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April 3, 2020 Grunt.com Admin

“C” Rats, good enough for Chesty, good enough for me – 1977

By: Kelly R Daniels

Started Bootcamp 31Jan1977, 3rd Bn. Platoon 3037, Recruit Depot Paris Island, SC.
We had C-Rats in the field that were canned in 1943 and 1944. 33 & 34 year old chew, We Loved It, heated em’ up with heat tabs and enjoyed. 3 years and all the C-Rats you can eat at the 2nd Bn. 7th Marine Ret., and a John Wayne, Heat tabs, and a little hot sauce from the PX, Made the field not so bad. The hills of Camp Pendleton was a vacation compared to jungles of Vietnam that all my Drill Instructors and Platoon Sergeants saw. God Bless Senior Drill Instructor SSgt. Moch, and God Bless the Marine Corps,,,,,
Semper Fi,,,

Filed in: Marine Corps Stories
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Comments

George P Wilcha - October 6, 2022

Had a DI at PI in 1976 by the name of SGT Moch. Same DI perhaps? One of the greatest and funniest Marines I’ve ever known.

JAMES RUSH - April 20, 2020

was at LZ Loon June 68,we had c rats dated 1944!!!!

Thomas S Miller - April 20, 2020

So true, they were good, I was active duty 74-78 and reserve till 83. The first gen of MREs were horrible. I now work at the Natick Solider Systems Center where the food is made the new MREs are almost as good as the C rats.

Kapena - April 20, 2020

Nice to see posts from so many Vietnam vets. Love your stories. My dad rest his soul never talked about his time in Vietnam. He would probably have a few stories about c-rats too. Love you guys! Semper FI.

Monty Crain - April 20, 2020

1972-1976 I never saw a date later than 1945 on anything we ate. I couldn’t believe some leathernecks would trade good C-rats for some of the stuff in the boxes. I still have a can of “pound cake” and some kind of swirl thing that has to be soaked in scotch to be eaten. I spent weeks at a time calibrating tubes from Army and Marine artillery from 105 to 8” and 175mm. We always took about 10 bottles of hot sauce each but still only needed a feather duster for a$$ wipe. Thanks to my DI’s SSGT Blankenship Sgt Davis and Sgt McPheters for all they did for us.

Harry 1371 - April 20, 2020

Murray, after 10 months in country and, I know this will sound racist , but any “round eye girl” would probably looked good. Harry 1371

Murray M. Hermanson - April 20, 2020

Harry, They called them Duty-Cuties in Hospital in Japan, they didn’t like it. But they were good lookin’. Murray1371

Bob 1381 - April 20, 2020

mmmmm…..Pound Cake soaked soaked with Fruit Juice tastes sooooo good at 0200.
STAY IN, STAY WELL AND WE’LL BEAT TODAY’S ENEMY – COVID-19…..Bob…..1381 Vietnam 66/67

Bill 0331 - April 20, 2020

I can remember our platoon sgt always had us open the C rat case from the opposite side so we could not see the label on the boxes. It was always a surprise. Of course there was alot of trading going on . Also sent to hospital at China Beach for centipede sting ,Nasty, Met real cute Delta-Delta while there Bill 0331 2/1

Harry 1371 - April 20, 2020

While at “Liberty Bridge” 68-69 every few weeks we would get a supply of what we called “B” rats which included canned ground meat. We would also get some veggies like onions etc.. a few loaves of bread ( dead flies were optional in the bread) . We made a concoction similar to “Sloppy Joe”. Also would get canned corn,chilli without beans, and a various juices. We would share with anyone who happened to be around at the time. Would not last to long. Harry 1371

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