RFID in the Military: Our packaging is smarter than yours!

Mr. Gerald A. Darsch is the Director of the Department of Defense Combat Feeding Directorate (CFD) at the US Army Natick Soldier Center, in Natick, Massachusetts. The mission of the CFD encompasses the total life cycle of combat rations, as well as field feeding systems for all Military Services. Mr. Darsch holds Bachelors and Masters Degree in Food and Science and Nutrition. His accomplishments have been recognized by numerous awards to include the Superior Civilian Service and Meritorious Civilian Service Awards, the U.S. Army Materiel Command Award for Operation Desert Shield/Storm, and the U.S. Army Materiel Command Top Ten Award. He was appointed as a Distinguished Member of the U.S. Army Quartermaster Regiment in 1997 and inducted into the Distinguished Order of St. Martin in 1999 and the Research and Development Associate's Hall of Fame, 2001. Mr. Darsch has authored over fifty publications and has given countless Presentations at professional and military forums. He continues to serve as the CFD spokesperson for domestic and international media.

The DoD Combat Feeding Directorate (CFD) executes the DoD Combat Feeding Research and Engineering Program, a joint service program responsible for meeting the unique combat feeding requirements of each military service. This includes all efforts — research, development, integration, testing and engineering for combat rations, field food service equipment and complete combat feeding systems. This is accomplished by multidisciplinary, highly integrated teams develop revolutionary combat feeding technology for our warfighters to include:

 

 

The CFD includes a partnership between the Natick Soldier Center's Combat Feeding Directorate (CFD) and Product Manager Force Sustainment Systems (PM FSS). The PM effectively manages advanced development (6.4) and full-scale development (6.5) for Army managed food service equipment. The CFD is responsible for management and execution of all science and technology programs, and 6.4/6.5 for Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force field food service equipment as well as combat rations for all four Services.