MESS OPERATION IN FIELD (ref. TM 10-405/ TM 10-406)

Question and opinion regarding Living History / Reenacting.
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Re: MESS OPERATION IN FIELD (ref. TM 10-405/ TM 10-406)

Post by D.R.H. » Thu May 28, 2015 11:15 pm

Quartermaster wrote:Thirteen pages later.

Maybe you guys need to get a room....

ha ha

:o
Well Dwayne, You're gonna have to pay for the room and the travel expenses to get us ALL together, 'cause I'm as broke as ole grandma. I got you in my sights now brother, you're just jealous of us and you wanna play too. :) . No problem, the only test we have to be one of OUR crew is, can you handle some Marine Corps. field style coffee made in a dirty old steel helmet?!?! 8)
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Re: MESS OPERATION IN FIELD (ref. TM 10-405/ TM 10-406)

Post by Quartermaster » Fri May 29, 2015 2:38 am

Jealous?? HA!!

The choice of the screen name of QUARTERMASTER isn't just because I like the word. My interest in all things pertaining to the Quartermaster Corps goes back to my dad being a quartermaster in the South Pacific in WW2.

My main area of interest is rations. I have spent more time in the researching, collecting and displaying all things having to do with rations - the development, production, procurement, distribution and preparation of food for the troops than I care to remember or the amount of time and money expended. And that includes the original documentation and equipment used, too.

So don't hold your breath waiting for travel expenses or a room (even in one of my vintage WW2 tents - think bigger than a pup tent) - it's an expensive hobby and, as you know, ya gots to pay to play.

To paraphrase what one of your Marine gunny sergeants said in the movies - "Just because we can talk rations doesn't mean that we'll be taking warm showers in the wee hours of the morning!"

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Re: MESS OPERATION IN FIELD (ref. TM 10-405/ TM 10-406)

Post by WWII502 » Fri May 29, 2015 3:12 am

Yea tandoori is pretty neat, how it sticks to the side is the magic in the cooking process lol. I think the terra cotta is going to help with the whole baking concept in the small detachments. I think talking to any vet from another country would be really cool. It would be a different perspective that is for sure. I would love to find an old US mess sergeant to chat with. There are so many little things that we taught or done that are not in the manuals...

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Re: MESS OPERATION IN FIELD (ref. TM 10-405/ TM 10-406)

Post by pintelhook11over » Fri May 29, 2015 5:25 am

Ah-Ha! Now I know who to bug about contents of rations...

Speaking of rations, I was poking around and saw some old timers commenting on 5 in 1 and 10 in 1 rations that were "Good" in the Ardennes during the Bulge, how does one find the contents of those particular rations now-a-days?

I see visual examples of C and K but am not well versed in much else, let alone their contents.
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Re: MESS OPERATION IN FIELD (ref. TM 10-405/ TM 10-406)

Post by WWII502 » Fri May 29, 2015 6:23 am

I would also want to know about the rations. My mp group likes to do canned rations in the field for lunch. Drives me nuts because I have stoves but we could hear them in the immersion heaters.

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Re: MESS OPERATION IN FIELD (ref. TM 10-405/ TM 10-406)

Post by WWII502 » Fri May 29, 2015 6:39 am

Hey pintle hook here is your slit trench in action. Someone captioned it wrong but a nice pic.
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Re: MESS OPERATION IN FIELD (ref. TM 10-405/ TM 10-406)

Post by Mark in Tucson » Fri May 29, 2015 5:20 pm

Lets not forget to post some pictures of the terra cotta pots.
Sounds like a great way to make an oven.

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Re: MESS OPERATION IN FIELD (ref. TM 10-405/ TM 10-406)

Post by WWII502 » Fri May 29, 2015 5:47 pm

I hope to try it this weekend.

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Re: MESS OPERATION IN FIELD (ref. TM 10-405/ TM 10-406)

Post by pintelhook11over » Wed Jun 03, 2015 7:44 pm

How did them Biscuits turn out?

Haven't found much for Tandoor stoves in the military so far, looks like the Chindit/CBI troopers just use open fire pit techniques that I have found.

Only found one WWI picture on Ebay for sale, and it was an Earthen mud stove...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/World-War-1-Pri ... 1325519913
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Re: MESS OPERATION IN FIELD (ref. TM 10-405/ TM 10-406)

Post by steevo » Thu Jun 04, 2015 4:51 am

WWII502 wrote:Hey pintle hook here is your slit trench in action. Someone captioned it wrong but a nice pic.
It looks like they are using 2 different size trash cans for the wash station. Possibly just using what was available. My set up is the same, 1-24 gal. and 2-20 gal. cans.

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Re: MESS OPERATION IN FIELD (ref. TM 10-405/ TM 10-406)

Post by artificer » Thu Jun 04, 2015 1:31 pm

That is exactly what they are doing in the field with the cans over a fire trench.
The trash cans more often had gasoline drip immersion heaters so the water in the trash cans was always boiling/simmering.

This method was employed by most services to sterilize mess kits & utensils while progressing in the mess line immediately prior to food service.
We did this in the OZ army when in camp in Vietnam & later as a sergeant cook in the reserves as a bait layer or tucker f*cker [as we were sometimes called].
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Re: MESS OPERATION IN FIELD (ref. TM 10-405/ TM 10-406)

Post by WWII502 » Sat Jun 06, 2015 6:33 pm

pintelhook11over wrote:How did them Biscuits turn out?

Haven't found much for Tandoor stoves in the military so far, looks like the Chindit/CBI troopers just use open fire pit techniques that I have found.

Only found one WWI picture on Ebay for sale, and it was an Earthen mud stove...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/World-War-1-Pri ... 1325519913

The biscuit expierment was informative. I just did it on a cast iron skillet on the stove but I found low heat, very little grease and rolled a little flatter was the best. I think this style would hold up to SOS very well. As for on my small detachments, not an option to try this weekend. Murphy is haunting me again but things are better. My immersion heaters work great but my new trashcans do not hold water so that has been fun. My PE-77 generator is running great now that the gas tank has been patched but the motor on my phonograph needs rebuilt. I plan on taking pictures tomorrow. It's still a work in progress but each event things get improved but often new challenges arise. My 20 man small detachments are still warping steel. This time I split the plate into two, hot side and cold side. I am going to try both the terra cotta and the perforated plates in the future to see how those go. I now decided I need an M-1937 range stove for baking. I do not thing the small detachments will bake well. If I can't figure out this plate issue I am switching to propane burners and that will be the end of it. I hate to be that way but I just can not get these things to function how they should. I did pick up a neat manual this weekend on a WWII era, the manual was 49 dated, Bakery trailer that I had no clue existed. I will also post pictures of that. The food is delicious and I am getting things close to on time but it is not easy. Things are getting better. How is everyone else doing?

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Re: MESS OPERATION IN FIELD (ref. TM 10-405/ TM 10-406)

Post by pintelhook11over » Sun Jun 07, 2015 2:44 pm

Stumbled across this while looking for "Kitchen Spice Pack" info...very good collection of info on another site.

http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthr ... rld-War-II
1942 G7117 No. 389946
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Re: MESS OPERATION IN FIELD (ref. TM 10-405/ TM 10-406)

Post by pintelhook11over » Sun Jun 07, 2015 3:11 pm

Sounds like you got a lot on your plate... :D

So far so good, haven't tinkered too much on cooking, but am working on a SDS stove plate version 2.0, I am using a "dual" plate experiment. I am laying down a single 1/8 inch plate, but welding on a second plate onto the top of the bottom plate. It will be thicker and still allow the top cover to be held on by the clips. I am thinking the thicker metal will help heat dampening and warp prevention.

The bottom plate is still the single 17 x 19.5 inches, but the top plate is cut to 16 x 18 inches to allow the side wind shield to be snapped on normally. I drilled numerous holes into the top plate so I can weld the two together. I chickened out using bolt/nuts to secure the two because I didn't want to poke holes in the bottom of the aluminum pot with the heads of the hardware.
1942 G7117 No. 389946
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Re: MESS OPERATION IN FIELD (ref. TM 10-405/ TM 10-406)

Post by pintelhook11over » Sun Jun 07, 2015 3:26 pm

Ha! You "Mates" always have a unique way of calling things compared to us "Yanks"!

Can't say I 've ever heard of Bait Layers or Tucker F!$%@s.

I have a book of WWII slang called "FUBAR - Soldiers slang of WWII", it has a whole section of TOMMY, AUSSIE ,CANUCK and KIWI slang.

Here is one of many definitions I saw and got a kick from: "Dixie Bashing-Cleaning pots and pans on kitchen fatigue" :lol: .

FUBAR ISBN number- 978 1 84603 175 5
1942 G7117 No. 389946
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