JBSA-FORT SAM HOUSTON –
Military field rations are a never-failing source of conversation and complaint. The field ration has to balance nutrition and portability, both of which have changed.
The Continental Congress, which met from 1774 to 1789, legislated the following ration: one pound of beef, 18 ounces of flour, one pint of milk, one quart of spruce beer, 1.4 ounces of rice and 6.8 ounces of peas.
Flour was often baked into hardtack to travel better; milk was a nice idea but it did not travel and it is unlikely milk was regularly delivered anywhere, especially in those quantities.
Spruce beer was a mild anti-scorbutic to prevent scurvy, but again, impractical because a quart of spruce beer per man per day was too large to be manageable. This ration kept you full and had enough calories if the Commissary General could actually supply everything, but was vitamin-deficient. That should not be a surprise; vitamins were not discovered until the early 20th Century and even carbohydrates, protein and fat - as subcomponents of food with differing nutritional effects - were unknown concepts.
The main reason foods were chosen for the ration was because they shipped and stored well. Moreover, troops were expected to get food beyond the ration - by purchase, by foraging, by gifts from civilians or by growing it themselves if camped long enough.
The rations changed little between 1775 and the 1890s and some moves were backwards. Vegetables and spruce beer were dropped in 1790. Coffee was added, and rum removed in 1832.
Aside from a small allowance of peas and beans, there was relatively little change. Joseph Lovell, the first Surgeon General, suggested replacing some of the meat with vegetables, but he was ignored.
However, the Army did not waste away from deficiency diseases. First, Soldiers bought and/or grew ration supplements; most forts had land to grow vegetables, keep cows and so forth. Troops also foraged, either hunting or gathering.
In the desert southwest, surgeons found cactus juice an effective - if unpalatable - anti-scorbutic. To get the troops to drink it they added sugar, lemon extract and - probably the key - whiskey.
Furthermore, "commutation" was allowed. A unit could take the cash value of some of the authorized ration and buy other food. But these supplements stopped when troops went into the field. Then it was back to hardtack and salt meat.
Rations were almost unchanged during the Civil War. Potatoes were added in 1861 and desiccated vegetables were available to U.S. forces, but troops hated them - calling them "desecrated vegetables" or "compressed hay" - and overcooked them. Thus, most of the vitamins that had survived the drying process were destroyed.
To reduce bulk, "essence of coffee" was developed, but it looked - and tasted - like axle grease and was soon replaced with ground coffee. Eben Horsford, a pioneering civilian nutritionist, explored better rations and the Army bought some to test.
Horsford's designed his marching ration to be more compact, with roast wheat instead of hardtack and three ounces of cooked-down beef he claimed was equivalent to 10 ounces of fresh lean beef. It may or may not have been nutritionally equivalent, but it was an utter disaster: the wheat molded and the meat spoiled - even dogs would not eat it.
In the Civil War, there were thousands of troops on campaign for months and even years and nutritional problems arose. Scurvy developed over winters, and during the Atlanta Campaign in 1864, around 20 percent of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's troops showed symptoms until fruits and berries were ripe.
Elsewhere, there were occasional skirmishes for berry patches, the prize being the berries with their Vitamin C, although the troops probably wanted the sugar and flavor. Some Confederate troops, living largely off cornbread and bacon, developed night blindness due to low Vitamin A levels.
After the Civil War, the modest improvement for the citizen- Soldiers disappeared. There was still no official field ration, although an improving canning industry could produce tinned meat and vegetables. These were mainly used as a travel ration for railroad journeys where troops could not build fires for cooking, rather than in the field.
By the 1890s, there were glimmers of nutritional science. Foods were analyzed for carbohydrates, fat and protein, but the Army was still largely concerned with filling the stomach: Regulations in 1882 allowed the substitution of bread if no vegetables were available. In 1890, a pound of vegetables per day was authorized, but 70 percent had to be inexpensive potatoes.
By the mid-1890s, the Army was seeking a field ration, confusingly called the emergency ration, reserve ration, haversack ration or marching ration. There is no evidence medical advice was sought: the goals were a compact size, low weight and use of normal foods. Compressed bread and cooked bacon were tried, but they upset the stomachs of all who tried them, presumably due to bad packaging.
By default, the Army ended up with uncooked bacon and hardtack. With half the calories coming from pork fat, which cooked out, its sole merit lay in its portability.
In 1907, something like Horsford's ration was adopted: three ounces of powdered evaporated beef, six ounces parched wheat and three ounces of chocolate. This was canned together in a small, flat package that fit into a pocket.
The Army was still not satisfied and kept tinkering. A "chocolate ration" proved unsatisfactory during the expedition into Mexico to capture Pancho Villa and was abandoned; it may have melted in the heat.
There was still little nutritional consideration. These rations were intended to tide troops over for a few days, and had 1,200-2,500 calories versus the roughly 4,500 in the garrison ration. The goal seems to have been to keep energy levels up and hunger pangs down. Nutritional analyses were done on calories, protein, carbohydrates and fat, but that was all that was done before World War I.
By the time the U.S. entered World War I, nutrition science had advanced by leaps and bounds. As already noted, foods were analyzed for calorie content and protein/fat/carbohydrates. The concept of accessory foodstuffs was propounded in 1906 and the label "vitamins" applied in 1912. It would become "vitamins" in the 1920s, when scientists learned that not all were amino acids.
In World War I trench warfare, hot food could often be brought forward to the front lines. Troops were issued a reserve ration - also known as an iron ration, or, from the meat-packing company, an Armour ration. It was hard bread, corned beef, coffee with sugar and chocolate.
Yet the Army suddenly began doing more. Surgeon General William Gorgas created a Division of Food and Nutrition to inspect food in camps, to improve mess conditions and to study ration requirements.
Given the short length of America's war, the Food and Nutrition Division barely got off the ground, but it tried. Vitamin research was started and Army nutritionists visited camps with advice on foods and cooking. As long as troops were getting cooked meals at least once daily (and twice daily was frequently possible, even in the trenches), better nutrition was being pushed into the field by teaching cooks.
The leading nutritionist, Lt. Col. John Murlin, noted the basic ration had too many calories, was not well balanced and was especially fatty.
In the 1920s, the Quartermaster Corps was still responsible for field rations. The Reserve Ration was slightly modified several times, with different quantities of beef, bread and chocolate. Deficien¬cies were noted, but no action was taken because "its infrequent use precludes the necessity for a substitute" ration.
Meanwhile, science was identifying more vitamins and minerals: Vitamin C in 1928, Vitamin K in 1934, Vitamins D and E in 1922. By 1940, 15 vitamins were recognized, as well as a number of minerals. In the 1930s, drug companies were profiting heavily from a public that wanted vitamins. This knowledge was taken into the Army, with the amounts of vitamins needed unknown but the subject of active research.
By the mid-1930s, the Army was looking to overhaul the field rations. The first of the new rations was the D-ration, a fortified chocolate bar that really was not a ration ("food for the subsistence of one person for one day") but a stand-in for a missed meal. It was so calorie-dense that it could make men nauseous if gobbled and had to be fortified with Vitamin B1 to help absorption of the calories.
The D-ration was the first of a new family of rations that eventually had 19 elements at least considered. Most were special purpose; the big three were sup¬posed to be the A-ration (the garrison ration tweaked for training or field delivery "to meet existing field conditions"), the B-ration (the A-ration but without refrigeration and using canned foods to reduce bulk) and the famous C-ration.
Beginning in 1936, the Quartermaster Corps was researching and testing the early C-ration. Early batches were grossly low in some vitamins and, due to a math error, the original sample had half the expected calories.
Standardized and adopted before field tests were completed, the C-ration had some basic problems. It was bulky, heavy and awkward, so soldiers were not inclined to take a full load. To ease manufacturing, the Quartermaster Corps accepted a reduction in variety.
Theoretically, there were equal quantities of the three meat rations, but producers found the "meat and hash" to be the easiest to make and it was over-produced. To the soldier chewing on the same "meat and hash" for 10 days or more, it was a problem - a problem that could lead to reduced consumption and thus reduced nutrient and calorie intake.
The C-ration provides a lens to examine some nutritional problems. It was never tested for palatability and the design parameters were only "as palatable as possible."
There were problems of Vitamin C consumption, since most Vitamin C came from the lemon juice powder. Troops considered it "bug juice" and used it to bleach floors rather than drink, pointing to the risk of putting most of one nutrient in one food item. The Vitamin C was eventually added to candies and the bug juice dropped.
By 1944, there were 10 different types of C-ration meat or meat-vegetable menus instead of the original three and two types had already been dropped.
Responding to other troop complaints, the candies were varied with commercial types. By the winter of 1944-45, help was on the way.
Troops had chewed their way through the mountains of 1942-43 C-rations and the supply chain had produced enough of the new versions. Positive, sometimes enthusiastic, reports began to arrive. Army Medical Department nutritionists had gotten their point across: the C-ration was adequate for nutrients as long as troops ate it and the Quartermaster General had begun fixing the problem.
In contrast, the K-ration was morale-neutral. It was devel¬oped to be portable for high-mobility troops and easily fit into paratroopers' patch pockets. It proved more popular in testing partly for non-food reasons: the shape was handy. It also used commercial-style components (e.g. Spam and canned chicken) familiar to GIs. It had more calories and vitamins than the C-ration and still more of Vitamins A and C was added.
The Army Surgeon General reestablished a food and nutrition unit Aug. 26, 1940 and received the authority to set Army diet and nutrition standards. Army and Navy Surgeons General also pushed the Office of Scientific Research and Development to organize civilian nutritionists in 1940.
Research was largely done by conscientious objectors (who volunteered as test subjects) and looked at climatic variations on metabolism and eating, and also vitamin super-abundance. Studies also found no great loss of vitamins in sweat, that there was no need for salt tablets if meals were eaten (even at 10 liters sweating per day) and a high-protein diet helped in cold environ¬ments.
Scientists also tried to find ways to make food more attractive (e.g. keeping dried eggs from browning) that would increase consumption and reduce waste and shipping space. In 1944, a Medical Nutrition Laboratory was created directly under the Army Surgeon General, with approximately 24 personnel, replacing the four personnel crowded into the Army Medical School.
With millions of late-World War II C-rations still in depots, there was another lull in ration development after World War II. C-rations were standard in Korea and used in Vietnam.
Not until 1958 did a new ration come about, called the Meal, Combat, Individual, or MCI.
Learning from World War II, there was a greater variety of menus and greater variety of candies, fruits, cigarettes, etc. This let troops personalize their meals and helped morale some, although cigarettes were discontinued in 1972.
The MCI was often mistaken for the C-ration; both had canned elements and both were being used concurrently, so it hardly made a ripple on the soldier's consciousness.
The next generation of ration made a bigger impact. Design work on the Meal, Ready to Eat began in 1961 and it was adopted in 1975, finally coming into service in 1981. While the C-ration had problems, it was developed in roughly three years on a project budget of $300.
As an example of how multiple technologies interact in rations, the development of flat retort packaging (flexible foil/plastic pouches) meant lower heat levels rendered foods safe for storage; lower heat meant more menu choices were possible; more menu choices meant higher troop acceptance and better field nutrition.
While MREs do not enthrall everyone, it shows the Army has learned something. Since the MRE is designed to be fed for up to 01 days, there had to be a greater menu variety and menus rotate every two years.
Harking back to World War II, there is no use having food and nutrients in the ration if troops do not eat them. Adding hot sauce, developing pouch bread, the flameless heater, the desert chocolate bar, better coffee and adding commercial candies were all ways to get nutrients where they matter - into the troops.
The Army also continued its basic research. After World War II, military nutrition research was transferred from Chicago - where it was convenient for the quartermasters - to medical facilities. The Army Nutrition Laboratory was transferred to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1979 on Congressional orders, but other research continues.
As the science of nutrition has developed, so has military nutrition research, because military needs do not always match civilian ones. For instance, power bars for endurance athletes are not what combat troops need - Soldiers' energy expenditure is much more episodic.
Where is the Army looking?
In the continuing effort to get troops to eat all their MREs, labeling/graphics/logos are being studied.
In today's consumer culture, we all react to marketing and it can affect how we eat. The military is also studying how the climate - both physical and command - affects food consumption.
Sergeants may be trained to make positive comments about MREs if that helps troops eat them.
The Army also looked into whether it was possible to raise physical performance 10-15 percent through foods and/or food supplements.
In line with the quasi-pharmaceutical claims for food supplements, research is ongoing about stocking rations with vaccines or vaccine-like drugs; on putting precursor chemicals into rations to increase body production of neurotransmitters or histamine; on blocking stress-related chemicals; on reducing sleep-deprivation effects and on what nutrients snacks should have to sustain clear thinking.
As an example, the Army wants a cognitive stamina extender for tired soldiers, especially those performing repetitious duty, such as guards, drivers, etc. Amphetamines have been ruled out; amino acids as precursor chemicals are a possibility; serotonin is an option; Modfinil (a narcolepsy drug) is an option.
The best option, balancing all factors, is caffeine, and it has been in the ration since 1832. Overall, recent research has shown that it is not possible to boost troops above 100 percent of normal physical performance through food supplements but a better possibility is reducing the performance degradation of stress and fatigue.
If the adage "An army travels on its stomach" still holds true, then the U. S. Army has come a long way. But, then again, complaints about rations are a bond shared between generations of soldiers that are not going to go away anytime soon.