The saga continues...

First, I am paranoid about the potential for releasing any mission critical information. There is a valuable comment in response to my last post on the issue. Operational Security saves lives.

On to the fun. I know this person who requested Kosher MREs (MRE, or Meal, Ready to Eat is a military field ration). It is a rare situation, but not unique. There are Kosher MREs stockpiled for just this occasion so it shoul not be a big deal. It just so happens that there were some Halal (the Islamic dietery code) MREs more readily available and so this person said that those would be fine.
Although Kosher is Halal, Halal is not necessarily Kosher. This becomes important. You see, originally the Kosher MREs, because they were also Halal, were the only ones in the system. At some point, unbeknownst to the individual in question, the demand for Halal MREs grew to the point that a whole separate facilty under separate supervision was created to make Halal MREs. That is my understanding.
Enter this poor troop who needs Kosher food. He finally receives cases of MREs that he expects to be able to eat. He opens a case, notices that the packaging has changed from what he remembers, even though the names of most of the meals are the same an the only thing different really seems to be the branding. Choosing to err on the side of caution, contact with the manufacturer was made. It was confirmed that the Halal MREs are no longer certified Kosher. Meals of the same name between the Halal and Kosher lines may have different ingredients and are held to different standards.
Now, I haven't checked the facts on this, but on anecdotal evidence alone I am fairly sure that the Muslim population in the service demanding Halal food has not grown geometrically over the past few years. Still, the number of Muslims under military control must have grown in order to spur the growth in production of Halal MREs...
...so, it is fairly safe to assume that terrorist detainees all over the world are eating better than the young troop who needs Kosher MREs. Ponder that.

Since I have been here, we have lost two great Americans whose work was very important to me. Kurt Vonnegut and Wally Schirra. Two very different people with two very different careers that both made this country and this world better.

Can some one explain to me why we have had two Presidential Debates before the end of the first week of May, 2007? And nobody has said anything? Give Joe Biden some credit, at least he published a plan for Iraq. I think it is flawed, but it is more than most others have done. He and McCain are the only people it seems with consistent positions on the campaign in Iraq.