Its technical name is “individual combat ration”but in the Army everyone knows them as “bricks”. It is the food that, in case of mobilization, the soldiers would eat at the front, although today the vast majority is consumed during maneuvers.
The design of the combat rations falls on the Park and Supply Center for Intendancy Material (PCAMI) that, every four years, launches its manufacturing contest. This must comply with a technical specification sheet of more than 350 pages, in which it is defined down to the smallest detail.
As explained to DAP by Lieutenant Colonel Jose Antonio Alvarez Gomez, head of the PCAMI Studies, Projects and Laboratory Unit, the design of the rations takes into account, first of all, the nutritional needs of the combatants. These are given by a NATO regulations which establishes that 3,600 calories a day should be offered, plus a booster ration in case the physical demand of the mission is especially high of another 1,000 calories. In addition, they are also manufactured emergency rationsdesigned so that combatants can last up to 24 hours with energy in the event of a power outage.
We talk about a lot of food. So much so that, acknowledge the military with whom we have spoken, usually left over. The daily combat menus include a breakfast, an “A” meal and a “B” meal – more like dinner. Each meal includes a soup, two dishes and dessert (generally fruit in syrup), plus a hearty packet of biscuit bread and, at dinner, pâté. In total, we are talking about more than almost a dozen dishes a day, most of them cans that can be heated (or not) with the folding stove available in the kitchen itself. brick.
The portions are packaged in a complicated Tetris: once you disassemble them, it is impossible to mount them again. And, in addition to the food and the stove, it includes purification tablets, isotonic powder sachets, chewing gum, disinfectant wipes, napkins and even a little toothpaste. In times they even came with a cigarette, which was the most valued of the pack. Logically, tobacco has not been included for decades.
There are five menus and the commanders try to ensure that the soldiers do not eat more than three days of brick –which is already an estimable amount to carry in the backpack–, but it is not difficult to have to repeat. By law, in fact, it is established that it is possible to feed the military during a maximum of 30 days with these individual or collective rations: cans with the same dishes but from which a whole platoon of ten people eats. You never get that far, but in case of conflict, it could happen.
A meal for any circumstance
In addition to giving soldiers enough calories for their daily performance, the main objective of combat rations is to be durable – they have a three-year expiration date, except for breakfast, which due to condensed milk expires after a year and a half. easily transportable and resistant to all kinds of environments.
A new type of combat ration is being tested whose food is served in self-heating trays
In the PCAMI laboratory, from time to time, the rations are subjected to internal controls. The cans are placed at 35º and 55º to study if microorganisms grow and to observe that there are no leaks. The rations have to endure equally in the Baltic States or in Mali, to name two countries in which, at present, there are troops of the Spanish Army deployed.
Among the functions of the Studies, Projects and Laboratory Unit is also the development of new endowment resources from army. And, although most of the work is carried out by textile equipment, there are also innovations in the food field.
A new type of combat ration whose food is served in self-heating trays is currently being tested in the field, thanks to a chemical that, when poured with water, heats the food in just 10 minutes. This makes it possible to dispense with the stove in extreme cold situationsas occurs in missions such as those in Latvia, the country chosen to test the new system, where in winter it is impossible to use the stove to heat the rations: inside the tanks the fire alarm goes off and outside it reaches 20º C below zero .
Are the bricks good?
Although the reliability of the rations is the most important thing, in the PCAMI they insist that they also take care to offer the soldiers a decent foodwhich is also specifically Spanish, something not so common in other countries with more American-style combat rations: with a predisposition to fast food.
“It is important for the morale of the troops that they feel at home”
There is stew from Madrid, beans with chorizo, squid in ink, stew, meatballs, green beans with ham, meat in sauce, mussels… Everything we could find in a today’s menu from any Spanish city.
“It is important for the morale of the troops that they feel at home,” says Lieutenant Colonel Álvarez, before we sit down together in a tasting table, in which we value several of the dishes present in the bricks.
We are especially surprised by the country salad with tuna, which is far above this type of supermarket canned salad, and sardines with tomato, which seem to come from a quality canning company. The stew from Madrid and the meat in sauce are good, although they have a point of acidity typical of this type of preserves, which is less pleasant.
The Temporary Union of Companies (UTE), which currently manufactures the rations, is made up of three companies specialized in combat rations and for humanitarian aid: Hypercas, Jomipsa and Theogenes Ruiz. And, although all of them have several separate businesses, it does not seem that these preserves are exactly the same as those that we can see in supermarkets.
Fans of combat rations
Although not all the troops are particularly fond of them – after all, freshly cooked food is always better – the PCAMI commanders insist that Spanish combat rations they are the envy of the military of other countries, who try by all means to take them as a souvenir.
“Everyone wants them in joint maneuvers,” explains Lieutenant Jesus Lopez Cebrian, head of the laboratory. “The Italians would exchange them for their shirts. They are highly valued outside of Spain”.
The truth is that the combat rations, of all hosts, have numerous fans. And not only among the military: they are highly demanded by mountaineers, historical reenactment groups and, of course, preparationists – people who have everything ready for an imminent apocalyptic event.
Although the colonel colonel Alfonso Azores, head of the PCAMI, assures us that “it shouldn’t happen”, the army’s combat rations can be bought in stores specialized in military paraphernalia, second-hand applications such as Wallapop -where it is very difficult to control that a soldier resells what he has left over from a few maneuvers – and, even on Amazon. And not exactly at a bargain price.
Ffaa Spanish Military Food MRE Individual Combat Ration Armed Forces Spain
Of course, from Madrid San Cristobal barracks, Headquarters of the PCAMI and its Supply Unit, from which all the rations are distributed both in national territory and in missions abroad, it does not seem easy for these rations to end up for sale on the internet. Everything is measured to the millimeter. And, if the case arises, there are rations that are going to expire, you can always set up some maneuvers to take advantage of them.
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