---
title: "Here’s the ridiculous true story behind a ‘Rock Or Something’"
description: "If you've served in the military in the last quarter century, then you're probably familiar with the phrase \"Rock Or Something.\""
date: "2016-09-12"
modified: "2016-09-12"
authors:
  - name: "James Clark"
    job_title: "Editor-in-Chief"
    link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/james-clark/"
url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/culture/mre-heater-rock-something-true-story/"
categories:
  - "Culture"
  - "Mandatory Fun"
  - "Tactics"
  - "Tech & Tactics"
---

# Here’s the ridiculous true story behind a ‘Rock Or Something’

![rock or something](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/24/main-qimg-bbc7011f3ede5b3b33565935b635fc67.png>)

*Editor's note: This article was originally published on Sept. 12, 2016.*

If you've served in the military in the last quarter century, then you've probably eaten an MRE, and unless you really enjoyed choking down cold congealed pasta and some vaguely meat-like product, then you used a flameless ration heater.

And that means you're familiar with this gem of a phrase: “rock or something."

The instructions for how to properly use an MRE heater advises the user to lean the heater “against a rock, or something." Your Kevlar, your boots, another MRE bag, a Rip-It. Anything really.

The vague nature of the instructions has led the phrase to reappear in news feeds, sarcastically quipped in conversation, and even [as the subject of satirical posts](<https://www.duffelblog.com/2016/03/inventor-rock-or-something-mre/>). But, where did “rock or something" come from?

"The term 'rock or something' has now reached cult status," said Lauren Oleksyk, a team leader of the food processing, engineering and technology team at Combat Feeding Directorate, according to an [Army news release on the ration heater.](<https://www.army.mil/article/104094>)

Oleksyk and teammates Bob Trottier and Don Pickard coined the phrase in 1993.

The ration heater does exactly what its name implies. With just an ounce-and-a-half of water, the magnesium-iron alloy and sodium in the heater will raise the temperature of an MRE's eight-ounce main meal by 100 degrees in just 10 minutes.

Lauren Oleksyk holds a Flameless Ration Heater and a Meal, Ready-to-Eat. U.S. Army photo by David Kamm

"We were designing the directions and wanted to show an object to rest the heater on," said Oleksyk, who recalled Pickard saying: "'I don't know. Let's make it a rock or something.' So we wrote 'rock or something' on the object, kind of as a joke."

It's taken on a life of its own since then, being rebranded as a meme, pasted all over t-shirts, and even recreated as decals.

“There are many, many soldiers over the years that have their own personal joke about what they might use in place of a rock," said Oleksyk.

So next time you're out in the field wondering why the military thought you needed semi-sarcastic instructions on what best to lean an MRE heater against, now you know.

## Author
James Clark is the editor-in-chief of Task & Purpose. He is a former Marine and a veteran of the War in Afghanistan.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/JamesWClark>)  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/jclarkjournalism/>)