MREs: The meal ready to eat at Aircorpcamo Tactical
Posted by C.Cason on 28th Mar 2024
The MRE was adopted as the Department of Defense combat ration in 1975. A large-scale production test began in 1978 with delivery in 1981. MRE I (1981) was the first date of pack.
www.mreinfo.com/mres/mre-history/
Footnote: The author did not see MREs in service until about 1985 because the DOD still had a surplus of C-Rations that needed to be consumed and not allowed to go to waste.