Is There Still Such Thing As "Military Chocolate"?

Question

I don't know if anyone knows about this except for military or history buffs.

The military had asked Hershey's to make a special blend of chocolate meant for the soldiers. It was a D-ration meaning that it was to be used only for emergencies. They told Hershey's to make it taste horrible on purpose so that it will not be a tempting snack for the troops and it will be wasted. It also was made not to melt in extreme heat.

Does this chocolate still exist today? Do the troops still have it?

Answer 1

Yes, we still have chocolate but it's nice tasting. I personally love the Garry Boldy like biscuit's there ace. I don't know what people complain about with the ration pack's, I like 'em. Unfortunately Kathy we (The Army) doesn't get Hot Sauce, so Lot's of Soldier's take some type of spice with them, and yes it certainly does make you constipated. It's like a Cork.

Answer 2

During World War II the special 'Bitter-sweet' blend could also be found in the K Ration as well as the D Ration since they were both created to serve as Emergency Survival Rations.  Making it bitter make it easier for most troops to ration it out if it became necessary to do so.

C Rations of the 2nd World War and Korea were issued with B units which was considered a snack; they normally included two flat round disks of milk chocolate and was normally what soldiers and marines handed out to kids. Most of the stores of D and K Rations were consumed during and following the Korea Conflicts while the C Ration became standardized as the standard field ration.  Many D and K Ration stocks did survive to the early 1960's, but they were well beyond their acceptable wear out date.  Many of the soldiers and marines first deployed to Vietnam in 1964-1965 tell of receiving C Rations made during World War Two.

The MCI or Meal, Combat, Individual, was the 2nd generation of C Rations which had a slightly increased portion size.  It now contained a B-1 unit and a B-2 unit in addition to the main meal.  There was  several variations of chocolates issued in the B-2 unit starting with thick single flat round disks in a wax paper type wrapper to a return to the two thin flat round discs in a foil wrapper.  These were most often refer to as 'John Wayne Bars' by the soldiers and marines.  The thick bars had fudge or coconut filling while the thin bars had crispies, nuts or toffee in them.  Up until 1975 the MCI came with a 4 pack of cigerettes such as 'Salem', 'Lucky Strikes', 'Pall Mall' or 'Winston'.

The MRE or Meal, Ready to Eat, comes with more commerial candies and chocolates such as 'Tootie Rolls' opposed to the military designed and packaged chocolates of earlier rations.

Answer 3

I was in the Air Force for 21 years.  I've seen the C-rations in cans and the freeze-dried stuff in modern field meals.  Most of that stuff is made with extra sugar, salt, and caffeine to keep you energized and awake.    It also keeps you constipated.  I've have eaten a chocolate bar in some of them.  It was dark chocoloate and didn't really taste great.  They always issued hot sauce with the rations so you can drown everything in that.  No matter how badly the stuff tasted, you ate it or starved.