NATICK, Mass. (May 12, 2015) -- Let us call it the American military's latest combat menu.
That might be easier to swallow than its official name: "Operational Rations of the Department of Defense." Either way, it boils down to the offerings of the DoD Combat Feeding Directorate at the Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center.
In its generous serving of 72 pages, the 10th edition of Combat Feeding's ration book dishes out a history of combat rations and their present state. Maybe they are not four-star restaurant quality, but Combat Feeding's 24-menu options include everything from the familiar meals, ready-to-eat, or MREs, to such special purpose rations as religious meals and those used in humanitarian situations.
"We want the warfighter to know what is out there and what's going to be coming their way," said Michael Stepien, Combat Feeding program marketing analyst. "Our team works very hard to provide a wide variety of rations to accommodate the diverse members of the military. This book showcases the amount of dedication our directorate has to constantly upgrading the variety and quality of rations available to the warfighter. We can also use the book for different outreach events to tell the story of the amazing work going on within Combat Feeding."
If, as Napoleon Bonaparte famously observed, an Army marches on its stomach, the ration book is a road map to the destination of satisfying a voracious organization that has been eating military rations since the American Revolutionary War. The book debuted in 1950 and was last published in 2012.
"Moving forward, the goal is to publish it annually as the menus change," said Stepien, pointing out that the 2015 version is currently available online.
The current ration book has compelling imagery and feature stories about Combat Feeding to accompany the usual information about available items. Philip Fujawa of NSRDEC Strategic Communications, who provided art direction for the publication, designed it to be easily digested digitally.
"Readily accessible information is a little friendlier to an online format," Fujawa said, "where you can jump around in a document to anywhere and … start reading and not have to go through things in … a linear fashion."
"It ties in the work that goes on and how it applies to the menus," Stepien said. "There's an enormous amount of work that goes on behind the scenes here that most people aren't aware of. Our project officers deserve a great deal of credit for constantly focusing on innovative methods to improve our rations and increase the quality of life for our warfighters. Featuring highlights of their work helps tell the story of what it takes to build a combat ration."
Combat Feeding strives to give warfighters a taste of home in some of the most inhospitable places on Earth.
"Soldiers work in such harsh and extreme environments, and they require the right nutrition," Stepien said. "We wanted to make sure that this book discusses the nutrition aspect and we're able to convey through the imagery the challenges that our Soldiers face throughout their deployments and how we, as Combat Feeding, work to supply them with the rations they need to ensure they're able to continue to fight."
Toward that end, each new ration book contains new items craved by warfighters, and omits others that proved unpopular with them. Among notable additions to the Combat Feeding inventory are creamy spinach fettuccine and pasta and tomato sauce. Eliminated items include spicy penne pasta and ratatouille.
The hope is to offer something for every palate. The best way to accomplish that is to regularly survey warfighters in the field to obtain their preferences.
"The feedback from Soldiers certainly demonstrates that our continuous product improvement program has been effective," Stepien said. "It's very rare that you find a Soldier saying anything really negative about the rations.
"We have been able to identify entrees that warfighters aren't particularly fond of, and we've been able to remove them and replace them with rations that have received high ratings from field tests."
As Stepien pointed out, Combat Feeding's job extends beyond the taste buds to nutritional value.
"The taste of the MREs is very good," Stepien said. "It's important to us now to build upon that flavor of the MRE and incorporate more things into it … to make the Soldier perform more effectively on the battlefield, whatever we can do to ensure that the Soldier has a decisive advantage."
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