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Jim and Mike,

Are you sure you don't mean "C-rations" ?

There was the usual pack of 3 cigarettes in here somewhere - the large can main meal, medium can of fruit, medium can of round saltines, and the tiny can of either peanut butter, or cheese spread. There was also a tiny flat roll of toilet paper, a wrapper of plastick utensils, and the pack of 3 cigarettes

The main meals - Chicken and noodles, Beef and portatoes, Turkey, pork and ??? The only ones I could stand were spaghetti and meatballs, or the beans and weanies.

We each grabbed a box from the large stack in the Mess Hall as we went in to breakfast. The later you went to breakfast, the smaller the remining selection. I often slept late and often got something I did not like very well.

08/25/25 02:09 PM

#16073

Dave,

Mea culpa,! I did mean C-Rations.

Now better and called MRE's (Meal Ready to Eat) and are tobacco free!

Jim

08/25/25 03:43 PM

#16074

We were able to "enjoy the delights" of C-rations on every day that we were flying our search missions. This was necessitated because our missions normally took us away for our home base in Vinh Long, and we had no access to a Mess hall arrangment. There may have been one or two exceptions but rarely.

So we stopped for lunch (if we were not otherwise occupied "in live contact").

Since the Vietnamese widely spoke French, I have nicknamed this dining scene as

"Chez - by the side of the runway". There are two guys I don't recognize at all, and three good friends.

Note: the guy on the left was the co-pilot of the Huey that picked me up when I got knocked down, and the guy on the far right was shot down 5 times. I picked him up once when he was shot down. He lived near me in Charleston for years after I moved down here. I spoke at his funeral a few years ago.

You see how we improvised the shape and use of the various cans of the meal. The middle can was emptied of it's saltines, then punctured around the entire top edge for ai (see seccond photo) , then fillled with dirt, then a shot of JP-4 engine fuel from the aircraft drainage valve under one of the ships, then sqeezed slightly oval shaped to support the food can on top of it. Then the lid of the large can became the handle. Pure genius!

The legendary P-38. A device that opens cans, and other tasks. The tiny round hole is where you slip it on your dog tag chain. Certainly one of the major technological breakthroughs of all time!

08/25/25 04:49 PM

#16075

Flexibility

No rear view cameras or mirrors necessary! 😄

Lots of fawn action today in the neighborhood!

A cellphone shot from our "Wildlife Observation Window" captured this little fawn who just arose from a rest in an open area of our backyard and then started the usual preening ritual before wandering off to a new location to await mom's returning from her daily foraging activities.

The clouds were beginning to form for the afternoon thunder storms that are common on these late summer days. These youngsters appear to be keenly aware of impending weather changes and will try to find safer areas to "nest" until their mothers come back to collect them.

Instinct is amazing!

Jim

08/25/25 07:53 PM

#16076

lol. DAVE, JIM:

from encyclopedia.

"K-rations were a type of pre-packaged, individual combat ration issued to U.S. soldiers during World War II. "

I remember my dad referring to them thusly - he was a supply officer in the reserves after ww2 and he would occasionally bring home excess food in olive drab cans -- i remember my fave being fruit cocktail.

by the time i was in the army myself maybe they did call them c rations. c for combat i assume.

but hey just call me sentimental -- they were k rations to me because my dad referred to them as such.

By the way I'm not sure I've ever talked about lucking out when I was drafted and got a cool duty station carrying documents around and working in a mailroom with canadians and germans and french enlisted dudes at a nato base near heidelberg germany

came home, got a masters degree in journalism from osu on the gi bill and wound up with a great careeer.

much as I whined about being drafted it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. Learned to speak a little german in the bargain, hanging out with german soldiers who were nato co-workers. French and Canadian and I think even Italian soldiers there, too.

And here's more on the c-ration k-ration front:

Besides C-Rations, K-Rations were also issued during World War II, but in a more limited number. These were distributed for missions of short duration, such as paratroopers participating in airborne operations.

K-Rations were lighter than C-Rations, and three meals a day netted only 2,830 calories. Soldiers complained about the taste and lack of calories, and so entrepreneurial leaders often found supplements such as rice, bread and C-Rations.

K-Rations were discontinued at the end of World War II.

Today, MREs are issued to troops. The early versions were disliked by many, so the Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center in Massachusetts, which does food research for the Defense Department, improved the taste of MREs over time.

However, many veterans who've eaten both C-Rats and MREs, still have nostalgia for C-Rats and prefer them over MREs.

08/25/25 08:40 PM

#16077

John Jackson

We libtards haven’t changed all that much but my, how the Republican Party (formerly the party of states’ rights, free markets/free trade, and minimal governmental involvement in business) has changed. From The Atlantic Daily:

“The era of big government is over,” Bill Clinton declared 29 years ago. Donald Trump never got the memo.

In his second term, the president is embracing perhaps the most sweeping expansion of federal power since that of Franklin D. Roosevelt: bullying state governments, using military force if necessary; telling private institutions, including media corporations and universities, how to operate; extorting law firms into doing free work for the government; and, in the latest escalation, taking a stake in the tech firm Intel.

For decades, the American right and the Republican Party held themselves up as the defenders of individual citizens, corporations, and state and local governments against intrusive control from Washington. But where Ronald Reagan joked that the nine most terrifying words in the English language were "I’m from the government, and I’m here to help", Trump’s credo is “I’m from the government, and I’m here to take over.”

08/26/25 11:07 AM

#16078

I did notice, dave, that you're not as cool now as you were when you smoked.

08/26/25 01:40 PM

#16079

Mike McL.,

You mentioned in Post #16070 how much your being off smoking contributed to enjoyment of some of the basic things in life we take for granted - such as breathing.

My mother was a smoker who had bad emphysema from years of cigarette use. In her later years she was tethered to oxygen and eventually died from that disease. Fortunately - but perhaps sadly - I was at her bedside when she took her last breath.

I have cared for many patients who suffered and died from this same fate. In addition to lung cancer, emphysema and chronic bronchitis, it is well known that smoking can damage the heart, blood vessels and other bodily systems and organs.

We all grew up in the final era when smoking was glorified and accepted as normal behavior. Think of all those movies, TV shows, commercials and catchy jingles that planted the seeds of the glory of cigarettes into our minds and lives. How many times did we watch a show where a dying hero was offered a last puff on a cigarette before the end came?

The current generations are confronted with similar drug (yes, nicotine is a drug) related challenges that have a more immediate fatality effect. Although it was a war protest song, the line from a Peter, Paul and Mary song could be applicable here:

"When will they ever learn, ...... .. .. . when will they ever learn?"

Jim

08/26/25 02:18 PM

#16080

yup. speaking with the fervor of a reformed addict i say unto you it was one of the hardest things i ever did, but in its own way a blessing because now and for the rest of my life i will savor all the tastes and scents the cig smoke in me blotted out when i was addicted.

amen!

it was like i was living in black and white one day and back to living color once i quit.

halleluja! say it with me!

the longing for nicotine abided fairly rapidly and now the sight and smell of it grosses me out.

I know I sound like a reformed addict -- which is, in fact, the case.

corny as it may sound i like myself more.quitting gave my self esteem and confidence a bump, to boot.

plus the people around me have appreciated the absence of smoke and stank, of that i'm certain..

I can only imagine what it feels like as a healer, Jim, to have patients suffering from something you can feel powerless against if they choose to ignore the advice you surely give them.

08/26/25 03:45 PM

#16081

Joseph Gentilini

I have been reading these postings for a bit without any posting from me - but i do read them all - really like David M's Vietnam stories! Since the topic now is on smoking, I'll throw my 2-cents in. When I was younger I tried smoking cigarettes but couldn't stand the coughing, etc. - never got the hang of them. Then I went to smoking a pipe which was easier and I enjoyed it more. However, my tongue would get painful and so I stopped. Much later I smoked pot but ended up with asthma attacks and so had to stop that also. - haven't smoked it in 20 years. Not worth it. I saw my brother quit smoking 40 years ago and he still got lung difficult later in life - the damage was done. Joe

08/27/25 09:21 AM

#16082

evolution is a wonderful thing.

poking around idly this morning and found this.

everybody knows this in general of course but this is the first time I can remember grasping the immense time frame involved in evolution. maybe we learned this in school and I just forgot, cave man thug that I am.

Humans have walked upright for at least the past 7 million years, with evidence from the early hominin Sahelanthropus tchadensis suggesting bipedalism, or upright walking, began that early or even sooner. The ability to walk on two feet was one of the first evolutionary traits to develop, and it was a gradual process from our apelike ancestors who combined tree-climbing with walking upright on the ground.

Early Evidence

7 million years ago:
.
Fossils of Sahelanthropus tchadensis, one of the earliest known human ancestors, suggest that it walked upright for much of the time.
6 to 3 million years ago:
.
Early human ancestors, such as Australopithecus afarensis and Orrorin tugenensis, combined apelike and humanlike ways of moving, with traits indicating they were bipedal and spent time in trees.

Gradual Transition

The transition to regular upright walking was a gradual one, with early hominins developing traits like long thighs and strong knees to support their weight.
It wasn't until the emergence of Homo erectus about 1.89 million years ago that hominins grew tall with long legs and became fully terrestrial, spending most of their time on the ground.

Why We Walk Upright

Environmental Changes: One theory suggests that walking upright was an adaptation to a changing climate, where forests gave way to grasslands, requiring more efficient movement across open areas.
Energetic Efficiency: Bipedal walking is an energetically efficient way to travel on the ground.
Seeing Danger: Standing upright allowed ancestors to see danger sooner in the changing grasslands.

08/27/25 10:29 AM

#16083

Joseph D. McCarthy

Mike, I'm really amazed and astonished that you missed the most significant and main reason we started walking upright.

The spouse wanted to go dancing.

08/27/25 10:57 AM

#16084

JOE!!!!!!

(smacks the side of his head)

So THAT'S why they keep leaving me!

But can you tell me this:

How did a dude named Sahelanthropus tchadensis ever get a date in the first place?

And Jim: I'm struck by the tragic element inherent in the story that I just now re-read of you, as a healer, watching your mother die because of her smoking addiction.

My mother smoked but quit and was with us much longer, I'm sure, as a result.

Quitting myself was hard as hell and man am I grateful for every damn breath I take, as we all should be.

08/27/25 11:58 AM

#16085

Mike McL., Joe McC, et al,

In a prior post I mentioned the theory that "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny", which looks at the development of a fetus as going through the human evolutionary process.

The evolution of humanoids is certainly a process that occurred (or is it still occurring?) that brought us to an upright walking position. Human babies crawl before they walk yet those deer in my yard are up and running within minutes of birth!

Unfortunately, along with that benefit comes many problems, some of which I, and many others, are currently experiencing. Fortunately, the evolution of medical advances, although laging behind, has produced spinal-/neuro-surgeons to deal with the problems that upright posturing has created.

Perhaps dancing - especially the "Twist" - was not the best thing that was ever invented! 🤔

Jim

08/27/25 01:34 PM

#16086

Getting close to Thanksgiving

Went out to get the mail today but was interrupted by a flock of wild turkeys crossing our driveway.

By the way, they were all walking upright 😯

(Score another one for Cell Phone cameras!)

Jim

08/27/25 04:12 PM

#16087

Sick with sadness today!

I wonder what nausiating excuse Congress will come up with to avoid any action after this shooting.

08/27/25 04:48 PM

#16088

Joseph Gentilini

Jim H - thank you for posting your being at your mom's bedside as she passed. It was a grace that you were there. I missed my Mom's passing by 15 minutes. I am sorry for your loss. Joe

08/28/25 10:22 AM

#16089

Just watched part of a preview of a Bruce Springsteen biopic documentary, 'Deliver Me From Nowhere,' that will be released next month.

An actor by the name of Jeremy Allen White will play Springsteen, who's right up there with Ernest Hemingway and William Shakespeare in my list of personal hero-worship icons.

Never met Bruce but did meet a member of his band briefly and managed to have a brief conversation with him without making a screaming-teenaged-girl- with- a -ponytail-circa 1955 out of myself.

Saw Bruce and the e-street band in concert at least a dozen times back in the day.

He influenced me as a writer as much as any class or textbook or high-ranking editor or teacher or novelist or bigshot journalist I studied under at any of the four newspapers and two magazines I wrote for.

It may sound weird that rock and roll inspired me as a writer but it did. Performers know how to grab an audience. And rockers grab them in a certain riveting, excitable, down and dirty, no b.s. way. That's what I alway wanted to do in a much humbler way by researching like crazy and refining my prose and getting over my shyness and rewriting endlessly. I'm proud of what I was able to do but I'm more humble than proud if that makes any sense. Because I never did anything well as a writer without working like a dog and cussing myself out for not being smarter all along the way.

Anyway Bruce is back on tour and if he gets anywhere near me I'll be there, feeling young again. And grateful.

I'd be interested if anybody else out there had a personal icon, celebrity or otherwise, for inspiration.

Mine is set in stone. Bruce Springsteen's rough and tumble yet burnished, yearning, rhapsodic and earthy rock opera is what my spirit is drawn to, From way back then to now,

08/28/25 03:04 PM

#16090

I have loved saying "ontogeny recapitulates philology" without knowing whatever the hell it meant since I was a kid. I think I heard it from my mom, whose father was an old school g p with an examining room just off the parlor of his two story brick home on east main street. She never told us what ithe phrase meant and we never asked; it was just a funny, meaningless phrase that we bandied about. You'd think as a wordsmith I would have looked it up but I never did. So thanks for the explanation. I am kind of embarrassed that I just took it in as jokey mumbo jumbo for decades.

Sure is a mouthful.

But as you have explained, it's a spectacular strategy plied by mother nature on our behalf, a blueprint courtesy of eons of biological evolution and inventiveness.

just jaw dropping to think of. and be grateful for.

08/29/25 04:31 PM

#16091

Bored - living alone - watching TV in the middle of the day - still battling sleep apnea and the effects of my crash - and just had all my upper teeth removed. So writing is just what I can do to pass the time.

Speaking of food in Viet Nam, we had a unique experiennce with one type of food and one unique source.

Although our daily mission locations normaly varied by the day or sometimes by the week, we got into an assignment with one group and location that lasted a little over two weeks. Recall that we flew back and forth out of our home base each day.

We were assigned to a group of Green Berets at a remote location about 40 minutes flight to our west, right on the Gulf of Thailand. It was the tiny village of Ha Tien (which appears now to have become a large port city).

After a few days of repitition to the site, the Green Berets asked us if we could bring them their mail - it would bypass a slower step in the chain of deleivery for thier location. In return, they would give us a part of their daily catch of what were called Australian Crayfish - a smaller version of Lobster with a slight pinkiish - orangeish color to their meat. And they were simply delicious!

We carried these fish in large insulated containers (about 10 gallon) back to our base in Vinh Long and deliverd them to our own Mess hall. We did not consume them while at Ha Tien, but were able to have them cooked for those of us who were on a "down day" (not flying) and therefore at home in our own Mess hall. And did I say delicious? Yes, I believe I said DELICIOUS!

So this exchange went on for a little over two weeks until something dramatic interrupted the process.

A full bird Colonel, from Saigon - who was in charge of all food supplies in the Delta region - stopped in to Vinh Long to inspect the Mess halls and kitchens on our airfield. He apparently was able to have two of our three Troop Comanders (Majors) - join him for lunch in our Squadron Mess hall. One was flying that day and was off base, unable to join them. When they entered the Mess hall and were going thrrough the Chow line, The Colonel saw servings of the Crayfish going out on trays. This was not obtained through our authorized supply chain - STRICTLY forbidden!

He immedaitely charged back into the kitchen, and gave a strong reptimand the the Mess Sergeant. A few guys said he really ripped the staff up one side and down the other, and ordered them never to do this again. Then he actually made them throw the entire remaining supply (probably several dozen at least) out in the dirt behind the Mess hall.

A couple of our guys were in the Mess hall at the time and said that the look on the faces of the two Majors was so angry - they thought if looks could kill, they would have murdered that Colonel on the spot.

Ironically our assignement with those Green Berrets at Ha Tien ended shortly thereafter. And we went back to the usual variety of two or theree days at a time with our other ten or twelve normal bases all over the Delta region.

Some of our "Slicks" dropping supplies at Ha Tien. Those are ARVN troops on the ground.

08/29/25 06:04 PM

#16092

yikes, dave. sorry about your teeth.

still simmering down here in fla but hoping the heat starts to let up.

got a swimming pool out back and grateful for it believe me!

08/29/25 08:29 PM

#16093

Dave M.,

Sorry about your dental problems requiring a full upper extraction. Are they, and you, planning removable dentures or permanent implants? I know next to nothing about dentistry.

Will you still be able to eat your favorite C-rations 😁?

Seriously, hope all goes well with the healing process.

Jim

08/29/25 08:51 PM

#16094

Thanks guys,

They are removable dentures.

A life of poor dental care on my part to begin with, plus I broke 5 and chipped 2 others in a car wreck over a year ago. And one remaining still needed a root canal, plus a few others were already gone.

These are dental college students (MUSC - Medical University of South Carolina) who do a great job at a fraction of the cost.

It helps reset my priorities. So glad I like soup, scrabled eggs, yogurt, ripe avocados and bananas so much.

The only thing worse than the discomfort is the boredom. Time to get back to my writing. Hope we still have a few other readers.

08/30/25 06:34 AM

#16095

Michael Boulware

I realize smoking is a threat to our health, causes cancer and emphysema, and makes you and your surroundings stink; but I always loved to smoke. Al Morse and I would spend hours together talking and smoking; blowing smoke rings around door knobs, and laughing together. I sure miss that. I go months without smoking, but still smoke a cigar on the golf course. Smoking is taboo in almost all places now and I know that is a good thing. I can't imagine smoking around my wife, children or grandchildren.

08/30/25 07:46 AM

#16096