Guardsmen explain MRE-style emergency meals to NYC residents

By Eric Durr, New York State Division of Military and Naval AffairsNovember 9, 2012

NewYork National Guard Distributes Meals to New Yorkers
1 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – New York Army National Guard Spc. Eric Ramos, a member of the 1st Battalion 69th Infantry, provides a class on how to use the heater in Federal Emergency Management Agency emergency rations to volunteers at Confucius Plaza in New York City. New York ... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
NewYork National Guard Distributes Meals to New Yorkers
2 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – NEW YORK-- New York Army National Guard Soldiers from the 204th Engineer Battalion prepare to conduct a PODS or "Point-of-Distribution Site" food and water distribution mission outside the New York National Guard's Lexington Avenue Armory in New Yor... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
NewYork National Guard Distributes Meals to New Yorkers
3 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (center) and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver work with New York Army National Guard Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry, at the Lexington Avenue Armory in New York City, load emergency food supplies for distrib... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
NewYork National Guard Distributes Meals to New Yorkers
4 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – NEW YORK-- A New York Army National Guard Soldier from the 204th Engineer Battalion surveys as load of FEMA emergency meals as the battalion prepared to conduct a PODS, or "Point-of-Distribution Site," food and water distribution mission outside th... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

NEW YORK CITY (Nov. 2, 2012) -- The thousands of meals being handed out by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to New York City residents following Hurricane Sandy are pretty familiar to the New York National Guard Soldiers and Airmen distributing the meals.

Inside the boxes being handed out are Meals, Ready to Eat, or MRE-style entrees and the chemical heater pouches like Soldiers are used to eating in combat and during training exercises.

However, for the residents of New York's ethnic communities who can't read the English language instructions, and who have never seen an MRE, the heater packages are a mystery, said Lt. Col. Jim Gonyo, commander of the New York National Guard's 1st Battalion 69th Infantry.

The 385 Soldiers of the 1-69th Infantry and the 204th Engineer Battalion working out of the Lexington Avenue Armory in Manhattan, have been distributing the emergency rations to New Yorkers since Nov. 1, after Hurricane Sandy swept over the city. They are among 3,300 National Guard Soldiers and Airmen called to respond to the hurricane since Oct. 29.

"They just didn't know what to do with them, "Gonyo said. "They'd never seen anything like it before."

So Gonyo's men decided it was time for "show-and-tell."

They called together volunteers and community leaders in the Chinatown section of the city and demonstrated how the heaters worked. They demonstrated the basics of ripping open the top, inserting the entrée package, and putting in just the right amount of water, then folding the packet and giving the chemicals time to heat the meal.

These volunteers took videos of the food demonstrations so they could show others how it works.

Now his men are working to get some posters printed up so they can display them in the lines for folks to see as they wait, Gonyo said.

Across New York City, New York National Guardsmen were distributing rations at 13 Point-of-Distribution Sites, known as PODS, in the language of disaster relief. Other Guardsmen were going door-to-door in hard-hit parts of the city to check and see if people are OK or needed food brought to them.

Guardsmen have distributed more than 208,000 meals and 55,000 liters of water to New Yorkers. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has promised that the Guard will pass out one million of the FEMA meals to those who need them.

Still other Guardsmen were conducting patrols with local police and fire officials in the hard hit areas, and conducting presence patrols as directed.

In Westchester and Rockland counties, in the Hudson River Valley, the 42nd Infantry Division began deploying 500 Soldiers to assist utilities in repairing the power grid.

The Soldiers will be trained to identify downed power lines and properly mark them so that members of the public are not endangered as the repair process goes forward. Allocating Soldiers to this mission will free up utility employees to do the important technical work.

The Soldiers will work with line crews from Consolidated Edison, New York State Electric and Gas, and Orange and Rockland Utilities.

Related Links:

New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs

N.Y. Governor calls on Guard to respond to Hurricane Sandy

More than 7,400 National Guard members respond to Hurricane Sandy

N.Y. mobilizes more than 2,300 Guardsmen to battle Hurricane Sandy aftermath

Guardsmen explain MRE-style emergency meals to NYC residents

N.Y. Guard Soldiers assist with election in storm-battered areas

Army.mil: U.S. Army Humanitarian Relief - Hurricanes

Army.mil: National Guard News

STAND-TO!: U.S. Army Support to Humanitarian Assistance and Relief Operations

Emergency Management Assistance Compacts

Federal Emergency Management Agency

The National Guard

American Red Cross