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: 9 Aug 1944 Port Chicago Mutiny: Following the 17 July explosion, hundreds of African-American stevedores refuse to return to work, citing unsafe conditions; 250 arrested, 50 brought to trial.  More ↓
9 Aug 1945 Soviet army launches a classic double envelopment of Japanese-occupied Manchuria.
9 Aug 1945 Second atomic bomb dropped, on Nagasaki, Japan.
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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.