Interesting ration components

[donaldjcheek]

Thought these might be of interest. These are some of the "supplementary rations items" supplied in the ration packs issued to officers & special troops of the Argentine forces during the Falklands/Malvinas war of 1982. Regular enlisted troops got a ration pack with significantly less food and no alcohol.

[Stef]

Hi, thanks for the info !
When officers have a bigger ration than the average soldier: that's how you recognise a true democracy

[Bypah]

Interesting find....." café con leche azucarado"=Sweetened coffee with milk , a whisky bottle and some fuel tablets...
kool!! Get drunk with an ifunsion of sweetened coffee with whisky....

[Treesuit]

But where's the rest of the ration?

[Bypah]

Information and pictures of combats rations of Latin American armies are very rare and elusive.

I got a pic of a display of modern combat rations of the Argentinian army....

[biscuits brown]

In the excellent book Los Chicos De La Guerra 1982 by Daniel Kon, an Argentine Journalist, one of the participants described an Argentine ration box as having 2 tins of beef, some biscuits, mate or coffee, and a small bottle of Whiskey.

[Bypah]

This one is a Peruvian Army ration. If I'm not mistaken I read here or somewhere else that the peruvian military was buying MRE's or its components for their troops....

Peruvian military rations

img_productos.jpg (14.19 KiB) Viewed 7904 times

[housil]

If I'm not mistaken I read here or somewhere else that the peruvian military was buying MRE's or its components for their troops....

[Bypah]

Olli....probably these components made by MRE Star could have easily been sold to the peruvians.....
Two basics measls...chicken stew with rice and vegetables and black beans, potatoes and chicken in BBQ sauce.
although the last one unlikely hispanics don't use too much BBQ sauce like here in the US.

[donaldjcheek]

This one is a Peruvian Army ration. If I'm not mistaken I read here or somewhere else that the peruvian military was buying MRE's or its components for their troops....

Buran, you are correct

In 2008 there was a huge scandal in Peru involving, amont other things, combat rations for troops fighting Sendero Luminoso guerillas in the VRAE. The Peruvian Congress authorized a combat ration costing 35 Peruvian sols per day for the soldiers, but the "Racion Fria" provided cost about 15 Peruvian sols per day. Guess where the difference went?

Worse, the ration was often spoiled or inedible; by one estimate, nearly 35% of some components were rotten by the time they reached the troops. Also, the calorie content of the ration was too low (about 2200-2500 kCalo) for troops engaged in fighting or strenuous activity, even if it arrived unspoiled.

The Chief of the Army immediately ordered $45 million US of MREs from the US. The problem here was that the MRE entrees were unfamiliar to the troops (ravioli in tomato sauce for instance) and too expensive, costing about 48 Peruvian sols. It also turns out that the company responsible for importing the MREs was owned by someone with family ties to the Chief of the Army. His explanation was that "nothing else was available."

Patently untrue, since the Peruvian Navy had already developed a combat ration for its Naval Infantry also fighting in the VRAE, based on commercially available items both made in Peru and familiar to Peruvian troops. And this ration only cost 16 Peruvian sols. This was quickly adopted by the Army until new ration packs were ordered from Colombia.

In September 2009, the new "Racion de Combate o de Campana," an indigenous combat ration developed by AxisPeru, was adopted by both the Army & Navy of Peru and this is the ration shown in the picture. I have the information from the official Peruvian specifications and will post them on a new thread.