What’s old…

Is new again!

The flash on the left is the new (old Vietnam era) one.

5th SF flash

The 5th Special Forces Group honored its past by reverting to its Vietnam-era beret flash. That flash is black with yellow and red stripes. It replaces the black shield the unit has used in more recent years. The yellow and red stripes pay homage to the 1st and 7th Special Forces Groups, which predated the 5th Group in Vietnam.

The design also is similar to the flag used by South Vietnam forces. The ceremony at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, was attended by former members of the 5th Special Forces Group, including Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley. The group was based at Fort Bragg for much of its history, moving to Kentucky in 1988.

Col. Kevin C. Leahy, commander of the 5th Special Forces Group, said returning to the historical flash honors those who were lost or served in Vietnam and recognizes the nation’s first mass deployment of Special Forces troops. “Today we lose nothing but gain a little bit of our own history,” he said.

The beret flash is a symbol of the unit, worn over the left eye. Vietnam veterans delivered the new, old flash to current Special Forces soldiers, then stood in formation with them as they donned their berets. Milley, who tossed off his own camouflage cap for a Green Beret, called it an “incredible day” and said he was proud of the group that has always been “populated by heroes.”

In other news, there apparently WILL be a pizza MRE…

The advent of a Pizza Meal, Ready-to-Eat will let every day be pizza day, even in war. Close your eyes. Now, think of the most delicious food imaginable. If you’re picturing, say, a hamburger or a bowl of mom’s spaghetti, you’re wrong. It’s pizza, or, as it will soon be known in the military, Meal, Ready-to-Eat No. 37. That’s right, a U.S. Army laboratory has just successfully concocted the first ever field-ready slice. And guess what? It’s the real deal. Well, almost.

“It’s a fully assembled and baked piece of pizza in one package,” Lauren Oleksyk, a food technologist at the U.S. Army’s research, development, and engineering center in Natick, Massachusetts, told Tech Insider. But unlike a normal, civilian slice of pizza, this one is infused with something called Hurdle technology, which prevents mold from forming and allows the MRE to remain edible for three years at 80 degrees. In other words, if the Terminator were a slice of pizza, this would be it. According to Oleksysk, soldiers can expect the slice to taste like “day after pizza” or the ’za commonly found in school cafeterias across America. As true pizza fans know, those are two of the very best varieties. “We’ve actually had feedback from the warfighter for years,” Oleksysk said.

“Pizza just seems appealing to all.” Damn right it is. MRE No. 37 is scheduled to make its debut sometime in 2017, at which point deployments will get exponentially more delicious. Until then, everyone will just have to keep fighting over Chili and Macaroni.

Ummm…. No… I’ll pass. 🙂

Comments

What’s old… — 13 Comments

  1. The MRE. But what about the low salt, no carbs, gluten free, no GMO, green sourced, vegan, safe space MRE? (no tofus were harmed in the making of this MRE)

  2. The current MRE’s are quite good. We’ve chatted about this before. The addition of pizza MRE’s is a step in the right direction for people (meaning everyone) loves it. The breakfast omelet that’s heated in that sleeve thing is downright good.

    As to the 5th Group – yes, they should never have transitioned to a black shield. It’s all about pedigree.

  3. John- LOL, good point… With this administration, I’m kinda surprised…

    Robert- LOL

    Gerry- They did!

    LL- Yes we did. 🙂 And yes, the omelet IS a ton better than green eggs and ham! Concur on 5th Group too!

  4. Tabasco Sauce – it’s helped three generations of soldiers (at least) make Army rations edible…

  5. Uhh….I’ll have to see/taste one.

    I’ll stick with chicken and rice. And all else fails, it’s hard to screw up peanut butter and crackers.

  6. Came home one weekend and Dad asked “You ate C-rations as a cadet, didn’t you?”
    NOT the start of a conversation I want to have but he’s my pop.
    “Um, ya. Why?”
    “Have this for lunch tomorrow and let me know what you think.”
    Dad was assigned to Defense Logistics Agency and he handed me a prototype MRE. Plain plastic pouches with the instructions typed on a sheet of paper.
    If you think issue MREs were bad imagine them before they were “refined for production.”

  7. Since when did the Special Forces wear maroon berets? The last SF guys I knew wore Green berets. Maroon was for the Rangers, and Armored troops wore a black beret (back in the day).

  8. Tim- True!

    SPE- I’ll bow to your expertise!

    Stretch- LOL, can’t/DON’T want to imagine!!!

    Paw/Rick- They should be green, but this was the only pic I saw with both the old and the new…

    Ed- Good point!