European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 8, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 stars and St rip is june 2007 More less packaging three meal first strike ration to be shipped downrange this fall by Lisa Burgess stars and stripes the Long awaited first strike three none rations Are scheduled to begin shipping to Marine and army units in Iraq and Afghanistan beginning in septem about cases of first strike a each containing nine will be sent to the Middle Accord ing to Gerald director of the department of defense combat feed ing director ate at the army Soldier sys tems Center in the delivery is just the leading Edge of what Pentagon food experts Are expecting will be a very Large Darsch told stripes on wednes everybody raring to get their hands on he in sure once they hit the the request will go the first strike ration weighs half As much As a single ready to eat but includes about calories Worth of nutritionally enhanced food enough for an entire in response to a longstanding request from the 2008 Are menu will have a number of new breakfast kinds of such As Granola with milk and and Vanilla and chocolate instant the average Are has about if troops eat every thing in the but Natick researchers have Learned that troops rarely con sume All the components in particularly when they Are preparing for missions where reducing the amount of weight and bulk in their packs is Essen Darsch they Field strip the a Choos ing their favor Ite items and tossing out the first is specifically de signed to in clude Only the Are components that troops have told Natick re searchers they like the including pocket dessert fruit and nut beef Jerky caffeinated chewing and dozens of other goodies specially designed to be nibbled on the run and keep Energy Levels Ever since Natick began Fiel testing the prototype with the special operations Community in 2002 in Iraq and the Buzz Over first strike has been the tests prompted a barrage of requests from operations commanders to Send thou Joe and stripes about cases of the Long awaited first strike ration will Start heading to Iraq and Afghanistan in Sands More Natick want Able to comply because there was no but those requests which were followed by hundreds of oth ers from individuals and com mands who Learned about first strike from press reports and word of plus formal inter est from the Marine corps and army indicated just How eager the military ground pounding Community was for a ration like first Darsch the Natick re searchers Are continuing to work on improving the which is an ongoing work in Dar sch in response to a longstanding request from the 2008 Are menu will have a number of new break fast kinds of such As Gra Nola with milk and and Vanilla and chocolate instant coming out of the menus in 2008 Are the Chicken with Cay Atel its replacement is a Chicken pesto pasta also nixed in 2008 is vegetable one of the vegetarian entrees that was added in the 2006 Are vegetarians should not worry that they have lost a however the Manicotti has been re placed by vegetable Emall Lisa Burgess at  a moveable feast the first strike rations package is described by its makers As an Eaton remove assault ration designed to meet the needs of the War fighter during highly High intensity each menu is a Days Worth of at an average of Brown t Sandwich ifs Radwich Peanut mocha chocolate Sanut butter tweet bbl Miyaki 0 enhanced Type Iii pkg source army Soldier systems Center Natick stars and stripes i Heads to Iraq with new Mother inlaw leading the platoon the associated press Duncan Schneider has More reason to be have himself in uniform than most other members of the Mili tary his platoon sergeant is also his he says he does not since he can serve his country with a family member who also has experience in the sgt 1st class Lisa i feel very Good about Schneider said sunday at a mobilization ceremony for the Oregon army National guards 224th Engineer which is about to begin training for a year in its a family minutes after the mobilization ceremony he married his Long time Delaina Aguil they have a 2monthold Thall be the hardest being away from said the 20yearold combat who enlisted less than a year after two months of training at fort the unit will go to Iraq for a year to build and maintain roads and other Infra said Mike brai Art army National guard while Aguilera will be without a Mother or a husband for the infants first Mesteth said she is not weve got great family sup a lot of people to help said a full time Reserve Navy ship fired at pirates who took ship off somali coast the associated press Mil itary officials said wednesday that a Navy ship recently fired on pirates who overtook a danish vessel off Somalia the uss Carter part of a task Force that helps main Tain Security off Somalia and near by engaged the pirates after they hijacked a danish cargo the Danica in International said Den ise a Public affairs officer at naval forces Central com Mand in the ship fired several warning shots across the Danica Whites Bow and also destroyed three Small boats the pirates had used in their assault and were towing behind the danish according to who said the incident occurred the ship called off its Pur suit after the pirates navigated the Danica White into Somalia territorial where the does not have Garcia the Danica Whites danish shipping company Folmer declined to com ment on the ships current Lars head of the Dan ish foreign ministry consular told the danish news Agency Ritzau on monday that it could take weeks before the crisis is he said they haunt been Able to Contact the ship and were waiting for the pirates the danish foreign ministry was not immediately available for comment often trained and heavily armed fighters using Speed boats equipped with satellite phones and global positioning system Are notoriously Active off Somalia vet group hires lawyers to help disabled gis nations largest organization of disabled Veter ans is convinced that injured troops Are being shortchanged on disability benefits and has hired lawyers to help the disabled american veterans is teaming with three major Law it says that injured Many returning from Iraq and of Are getting Only a fraction of the government benefits they Are entitled to under Federal their new announced is aimed at exerting additional pressure on a defense department they say remains inattentive to veterans lawsuits could quickly follow in Federal whatever our View is on current conflicts in the whether Iraq or injured soldiers should receive the level of ser vice that they have Given said Steven chairman of the pro Bono committee in the Washington office of the firm Foley that simply is not and that is he Ronald Deputy general counsel for said the Pentagon has been responsive in correcting problems of peeling paint and cockroaches in outpatient rooms after reports Early this year of shoddy treatment at Walter Reed army medical Little has been about the arrays unwieldy disability ratings Smith retired it James Terry chair Man of the Federal veterans disability benefits suggested to Congress this year that there could be a systematic Effort to Serrate disabilities to lower benefits and keep military costs from the associated press