Did C rations, and the later Meal, Combat, Individual have expiration
dates? How long
of a shelf life did they have?

I have a reason for asking, as in thinking about my experiences with
these things, some
thing isn't making sense.

When my dad was stationed at Ladd AFB in 59, the family was issued what
everybody
called C rations. To be turned in when transferring out. We left in 60,
and the Air Force
just said keep 'em, they are close to the expiration date.

So we did. And we ate them. I liked the white bread.

But, Wikipedia says white bread was not in the C rations, but in the
MCIs, and that MCIs started being issued in 1958. Hence my confusion.
Only a 1 or 2 year shelf life, or is Wikipedia wrong?

As an addendum to this. In 67 or 68, I was working at NAD Hawthorne, NV,
on a survey crew to mark the "Naval Reservation Boundary". This was
in the mountain range just west of the base,  which the Marines used for
training. We came across one of their sites, and in the bushes, were lots
of cans of white bread, just tossed away.

Apparenty, the Marines did not like the white bread. And yes, I did pick
them up, and snacked on them for weeks afterward.

Jack Antonio
WA7DIA

PS And now, both Ladd AFB and NAD Hawthone are both Army installations.
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