University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, February 27, 1991
Gulf Features
11
Tabasco spices up field meals
The Associated Press
EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Cold cornbeef hash? Three-year-old ham omelet? At least this can be said for the modern version of military C Rations: they taste better than they sound.
"The food not as bad as bad people think," lt St. L. Robert Freeman said after returning from the Persian restaurant where she was serving sauce on everything and its OK."
That is high praise to the folks devoted to whipping up something tasty that will keep for five years, but the people in town can be eaten in a hurry, hot or cold.
"You've got to accept the soldier's right to complain," he said.
"We take our barbs," said Harvey Keene, chief of public affairs for the researchers who develop the much-maligned field rations.
The Army Research, Development and Engineering Center in Natick, Mass., developed Meals, Ready-to-Eat (MREs) in the early 1800s. The Army began reaching the troops in 1883, displacing the old guns Calons Ration.
MREs are based on the principle of canning, or sterilizing, food by heating it in a sealed container. The MRE used for preparing for Napoleon's army in 1795.
What is new about MREs is the pouch itself, a sturdy, rectangular plastic and foil packet that seals as tightly as a can.
The military tries to feed soldiers fresh-cooked food when possible. Keene said. But troops on the move, on patrol or scattered in the field need meals they can carry anywhere.
The military expects to buy 300 million MREs in the 1991 fiscal year, increased from 37.2 million a year before troops were deployed to the gulf, said Lorraine Netzko, public Defense Personnel Support Center.
spoon.
MREs are fully cooked and do not need water added. To eat, soldiers can rip open the pouch and poke in a
Persian gulf as quickly as contractors can make them, said Donald Rupprecht, president of one of two companies that make MRE entrees.
The meals are being shipped to the
There are 12 menus, with entrees including chicken stew, tuna with noodles and spaghetti. The meals include crackers and a spread, such as dip or mayo. They come with side dishes such as potatoes au gratin or dried fruit.
The taste of the chicken stew and the other entrees is uniform no matter where they are made because the ingredients used specified, Rumprecht said.
The chicken and beef stew taste, similar to canned foods available in a supermarket. But the omlet, made from pork, is less flavorful than ham, is a gray meat, Rumruecht said.
Freeman sold soldiers learned to smother bland meals with hot sauce included in many ration kits or added noodles or spices sent from home. Sometimes the soldiers eat the crackers and throw away the rest.
"Nobody wants to eat pork with rice with barbecue sauce for breakfast, but sometimes that's what you get," Freeman said.
The food is useless, of course, if the troops will not eat it, so researchers at Naticat are looking for ways to make popular foods such as pizza and cheeseburgers that will survive five years in military warehouses.
Phone companies reduce rates to Saudi Arabia
By Patricia Rojas
Kansan staff writer
U. S. telephone companies are doing more than shortening distances between U.S. troops in the gulf and relatives on the home front.
Long-distance telephone companies are offering special rates and services in behalf of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia.
"We feel that it's every company's duty to support the troops in every way possible," Kent Martin, MCI representative, said.
Martin said that MC1 had been working with the Red Cross to provide free emergency long-distance medical care in Saudi Arabia since September.
"MCI and the Red Cross will arrange the free emergency usage to
'We feel that it's every company's duty to support the troops in every way possible.'
- Kent Martin
MCI representative
Saudi-based military personnel to reach their relatives in all 50 states, 24 hours a day, seven days a week," he said.
In January, MCI established a transportable phone center near the border of Kuwait for U.S. troops stationed in Saudi Arabia, Martin said. The phone center, which operates 24 hours a day, is designed to
move with troops through the desert.
He said that the phone center was handling an average of 4,000 calls a day. He says about 120 telephone installed
"The phone center can be used for outbound calls only." Martin said. "No one can call in. That is only for security reasons."
This month people in the United States have been able to call U.S. soldiers stationed in Saudi Arabia at lower rates than before.
Both MCI and AT&T have reduced their long-distance rates to Saudi Arabia.
Linda Evans, AT&T representative, said that some people were averaging as much as $400 a month in calls to Saudi Arabia.
At midnight Thursday, AT&T dropped the initial-minute rate for direct calls to Saudi Arabia from $3.19 to $1.15. The company also eliminated the $2.50 charge on phone calls made with a an AT&T calling card.
The initial-minute rate for AT&T collect calls from Saudi Arabia also
She said Southwestern Bell was cooperating locally to provide the relatives of U.S. soldiers with credit plans that would allow them to break their phone bill into separate payments.
Military families who need information on calling rates to Saudi Arabia and credit plans available to them can call 1-800-323-HELP.
Operation Desert Shield wine is produced by Fields of Fair
Desert Shield wine honors gulf troops
By Nedra Beth Randolph
Kansan staff writer
Proceeds from the sales of a Desert Shield wine are going to support the families of Fort Riley stationed in the Persian gulf.
Fields of Fair Winery, the first licensed wine in Kansas, is offering a commemorative edition vintage wine with a special Operation Desert Shield label. The label to be opened on a sate return.
Jim Fair, owner of Fields of Fair Winery in Paxico, said a percentage of the proceeds from the wines, which have yellow necks, around the bottle necks, were brought to the Fort Riley VMCA.
"the bottle sells for $8, and we
“put our very best wine into it
because they deserve it," he said.
He said he was often when the troops come home."
Tom Bradday, a Vietnam veteran, said the winery wanted to do something special for the service
members from Kansas serving in the gulf war.
Braddy owns Dorothy's Land of Ahs, a gift shop at the winery.
"When I came back from Vietnam, there wasn't a whole lot of celebration. But my family was proud of me," he said. "My dad bought a bottle of wine and saved it until I got home. That's how we got the idea for the Desert Shield wine."
Charles Edgeller, manager of Schwartz Retail Liquor, 1215 W Sixth St., said all but one of the 24 bottles at the store had sold since the wine was shipped two weeks ago.
"We've sold novelty wines before, but nothing has sold like this," he said. "We've had novelty wines from the past, but not one like this, like war."
Neel Wehner, owner of Wehner's Retail Liquor, 932 N. Second St., ordered just one case of the commemorative wine and has sold only three bottles.
Now you can afford to dream in color.
If you thought that finding a color Macintosh system you could afford was just a dream, then the new, affordable Macintosh LC is a dream come true.
The Macintosh LC is rich in color. Unlike many computers that can display only 16 colors at once, the Macintosh LC expands your palette to 256 colors. It also comes with a microphone and new sound-input technology that lets you personalize your work by adding voice or other sounds.
adding voice or other sounds.
Like every Macintosh computer, the LC is easy to set up and easy to master. And it runs thousands of available applications that all work in the same consistent way-so once
you've learned one program, you're well on your way to learning them all.The Macintosh LC even lets you share information with someone who uses a different type of computer-thanks to the versatile Apple SuperDrive"which can read from and write to Macintosh,MS-DOS,OS/2,and Apple II floppy disks.
Take a look at the Macintosh LC and see what it gives you. Then pinch yourself.
Apple introduces the Macintosh LC.
It's better than a dream—it's a Macintosh.
See your campus Computer Store for details
c. 1990 Apple Computer Inc. Apple uses the Apple logo and Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple Computer Inc. Super-Driver and the Power to be your book, and trademarks of Apple Computer Inc. MP3. This is an傻傻分不清的商业商标, it is a trademark of international Business Machines Corporation.