Canadian troops in Afghanistan on hard rations for 3 days to beat expiry date
By STEPHEN THORNE
KABUL (CP) - Troops stationed at the main Canadian army camp in Afghanistan went on hard rations for three days Thursday, with the emphasis on "hard."
Soldiers from Canada, the United States and several other countries staying at Camp Julien were treated to grilled steak and oven-roasted potatoes Wednesday night: the last fresh food they'll see for more than 72 hours. Camp kitchens were closed for cleaning and boxes of the Individual Meal Packages, or IMPs, whose expiry date is fast-approaching, were stacked alongside portable kitchens where chefs did little more than throw them in boiling water and serve them up.
The troops will consume about 19,000 of the three-year-old rations over the three days, ensuring that the $160,000 Canadian taxpayers spent on them doesn't go to waste.
"We had to use them before it was too late," said Maj. Luc Gaudet, the contingent spokesman. "Otherwise, we would have had to throw them out."
The Canadian rations include breakfasts of sausages, hash browns and grey scrambled eggs, and dinners of sweet-and-sour pork, creamed tortellini, beef stroganoff and B.C. salmon. They are widely considered the best in NATO.
The foil pouches come in brown paper bags along with a long-handled plastic spoon, garnishes, juice powder and desserts.
"I'll take 'em to the MREs any day," said one American soldier, who is part of an international contingent training Afghan national army troops out of Julien, named for a Korean War hero.
MREs - Meals Ready to Eat - are the U.S. version of hard rations, which are somewhat less tasty than the Canadian ones, though each of the American packs come with a small bottle of Tabasco sauce.
The pre-cooked meals need only be warmed. In the field, soldiers are issued chemical bags into which they insert the food packets and add just a few drops of water. The water boils instantly, heating the food within minutes.
The Clayoquot Sound salmon and the cabbage rolls with beef, rice and tomato sauce are favourites, said Chef Geof Wall of Qualicum Beach, B.C.
"We've actually had come people come back for seconds," he said.
Each high-energy meal, made by Ontario-based Freddychef, costs taxpayers $8.76. Vegetarian meals are $10.
The troops, who are used to a variety of foods in the camp kitchens, from prime rib and roast pork to meat pie and Atlantic cod, will have no access to their usual salad and bread bars.
Eating areas are open but the only thing soldiers can get in the kitchens is coffee. The camp variety store, or Canex, remains open from 8 a.m. till 10 p.m. daily.
Late into the evening on Thursday, the aroma of microwave popcorn wafted from the Canex.
A crowd formed around the microwave oven and the clerk said there had been a run on popcorn and potato chips all evening.
The snack foods were popular since the kitchen's closure prevented the usual midnight visits for toast and bagels with jam or cheese spread. There would be none of the usual company barbecues, either.
Nor will there be any of the white-tablecloth dinners with real cutlery and porcelain dinnerware that have become the usual treatment afforded visiting generals and other dignitaries.
For some soldiers, the bland-tasting, heavily preserved rations are a rude awakening. For others, they're an integral part of soldiering overseas.
For now, they can choose their favourites, but as supplies dwindle, choice will go out the window.
"I'm pretty partial to the ham," said Cpl. Bill Danielson of Victoria, who was having the stroganoff on Thursday evening. "I never get tired of it."
"How can you have anything bad to say about a pig? It's just good."
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