Appreciation thread for toilet paper.

[pinboy3niner]

34. I'm rusty but I'm sure that can be answered with a simple net search

Before MREs came along we had LRRP rations introduced in Vietnam. These were dehydrated meals designed for use by Long Range Reconnaissance teams, but we also got them in the Infantry units--but very rarely.

LRRP rats had things like chicken stew, and spaghetti, and the taste was a huge improvement over C-rats. PLUS they were much lighter to carry in your ruck than a 5-day supply of canned food. The tradeoff was that you had to add water. And even carrying four canteens per man, we often ran out. And there were times and places where sending out a water detail would have been suicidal.

I don't know how long the LRRP rations were around, but they never replaced C-rats as the Army's basic field rations.

Beer in the barracks was part of the Modern Volunteer Army Program that tried to improve living conditions for post-draft troops, but I don't think the beer aspect lasted long. I was involved with it only very briefly as the OIC of the program for the Sixth Army area, and I think I learned more about it from my brother who was living it as it was implemented when he returned from Vietnam. He said the beer was popular at first, but that wore off very quickly.