[2] The 1st Special Service Force first tried out the Mountain ration on November 28, 1942, during a training patrol to MacDonald Pass, Montana: "At 1400 hours all company commanders and one other officer from each company and a few others left by truck for MacDonald Pass to try living under winter conditions and try a new mountain ration ... On arrival at the selected spot the party broke up into groups of four and built shelters and fires of many different types.
In common with the alpine troops of other countries, the 10th's officers recognized the distinct benefits of heated, easily digested foods at high altitudes.
[8] To the immense relief of the Quartermaster Corps's Food Services branch,[8] the Mountain ration was discontinued and production terminated in 1943,[9] though supplies continued to be issued well into 1944.
Contravening their earlier statements, the QC now asserted that overuse of the K and C rations (beyond two or three days) had caused the problem.
[11][12] Having successfully obtained the discontinuance of suitable alternative packaged rations, the QMC's Historical Summary report was conspicuously silent on how Army commanders could have observed this new ration restriction for troops in daily contact with a determined enemy.