I'm working on the stowage bin of my 3rd Cav M60A1 from 1982 and need to know what rations were used then. Were the MREs out then? What year did MREs come out? If MREs weren't used then, what would the reation boxes look like?

Thanks as always!

Landshark2,
I was stationed at the Naval Magazine, Bataan, Republic of the Philippines from 1983 through 1984. During that time, I used to trade the Marines for C-rations. They came in cardboard boxes (can't remember the markings), and everything came in olive drab-colored cans or packets. I remember the cans being stenciled in white with the contents and a shelf life (that had been extended twice by the Army meat inspectors (the Navy uses the army, since we didn't have meat inspectors.) Contrary to everyone else, I loved them. That's why I traded the Marines for them. Anyways the cans came in all sizes, but the boxes were about the size of a case of cigarettes with smaller (shoebox sized boxes) within. Heck, I'm getting hungry just thinking about the turkey and stuffing.
Hope it helped
Ciao for now
Rob

You will find that Verlinden and several other companies offer cardboard kits of time-appropriate ration cartons and cases. These are made in 1:35 scale, using a nice quality card stock. Easy to assemble and fold... and look quite nice!

you can check some reference material Ronny(Roadkill) added to Armoarama Gallery link
best regards

I remember testing them back in 1983 when U was assigned to the 7 Infantry Division, US (light). I would say it wa around 1984 - 1985 before it was became standard issue in the field.

I've uploaded a scanned image of the MRE and placed it in my gallery here, in the Misc folder. The url should be https://armorama.kitmaker.net/photos/showphoto.php?photo=11132&password=&sort=8&cat=12250&page=1 (:-)