[Raellus]

I think that MREs and other prepared combat rations would be running out (if not long gone already) by 2000. After the TDM, I don't think production of MREs could continue and, even if it did, distribution of said would be difficult.

Instead, I think you'd see a return to the way armies were fed in the 19th century. Actually, I got this idea from a book I'm reading about a VGD in WWII (Victory Was Beyond Their Grasp by D. Nash). Each battalion (and the assault company) in the VGD had a mobile field kitchen (mounted on a horse-drawn wagon) which served hot meals whenever possible (which was pretty much every day as long as the unit wasn't under heavy attack or moving rapidly). The fare was very simple (stews and bread mostly, with sausage and hard cheese on occasion) but provided most of the calories the men needed to keep fighting. "Iron Rations" (slightly more primitive equivalent of the American K-ration) were issued to the troops but they were ordered not to open them until they were told to, usually during attacks or emergency situations.

I see divisions reverting to this system gradually, post-'97. The basic foodstuffs for stews, sausages, cheeses, butter, and bread could be produced in their respective cantonments. No chemical preservatives or packaging would be required (i.e. no factories, no electricity, no long-distance shipping, etc.). Whatever MREs were still around would only be issued for use during attacks (like U.S. 5th ID's "raid") or emergencies.

I suppose canning would still be possible on some scale, after the TDM. Perhaps canned goods would replace or supplement MREs and supplement the fresher food from field kitchens.

Another idea comes from LRRP operations in Vietnam, but I don't know if it would work with post-TDM tech. Indigenously produced "LURP" rations were made especially for LRRP and SOG recon teams. They were a variety of freeze dried (IIRC) meals in plastic baggies. The soldier would just add water and chow down. In the memoirs I've read, the authors state that the LURP rations were almost universally preferred to the C-rations issued to line companies. If the soldier couldn't heat water, they would stick the LURP pouch in their clothes to let their body heat warm them up before eating, or they would eat them cold.

It seems that if a third world nation in the late '60s could produce this type of field ration, the Twilight armies after '97 probably could too (although in what numbers, I don't know). Would freeze-drying be possible or would it require too much tech?

What are your thoughts on military food, post-TDM?