Bengaluru: While you gulp ready-to-eat snacks or packaged food have you ever wondered what the soldiers on the battlefield eat?
Kargil war veteran and Shaurya Chakra awardee Major (Retd) Rakesh Sharma recalls his deputation in the counter insurgency operations, where soldiers had to sustain themselves on shakarparas and saltries for three-four days.
“Though dry tinned food got introduced quite some time back in the harsh field and battle zone, Indian soldiers still carry those packed saltries and shakarparas in their backpacks if any space is left after stocking ammunition. They have a long shelf-life. Even the shakarparas and saltries were consumed only on strict need basis,” he said.
Before combat rations age, each battalion had mobile kitchen. "If the units are far in the field, the supplies were set up to deliver the uncooked raw food and leave it to the soldiers to cook their meals. Field mobile kitchens exist even today, but rarely used in the peak of war,” he added.
Reminiscing his Kargil war days where soldiers carried a vehicle-mounted kitchen, he said, “Vehicle mounted kitchen is a cook house and we used its services where ever possible. We used Meal Ready to Eat (MRE) only in advance operations as it’s not possible to set up the kitchen. Later in the battle, when the operations softened, fresh food was supplied to us.”
If in case, the soldiers are on the move for long periods of time and due to the constraints of time MRE cannot be prepared, they are issued First Strike Rations which include the nutrients necessary in the combat. Though they are not tasty, he says these are survival rations. During Kargil operations, First Strike Rations were small packs of tinned food in terms of fruits, dry nuts and snacks.
For the army’s logistics wing sustaining the supply of ration in front areas during battles remains a major challenge in order to keep the soldiers fighting fit. As the popular adage goes, ‘An army marches on its stomach’.
