if he is, he won't last long.

 

[rmc_wannabe]

whoa. He's in for a treat. I eat IMP's for a weekend and my intestenal tract gives me a piece of it's mind, this guy plans to go a month? All the best to him though, i hope everything goes alright for him.

 

[Roy Harding]

Put your helmets on.

In '88 I deployed to Bakhtaran, Iran on UNIIMOG.  We lived on hard rats (IMPs were still relatively new then, didn't have the variety we have now) for four months.  Our cooks did a damned fine job of providing salads and stuff like that from local sources, but we ate IMP's morning, noon, and night.  Anybody remember Macaroni and Cheese with Peas - for Breakfast!!!  Or "Lung in a Bag" omelettes?  I was lucky - I really did like the ham omelettes, so I could trade whatever I had for those.  I also remember a period of three or four days when I was pissed off about something, can't remember what, and for some reason I got it in my head that I'd only eat Cherry Cake (which was contained in the IMPs at the time).  Everbody in camp was giving me their cherry cake - to this day the sight of cherry cake (even the REAL stuff in bakeries) makes me turn green.

Fast forward 14 years.  I deployed to Kandahar with 3 PPCLI BG - we ate IMPs and American MRE's.  Granted, there was a kitchen, where we were served very similar stuff (T Rats - same stuff, in bigger "group" packages heated up and served by cooks), and some fresh food was available.  Once again, our cooks did their damndest, and by the end of the tour we had had a few Canadian barbecues and breakfasts.  Well done to Graham Key, Soupy Campbell and crew - even three years later my hat's off to them.

Bottom line - nobody starved to death, nobody sufferred (to my knowledge) any lasting gastro-intestinal problems, we were OK.

Gotta say, though, that the variety and quality of IMPs certainly has improved over the years (remember the glass in the Cheese Whiz??)

 

[PPCLI MCpl]

Bottom line - nobody starved to death, nobody sufferred (to my knowledge) any lasting gastro-intestinal problems, we were OK.

Very true.  And I can't think of a better way to lose 34lbs.  ;D

 

[Roy Harding]

"Very true.  And I can't think of a better way to lose 34lbs." - PPCLI MCpl

Actually, I attribute my weight loss on that tour to the absence of beer.

Once I got home again, and was able to access this delicacy once more, I quickly put it back on! ;D

 

[2 Cdo]

25 lbs but the wife kept me in care packages! ;D

Not to imply that it was the cooks fault but I found that after any of the BBQ's that we had I couldn't get too far from the porta-johns! I think it was just such a shock to my poor stomach to be actually fed real food instead of T-rats and MRE's!

And like PPCLI Mcpl I gained all of it back (and a bit extra) within 2 months!

 

[PPCLI MCpl]

And like PPCLI Mcpl I gained all of it back (and a bit extra) within 2 months!

But we're still pretty damn sexy.  :-*

 

[Black Watch]

yeah, cheese macarony. Best way to light a campfire... I mean, when I joined cadets in '96, IMP's were not as good as they are. I remmbrer when I was stock in the fiekd for 4 days with ham and pinapple... 3 times daily. My favourite is still cherrycake, but smoked salmon kicks ass. Some stuff in early ration packs were beter than the "modern" ones, suhh as toothpaste tube-style peanut butter, jam and honney. Now, they are in cheap envelopes.

 

[Gunner98]

If this is considered journalism, then it must be the editorial staff of E-d-C.   The fact that he actually has time on his hands to eat every last morsel and then more time to write about it, makes his experiment somewhat artificial.   Real journalism would put him in an actual military field setting for one month and see how little time and choice most IMP partakers have.   Add to it that he can fraternize with his lady and perhaps those chocolate bars and cakes are boring to him.

I wish him luck with his free gym membership and can't wait to see how he turns a perhaps often-read daily blog into any worthwhile reading in a future E-d-C mag.   Since we have little idea what his prior diet and fitness level was like, he may become a poster child for new fad diet - Dr. X's IMP weight-loss plan.

 

[Roy Harding]

"yeah, cheese macarony. Best way to light a campfire... I mean, when I joined cadets in '96" - Black Watch

By '96, the Macaroni and Cheese with PEAS was gone - it was one of the early breakfast choices.  Macaroni and Cheese is still around (or was 3 years ago) - as a lunch menu I think.

Gunner 98:  sadly, this is an example of much of what passes for journalism lately - although I'm not sure this guy isn't just doing it as a gag to promote himself and his blog.

 

[Mappy]

this is an example of much of what passes for journalism lately

Same with reality TV......everyone is trying to think of the new 'survivor' yet they keep creating stupid shows that only people who have nothing better to do with their time watch.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Gunner 98:   sadly, this is an example of much of what passes for journalism lately - although I'm not sure this guy isn't just doing it as a gag to promote himself and his blog.

Doesn't he work for.....dare I say it..........Esprit de Co

 

[Roy Harding]

You're right recceguy - I wasn't paying attention.  Following is a direct cut and paste from his blog:

QUOTE

Operation RATION MAN

July 2, 2005: I will begin a 30 day bender eating strictly Canadian military rations. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. I will study the health effects, taste and nutritional value of the food Canadian soldiers are eating out in the field. The article will be written for Esprit de Corps Canadian Military Magazine in September. Please feel free to share any of your own stories with military rations either by posting a comment or sending me an e-mail at espritdecorp@idirect.com.

UNQUOTE

 

[Danjanou]

Forget rationman, we have to get  "Anonymous" his own CBC or CTV comedy show. This guy is tea spewing all over keyboard hilarious.  ;D

I have a funny feeling though it's a regular here.

 

[CH1]

Some body had better send him some of that brown chocolate or a stick of dynamite to loosen him up after.  He could become a toxic waste site after his folly.

Cheers

 

[Island Ryhno]

Nothing gets the internals moving like Chili Con Carne and a Caravan bar. MMM mint chocolate chili tongue. 

 

[crazyleggs]

If this is considered journalism, then it must be the editorial staff of E-d-C.   The fact that he actually has time on his hands to eat every last morsel and then more time to write about it, makes his experiment somewhat artificial.   Real journalism would put him in an actual military field setting for one month and see how little time and choice most IMP partakers have.   Add to it that he can fraternize with his lady and perhaps those chocolate bars and cakes are boring to him.

I totally agree with you Gunner98.  I really appreciated IMPs during Arctic survival (only 1 week but long enough for me)  I didn't care what was in that beautiful sliver pouch, I needed food now!  I almost lit myself on fire trying to get one of those darn stoves to light in -45 C.  What slid out of that pouch was worth it though.

 

[CADPAT SOLDIER]

OMG OMG OMG We've got a "Shout out" from ration man himself


http://rationman.blogspot.com/2005/07/day-11-poster-child-for-new-fad-diet.html