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They needed to be capable of surviving being dropped out of helicopters and cargo planes, extreme climates and sitting in a warehouse for at least three years.
The Army's combat feeding program
is trying out new combat meals that
are fit for a soldiers' pocketBy Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.comOn top of everything else, they had to be acceptable to the palates of today's soldiers.
Jerry Darsch, director of the Department of Defense combat feeding program, believes that is what the Army has found in its version of Hot Pocket sandwiches.
The Army's new "super sandwich" is designed to stay "fresh" for up to three years at 80 degrees and should be able to withstand temperatures as low as minus 60 degrees and as high as 120 degrees.
The pocket sandwiches, Darsch told the Star-Bulletin "comes as a direct request from warfighters several years" after numerous field interviews who said they like those Hot Pocket sandwiches.
"However, a warfighter doesn't have a thousand-foot long extension cord," Darsch said, "so we couldn't go to the frozen food section. We had to go back to the drawing board."
"We also wanted something that could be eaten on the move," said Darsch, that would make it an integral part of a first strike force and "could easily fit into the cargo pants pockets of a soldier's uniform. Researchers at the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Mass., used fillings such as pepperoni and chicken to which they added substances called humectants, which stop water leaking out. The humectants not only prevent water from the fillings soaking into the bread, but also limit the amount of moisture available for bacterial growth. The sandwiches are then sealed, without pasteurization, in laminated plastic pouches that also include sachets of oxygen-scavenging chemicals. A lack of oxygen helps prevent the growth of yeast, mold and bacteria.
Soldiers who tried the pepperoni, pizza and barbecue-chicken pocket sandwiches have found them "acceptable," said Darsch, with pizza pockets getting the highest raves.
There were two field tests with soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum in New York and Marines at 29th Palms in Southern California.
Darsch said the Marines and soldiers were asked to grade the pocket sandwiches on color, odor, texture, flavor and appearance. "They found them to be very comparable to the frozen version."
Darsch said the military is constantly working to find entry replacements in its standard battlefield rations, called "Meal, Ready-to-Eat" (MRE), which now has 24 different menu items.
Although MREs now already contain ingredients that could be made into sandwiches, these items have to be pasteurized and stored in separate pouches, and the soldiers need to make the sandwiches themselves.
Other varieties of the super sandwich under consideration are a pizza pocket with Italian sausage and pepperoni slices in a tomato sauce, sliced beef in a barbecue sauce, tuna or chicken salad, ham and cheese, and peanut butter and jelly.
The Army may even extend the pocket pizza menu to include cream-filled bagels, breakfast burritos and even peanut-butter sandwiches.
The sandwiches are being further developed and commercialized under a cooperative research and development agreement with GoodMark Foods, Inc. in Raleigh, N.C.
By partnering with industry, the Army hopes to keep down production costs while opening the opportunity for sales in areas such as vending machines for anyone who wants a lightweight, nutritious meal that requires no preparation or silverware.
The pocket sandwiches probably won't be in the field until 2005, Darsch said, when they are integrated as part of the MRE menus and probably two years later as a separate first strike ration.
But like dehydrated egg, freeze-dried coffee and processed cheese -- all originally developed by the military -- the Army's "super sandwich" will eventually end up in commercial supermarkets.
