Heating Field Rations

Field kitchens or other group feeding solutions are preferred if available, but often the individual soldier has to prepare his own meal. The use of Meal, Ready to Eat (MRE) rations has improved the meal quality and simplified preparation, but there is still a basic need to heat the food when possible. Heating not only helps control disease, but also makes the meal more paletable.

PFC Daniel Swain, a medic with the 9th Infantry Scout Company, heats a Canteen Cup of water over a Canteen Cup Stove to prepare a hot meal of field rations, Ft. Lewis, WA, 22 Mar 1982
PFC Daniel Swain, a medic with the 9th Infantry Scout Company, heats a Canteen Cup of water over a Canteen Cup Stove to prepare a hot meal of field rations, Ft. Lewis, WA, 22 Mar 1982.

Today in WW II: 15 Jun 1940 Soviet Red Army occupies Baltic countries: Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia [June 15-16].  More ↓
15 Jun 1940 Verdun falls to German advamce.
15 Jun 1941 British launch Battleaxe counteroffensive against Rommel in North Africa [15-17 June] but fail to overcome the Afrika Korps.
15 Jun 1944 US invades Saipan, in the Marianas, first island close enough to support bombing of Japan.
15 Jun 1944 First raid on Japan by B-29 Superfortress bombers based in China.
Visit the Olive-Drab.com World War II Timeline for day-by-day events 1939-1945! See also WW2 Books.

Heating Individual Field Rations

Since World War II, methods used for heating individual field rations include:

Several fuels have been provided since World War II to give soldiers in the field a reliable way to generate heat, even under very poor conditions. These fuels are described on this page about Canteen Cup Stove Fuels.