WITH THE ARMY V CORPS

One day's respite from mealtime monotony

By David Kamerman, Globe Staff, 4/7/2003

fter 16 days of two US military MREs (Meal Ready to Eat) a day, I was at the end of my rope, as were many of the soldiers I was with. I had a cheese tortellini meal last night and felt my stomach churning.

You have to understand that MREs are not terrible, but they all kind of taste the same. Be it chicken, beef, pork, or vegetarian, each MRE seems to have the same base flavor. And if you look through a nearly empty box of MREs, you will be stuck with the same ones over and over.

But this morning the soldiers told me that "T-rats" were to be our breakfast. "T-rats" is the military abbreviation for "T Ration" or Tray Ration. T-Rats are sort of warmed by the two soldiers who double as cooks for our battery. Today we ate what is called a western omelet, a sort of tan-gray egg-and-sausage dish with the consistency of a quiche. By the time I walked back to my Humvee, the meal was almost cold. But with anything other than an MRE in our stomachs, the soldiers and I are grateful for the reprieve.

This story ran on page A27 of the Boston Globe on 4/7/2003.
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