The bottle out of my last MREs is 5.5 CM (2 3/8ths inches) tall and
contains 1/8 oz.with same label identification as Carol Serr's
example. (That is what I can during Spring Turkey Hunting season). 
They have been in Forest Circus MREs since at least the early 1990s. 
The sauce is ALWAYS much more brown than red.  Either that or we get
really old MREs for the firefighters.

When I was drafted in 1968, I was stationed at Ft. Lewis, Washington;
Ft. Sill,Ok.; Bad Kissigen, Germany; and Ft. Bliss, Texas.  There were
three things on every mess hall table at all four: Salt, Pepper, and
Tobasco.  At one of those stations, the food was like eating at a
really good cafe.  At the other three, the tabasco was very much
needed to cover up the blunders of the army cooks (most of which were
draftees and did not want to be there).  No MREs back then, just A, B,
C, and K rations.  Class A rations were a hot meal at a messhall.  B
rations were the powdered scrambled eggs, soggy hot dogs and white
bread they brought up to the forward observation post or battery in
rectangular cooler/heaters. C rations were rectangular cardboard
packages of canned goods and snacks.  Every one still had a small pack
of 4 cigarettes with matches and toilet paper. In Germany, I had to
eat cans of ham & lima beans stamped 1945 (or 3 years older than I
was).  We procured bottles of tobasco to make that stuff a little more
palatable. With MREs, the soldiers don't need to swipe the tobasco out
of the mess hall.  K rations were were hard-as-a-rock dog biscuits
that blew up great when hit with a .22.

:-)

Smoke

On 10/24/05, David Babson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> You are right; they ARE 6cm tall; found one (from Ft. Drum, probably) and measured it last night.  My memory had them at a little more than an inch, but one that small would be impossible to grasp and open, and it probably would not hold enough sauce to season a single cracker, let alone a whole, delectable, 3,000-calorie MRE.  As for putting it in your eyes to stay awake, I suppose that would work, but I'd hate to try that, or explain it to the medical corps people, tough I suppose your blindness WOULD be duty related.  I've been through the McIllhenny plant while they were washing brewing vats, and, no, I do NOT want Tabasco Brand Pepper Sauce anywhere NEAR my eyes!
>
> I worked on Avery Island soon after General McIllhenny had passed away, which lead to the article mentioned in my previous post.  I worked around his house, the garage of which was decorated with two wooden bayonet targets, both painted as Japanese soldiers in full, racist caricature--ape-like yellow-cab-yellow faces, fangs, and (on one) round glasses with inch (2.5cm!)-thick lenses.  When I first saw them, I thought they were apes, or depictions of devils in some sort of Halloween decoration, but they had uniforms; the caretaker told me he thought they were bayonet targets.  Part of history, too, evident from the period movies, even "Fibber McGee and Molly."
>
> D. Babson.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Carol Serr
> Sent: Monday, October 24, 2005 5:10 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: MRE Tabasco bottles
>
> I found a bunch of those (cute) little (actually 6 cm tall; 1/8 oz) bottles in a drainage while working on Camp Pendleton Marine Base back in 1993, so apparently some Marines didn't care to use it (on whatever their meal was?).  Not that we get much rain here in San Diego Co...but I imagine this drainage would get enough water rushing down it each winter, to wash away these bottles...so they probably weren't there too long.
>
> The sauce (yes, I took one) isnt very appealing looking now...lost it's redness.  The back of the label reads: Packed for MRE by Trans-Packers Services Corp. Bklyn, NY 11222 (their abbrev.).  But my bottle has a far more plain label than the example I found online. ?
>
> I found this info, below.  Interesting how they are included in "one out of every 4 MRE kits"... ??  I just assumed they'd be included with certain entrees....but guess that would take too much time, to figure that out.  Ha ha.
>
> Here's more on those teeny bottles...if ya wanted to know:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabasco_sauce
> Tabasco Inc does not advertise its long history with the US Military. Brigadier General McIlhenny USMCR, a WW2 veteran and winner of the Navy Cross, was president of the McIlhenny Tabasco Sauce Company until his death in 1985. He started a trend of attempted improvement in combat rations during the Vietnam war with the publication of "The Charlie Ration Cookbook" (Charlie ration is slang for the field meal given to troops). This cookbook came wrapped around a two-ounce bottle of Tabasco Sauce and a few can openers. The cookbook included instructions on how to mix C-rations to make such concoctions as "Combat Canapés" or "Breast of chicken under bullets."
>
> In the 1990s during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm a new edition of the cookbook were printed called the "The Unofficial MRE Recipe Booklet," It was offered free of charge to US Troops and families who had loved ones in the service. Miniature Tabasco bottles were also included in one out of every four MRE kits. U.S. soldiers wrote dozens of letters either thanking McIlhenny Company for the sauce or requesting more. As a result, Tabasco miniatures are now included in most MRE kits.
>
> Most recently, during Operation Enduring Freedom, a group of soldiers in Afghanistan used miniature Tabasco bottles to decorate their Christmas tree. Some soldiers use the bottles to make chess sets while others while out in the field will put the tabasco source in their eyes to stay awake while during sentry duty. Many Allied Troopers have returned the miniature bottles to McIlhenny Company filled with soil from local camps and bases.
> Tabasco's relations to the military extend beyond combat situations. The U.S. Navy/Marine Corps lists over 400 mess halls where Tabasco is found on the table. Tabasco is found on the table of every Officer Mess in the U.S. Marine Corps. Tabasco Sauce was also used on Skylab by NASA to adress astronauts' complaints about bland rations. Tabasco is often used in space, both on the International Space Station and during shuttle missions.
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: David Babson [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> >Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2005 8:34 PM
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: Re: Frozen Dead Soldier at Sequoia National Park
> >
> >
> >The small (c. 3cm tall) clear glass Tabasco Brand Pepper Sauce
> >bottles found in contemporary military bivouac areas are from
> >MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) packages, and are placed there under
> >a contract existing between the Tabasco Pepper Sauce Company
> >and the Department of Defense.  I believe they have been in
> >MREs since soon after MREs replaced C-rations, perhaps around
> >1980.  I'm not sure if they are still part of MRE packages
> >today, or if they are in all MREs, or only some MREs.
> >Information on Tabasco Brand Pepper Sauce bottles is contained in:
> >
> >Orser, Charles E., Jr. and David W. Babson
> >       1990    Tabasco Brand Pepper Sauce Bottles from Avery Island,
> >Louisiana.  Historical Archaeology 24(3):107-114.
> >
> >My apologies, but without a copy of this article to hand, I
> >can't remember whether or not we discussed the small MRE
> >bottles, which rather post-date the 19th-century origin of
> >both Tabasco Brand Pepper Sauce and its patented bottles.
> >
> >D. Babson.
> >
> >
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> >Behalf Of George Myers
> >Sent: Friday, October 21, 2005 9:30 PM
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: Re: Frozen Dead Soldier at Sequoia National Park
> >
> > How about those tiny Tabasco bottles? TPQ on them?
> >
>


--
Smoke Pfeiffer
845 Cagle Rock Road
Russellville, Ar. 72802

"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity."
---Sigmund Freud, General Introduction to Psychoanalysis---