10 minute read
TOD: RATIONS
FEEDING THE BEAST!
“BULLETS, BEANS AND BANDAGES” IS AN OLD MILITARY SAYING THAT STANDS FOR THE PROPOSITION THAT YOUR INITIAL STEPS FOR THRIVING IN ANY “COMBAT” SITUATION MUST INCLUDE THOROUGH PREP IN TERMS OF FOOD/WATER, AEG/GBB/TRAINING AND MEDICAL SUPPLIES/FIRST AID KNOW-HOW. SO THIS MONTH BILL AND WILL F TAKE ON THE “BEANS” ASPECT!
Bill: What happens when the period of the game you attend goes beyond 24/36/48 hours, and what happens when you need to actually carry in all your nutritional requirements as part of your kit? Then you are into a totally different game that takes some basic knowledge and a good bit of pre-planning to pull off well!
When you’re out in the sticks on a multi-day MilSim with no breaks putting in full days of activity, you want food that will nourish you, strengthen you, revitalise you and possibly even taste really good. When pondering how much or little to carry err on the side of taking a little more than you think you need. A reasonable goal is 2,500 to 4,500 calories per person per day depending on your size, weight and exertion level. On the other hand, you need to not overdo it, and a common blunder is to pack too much food, forcing you to lug unwanted bulk and weight. Experience will teach you what amount of food works for you, but there are easily-found guidelines.
Estimates range from 1,600 to 2,400 calories per day for adult women and 2,000 to 3,000 calories per day for adult men, with these heading upward when you factor in extreme levels of activity. Within each age and sex category, the low end of the range is for sedentary individuals, and the high end of the range is for active (read here “going about your daily business”, NOT playing airsoft!) individuals. They say that due to reductions in basal metabolic rate that occur with aging, calorie needs generally decrease for adults as they age; “generally” is the key word here as believe me, if I’m without food at the end of a long day I’ll probably eat your bloody arm off!
Will F: So you’re out for a weekend on an airsoft adventure, and okay, there may be a B&B nearby for an overnight stay, – but that’s not in the spirit of the get together. Being in the field is part of the fun, but a picnic lunch or supper again is not in the spirit. If its food for living in the field for a night or two it’s got to be a 24 Hour Ration Pack or an MRE! Right now Airsofters are spoiled for choice if they go online
Rations from around the world can be bought, some it must be said at a price that you could spend taking the significant other out for dinner in a fancy restaurant, so we won’t go there.
Essentially you are looking for food for three meals; normally this consists of a breakfast course, snack meal for midday when you are on the move and an evening course. These can be juggled about according to the operational situation. Some combat rations like the US Army MRE consist of a main course and a snack, so you need to check what the main course is! You don’t want to start the day with a beef stew or for that matter end it with hash browns and beans.
While the main meals are tastier if heated up and particularly so in cold wet conditions they are precooked and can therefore be eaten cold, hence the designation Meals Ready to Eat… though wags have suggested that MRE stands for Meals Rejected by Everyone.
MIL SPEC
Experience in Afghanistan led US servicemen and women to “field strip” their MREs and reduce them to essentials. This involved removing anything that would be duplicated in another MRE like the spoon, condiments even the flameless heater if the meal could be eaten cold. Veterans reckoned that they could not only reduce bulk and volume but crucially weight down from1 lb. 13.7 oz. to 1 lb. 0.2 oz. While it might not seem like much, remember the old adage: “An ounce in the morning weighs a pound at night!”. Flameless chemical heaters and the retort pouch have revolutionised combat meals, so you can actually heat your main meal on the move as long as it is securely stowed in a trouser cargo pocket; stow it wrong and you end up with rather warm, smelly trousers Otherwise it is easy to heat the meal as you prepare your bivvy site in the evening.
One of the best combat meals in terms of value for money that I have encountered is the Lithuanian MRE. It has a main meal and excellent snacks but crucially a chemical heater and a small solid fuel stove with fuel tablets. This is ideal if you fancy a brew in your canteen/water bottle mug. The packet weighs 0.67kg and has between 1400-1500 Kcal of food and snacks.
The British ORP (Operational Ration Pack is great) offers a full 24 hours food in a bag that incorporates a carrying handle; convenient if you are the person detailed off to collect a section’s rations… it’s a bit like carrying multiple carrier bags. With over 5000kcal the ORP is actually ranked as one of the best combat rations in the world!
The ORP has a lot of great features including different menus to cater for religious and dietry restrictions. The accessories pack has a re-useable Poly Bag, Tea x 2, creamer x 4, sugar x 4, instant coffee x 2, windproof/waterpoof matches, Alcohol free moist wipe x 2, Tissues, Water Purification Tablets x 6, Chewing gum, Spork, spicy red chili sauce. However because the RAF have very strict cargo regulations there is no solid fuel or chemical heater.
Most ration packs assume the diner is carrying them in his or her Bergen; however if you have the luxury of a vehicle there are rations that are bulkier and heavier, but also very tasty.
The Spanish and Italian 24 Hour rations come boxed. The Spanish Armed Forces Individual Combat Ration (ICR) features some of the finest
Spanish entrees like stuffed squid in its own ink, lentils stewed with chorizo and Spanish bacon, and octopus with garlic, among other hearty and scrumptious Spanish staples. The daily MRE contains approximately 3,400 calories.
The Italian Armed Forces (Forze Armate) use a ration called the “Special Combat Food Ration” (Razione Viveri Speciale da Combattimento). Each individual ration is enough food for one soldier for one day. A single ration is approximately 30 cm x 23 cm x 10.5 cm with a weight of 2.3 kg. Each meal bag contains three boxes; one for breakfast, one for lunch, and one for supper/dinner. These rations use cans instead of the retort pouches seen in the US, British, and Canadian rations. The Italian ration is a little like a bit of Mama’s home cooked comfort food as the tinned minestrone soups are delicious as are the pasta courses like ravioli, but of course as with all tins there is a weight penalty.
The Australian Army has a one man ration designated Combat Ration One Man or CR1M – which of course becomes a “Crim” before it adopted retort pouches the ration had a handy tin opener that incorporated a bottle opener and spoon with the designation Field Ration Eating Device which the soldiers knew as a “Fred”.
In former times some rations included small bottles of spirits and the ubiquitous US Army C Ration of Vietnam fame had packs of five wellknown brands of cigarettes! Now rations are much more health conscious and include vitamin tablets as well as water purification tablets.
If you are not feeling very hungry it is advisable not to treat yourself to just the goodies in your ration pack; to get a balanced meal eat small portions of all the courses as a lot of research has gone into your ration to ensure it provides effective nutrition.
COTS MEALS
Bill: In my former professional life as an outdoor instructor and practitioner one of the major considerations I had to take into account for any group I took into remote areas was that of what they ate and drank. Any of you that know me personally will also know that whilst I’m not a heavy chap, I am quite a big one, so food and drink rank pretty high on my list before I undertake any outdoor expedition; I don’t like being hungry!
When you’re at a day skirmish everything is pretty simple. You stop at “Mackey D’s” on the way in for
some breakfast, or you snarf a bacon buttie as soon as you arrive on site. You might actually drink some water, but more likely than not it’s a coke or a Red Bull. Most sites these days provide a decent lunch, and you’ll no doubt supplement this with a few choice snacks and some choccy bars. At the end of a fine day shooting your mates you can head home to a solid meal. Sound familiar so far?
Although personally the “meal plan” outlined above would not be what I would eat, or indeed drink (although I like a “Big Breakfast” as much as anyone!), it’s a mix that you can easily get away with for a day’s play; even a weekender won’t tax you too much as usually you can access all the goodies in your car, and the likelihood is that someone will crack up the BBQ after play has ceased.
When it comes to preparing for an immersive, longer-duration airsoft Op there are always regular things that I carry, and most of them are easily found in your local supermarket or outdoor store. First is my “Brew Kit” which is a simple Ziploc bag containing of course tea and coffee, salt, pepper, and sugar, some waterproof matches, and more often than not a couple of stock cubes for hot drinks. All of these items are easily available and individually packed in their own little “baggies” for ease. Around my kit I’ll also carry some museli bars for a quick snack on the go, and most importantly in one of my thigh cargo pockets will be my “Nosebag”; this little Ziploc bag of goodness is made up of different types of nuts and dried fruit along with some crumbled digestive biscuits for a bit of extra sweetness, and was “the gift of knowledge” to me many moons ago from a “special” friend I trained with!
Although military rations as Will outlines are ideal for airsoft weekenders, for main meals I go back to my outdoor-pursuits-roots and I absolutely love, and swear by the pre-packed meals offered in virtually every outdoor shop in the UK by Wayfarer. These individually packaged, super-tasty and filling (they’re designed for trekking so calorifically they’re spot on) are pre-cooked so you can eat them hot or cold (just like an MRE!)); if you have water to cook with Wayfarers can be simply “boiled in the bag” to heat them up, and you still have clean water for a brew left over! In a nutshell you can prepare yourself for a longer Op by taking your time, spending wisely, and not add a significant amount of weight and bulk to your load. For one day this is not particularly significant, but if you start talking about multi-days those grammes are going to start to stack up and begin to degrade your overall performance, your personal enjoyment, and the enjoyment of those around you. My advice is to be smart; you’ve already probably spent a fair amount of money for the game, so why scrimp on something that will directly affect that in a negative way? Be smart, do your homework, buy the right thing, and eat well! AA
