If you’re a Singaporean son, chances are, you’d have tried those yucky combat rations that were given to you during field camp.
Now, to be extremely fair, they actually taste pretty decent: but as you have more of them, they’ll become so jaded, you’d rather chiong sua with an empty stomach or have “dog biscuits” instead.
For the benefit of people who haven’t tried them before, here’s some context: when soldiers are out in the jungle, they’ll carry a big pack of barang barang, and one of these items is the combat ration.
One pack, which looks like this…
…would comprise a few packs of food. And one pack’s the calorie requirement for a day.
So if the outfield is three days, you’ll have three packs of them.
Here’s how you eat them in the jungle:
And a little more context from an NSman: there are people who hate the combat ration so much, they’ll rather just have the biscuits. In fact, I’ve traded my biscuits and other stuff with my friends for more combat rations (not that I like them, but they’re more tasteful than the biscuits lah).
The rations are always changing—from my days in BMT to now a NSman, the pack looks drastically different, especially the “accessory pack” (another pack that includes “snacks”).
Interestingly enough, the rations comprise food that we’re familiar with: porridge lah, glutinous rice lah, chicken noodles lah…etc. There’s even a spicy and non-spicy menu.
In recent years, with Singaporeans leading hectic schedules, companies have also come out with food that’s as convenient as combat ration. Here’s one example (it’s a sponsored video but you get the gist):
Incidentally, other countries have their own variation of combat rations.
Now, what if soldiers from the U.S. Army tried SAF’s combat ration?
Video That Went Viral Because They’re Loving it
In my entire, and perhaps in my next life as well, no one has even said that combat ration tastes “good”.
I mean, they’re meant for survival, and not for enjoyment. Rumours have it that they also contain ingredients that cause constipation so we won’t need to dig holes and shit during outfield.
Then this video appeared, and my world changed.
Posted by the official Singapore Army Facebook Page, it shows a group U.S. Army soldiers trying some combat rations.
The video was filmed during Exercise Daring Warrior 2018, a combined live-firing exercise conducted by the U.S. Army and the SAF at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, from Oct 8 to 25. That being said, this happened last month.
You’d have expected the U.S. soldiers to throw up the food (okay, I’m bad like that), but hey: they actually sang praises for them.
Here are the exact words they used to describe the food:
“It’s good! It’s like beans and chicken…it’s pretty good!”
“This is pretty good! Probably have this more than once.”
“It’s pretty good! Yeah!”
“Taste pretty good! There’s a good quantity.”
“Pretty good! Good tasting!”
And they said that they would eat it again.
Well, I guess taste is really subjective. Either that, or they know that Singaporeans take their food very seriously, so the U.S. soldiers won’t dare to criticize our food.
Or maybe…we Singaporeans actually have one of the best combat rations around?
Nah, I don’t think so. Anyways, NSmen who go for outfield don’t eat much combat rations after all (only we know why 😉), so I don’t really care.
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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