DECLUTTERING FOOD SUPPLY YIELDS MORE VOLUME
THE FORT BRAGG POST
One of the myths about Airborne units is that because they move by air their equipment is "light" and supposedly less capable than sea/land-locked foes and that supplies are low so Paratroopers cannot cannot fight long without resupply. The truth is that ALL U.S. Army units deploy with 3 days of combat supplies. ALL units can be resupplied by on-call airdrop indefinately. The limiting factor is volume not weight. De-cluttering the Paratrooper yields more volume.
The truth is that the Paratrooper carries the same M16A2 rifle or M4 5.56mm carbine as the "leg" Soldier or marine; uses the same wheeled vehicles (HMMWVS, 5-ton trucks, etc.); can be transported by them and M113A3 APCs, and wears the same rucksack.
The only difference is light M551 Sheridan Tanks (future M8 Buford
An entire case--12 MREs--can be compressed into four meal bags--food for an entire week--by removing the case, cardboard covers on every food packet, the Tabasco sauce bottle and unwanted accessory pack items (I don't drink coffee). Keep the MRE cases themelves for use as field fortification or vehicle hardening buy filling them in with dirt/sand/ice etc. MRE cases were used during the Cold War to hide dirt taken out of a secret tunnel under the Berlin wall to get spies into communist countries. You can fill up a MRE case faster than a sandbag and unlike the latter, the cases can be stacked and interlocked like bricks for wall construction without need of revetments.
Place a rubber band over the meal bags to reclose them. One meal bag (a three-day supply of food) can fit in the buttpack along with a lightweight sleeping bag (NSN 8405-01-H77-9567) and poncho-tent in a stuff sack to give Paratroopers full shelter, food and water for three days on the fighting load.
Another week's worth of supplies are inside the rucksack (existence load). Every squad could carry a water purifier so any water source--even mud puddles--can be turned into drinking water.
If dehydrated Long Range Patrol (LRP) rations NSN 8970-00-926-9222 are used instead of MREs the amount of food doubles since they're half the weight. A Paratrooper could have a month's worth of food in his rucksack, without ill effect on his foot mobility.
Every little bit counts: tear open your MREs SIDEWAYS so you an eat every morsel of food and minimize waste which attracts insects/enemy trackers. Compressed packing and efficient eating gets you the most from your meals. If a micro-hygiene capability was built into the MRE, the Paratrooper could forgo having to carry shaving cream, soap, shampoos, razors, toothpaste paid for out of his own pocket into the field.
We see the Airborne short if we say it can only fight for three days without resupply when in actuality it can jump into battle with more than the 30 days of supplies which the Navy/marine corps brags about for it Soldiers who are less resilient than the Paratrooper.
Quality is the key on the modern battlefield. A force that can achieve surprise from the AIR (100% of the earth is covered by it) and is able to fight in any direction without depending on vulnerable resupply lines by self-sufficiency (Like Sherman's Army during the Civil War) is the force that will prevail.
Details of the latest MRE menu selections:
Close-up of some MRE food items
UPDATE 2003:
Natick Labs discover troops strip-down MREs!
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Dec2003/n12192003_200312193.html
Natick to Field New Combat Ration for Troops on the Move
(EXCERPT) By Donna Miles American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Dec. 19, 2003--"Ration stripping," they call it when forward- deployed combat troops jettison all but the most essential items from their Meals, Ready to Eat so they don't have so much to carry as they set out on a mission.
Troops in Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan reported sacrificing all but a few carefully chosen food items from their MRE pouches to lighten their pockets and rucksacks.
These reports alarmed food technologists at the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center at Natick, Mass, who recognized that warfighters weren't simply tossing aside "luxury" items like flameless heaters and Tabasco sauce.
Janice Rosado from the Defense Department's combat feeding program said troops were also leaving half of their food behind, losing half the nutrition and calories packed into their MREs at a time when their bodies needed them most.
In response, Rosado said Natick is developing the "first-strike ration" specifically for short-term use by warfighters during the first days of conflict.
First-strike rations are lighter and more compact than standard MREs. A single pouch holds a full day's food supply and weighs about 21/2 pounds. By comparison, three MREs weigh in at about 2 pounds heavier, Rosado said.
In addition to increasing troops' mobility, the new rations are designed to enhance their physical performance and mental acuity. They contain food easily eaten on the go, she said: a pocket sandwich, beef jerky, nuts, dried cranberries, applesauce and bread or crackers with a cheese spread. Extra energy comes packed into a fudge bar, a high-carbohydrate "HooAH" bar, an enriched beverage mix, and caffeine-laced chewing gum.
"They're a combat-driven ration that has more carbohydrates, less packaging and no luxury items," Rosado said. "They're based on what warfighters say they most frequently take with them when they're on the go."
Rosado stressed that the new rations aren't intended for noncombat operations or field training exercises.
They're "not nutritionally complete," she said, and don't meet all the dietary standards required of MREs. In addition, first-strike rations have fewer calories than MREs 2,900 to 3,000 in a one-day pouch, compared to 3,600 to 3,900 calories in three MREs.
But Rosado insists that the new rations are a big improvement over the "Band- Aid approach" she said troops have historically used to feeding themselves while on the run.
The new rations have been field tested by Army special operations troops and Navy SEALs, Rosado said, with both groups giving them the thumbs-up.
In fact, the latest prototype of the new ration proved so popular during testing that the U.S. Army Special Operations Support Command requested as many of the rations that Natick's food engineering lab could make to ship to Rangers deployed to Iraq.
Current plans call for the first-strike rations to be fielded by 2007.