Feeding Men.
IN CAMP.--You will usually have plenty of food but continual
inspecting is necessary to have it properly cared for, prepared and
served. The kitchen must be kept clean: company commanders inspect
daily and insist on the following:
1. Have cooks and enlisted men come to attention at the command of
the first man who sees you approach.
2. Have all refrigerators opened, and put your head in far enough
to detect any bad odors.
3. Check the bill of fare and see that food not consumed one day is
utilized later--waste bread for bread pudding, for example.
4. See that doors close properly, that windows are screened and roof
is tight--allow no flies.
5. Have floors, tables and refrigerators scrubbed daily.
6. Have the ground around the mess shack raked and thoroughly
policed. Towels hung out to dry must be so hung as not to fall to the
ground. Raked ground does not allow flies to build undisturbed.
7. Taste the coffee and look in the coffee bins.
8. Inspect pans, knives, meat grinder (have latter taken apart for
you occasionally).
9. See that the mess sergeant looks after the incinerator properly;
that he makes the cooks use what he tells them to. Cooks should not be
allowed to help themselves to things; the mess sergeant should weigh
out or set out just what is to be used each day.
10. Have the food served hot and in individual portions as far as
possible; see that the food is not put on the table too soon.
11. During each month talk with an old soldier, a raw recruit and a
non-commissioned officer about the mess to see what the men think of
it.
ON THE MARCH.--(1. i.d.r., 669-673.)
If portable kitchens accompany troops, the men should fall in in
single file and be helped to food as they pass by in companies.
FOR INDIVIDUAL COOKING.--Rations issued might be: 1 carton of
hard-tack, 1 ration of bacon, 1 potato, 2 tablespoons of rice, 1
heaping tablespoon of coffee, sugar.
Fires for individual cooking are best made out of small dried twigs to
produce a hot fire large enough for a group of four men.
There are two methods of cooking with the issue mess-kit.
First Method: Each man cooking for himself. As there are but two
cooking utensils, the tin cup and the frying pan, the cooking must be
systematized in order to cook four articles on the two utensils. To do
this, the rice is first cooked in the tin cup filling the tin cup
one-third full of water throwing in the rice. The water is brought to
a boil and boiled until the individual grains of rice are soft
through. The tin cup is then removed from the fire, the water poured
off, and the cup covered with the lid of the mess tin, the rice being
allowed to steam. In the meantime, the bacon should be fried in the
frying pan, the grease being saved. When the rice is well steamed, it
is turned out in the lid of the meat can, then the bacon placed on top
of it. The tin cup is washed out and the man is then ready to fry his
potato and boil his coffee. The cup is filled two-thirds full of water
and the coffee placed in it and boiled until the desired strength is
attained. To prevent the coffee from boiling over, a canteen of water
should be handy and water thrown in whenever the coffee begins to boil
over. When the coffee is strong enough, the addition of cold water
will settle the grounds. In the meantime, cut the potatoes very thin
and fry them in the bacon grease and the meal is ready: hard-tack,
potatoes, rice, bacon and coffee.
Second Method: Squads of four may specialize; one man to collect the
frying pans and fry all the bacon, another the potatoes, another the
rice and coffee, and the other for collection of wood. Either method
may be followed.
Mess-kits should be cleaned immediately after using, sand being used
for scouring. Mess-kits must be cleaned thoroughly.
IN THE TRENCHES.--Usually rations and stores will be carried up to the
trenches by the supports and the reserves. If this is not possible and
it becomes necessary that men from the front line trenches be
employed, not more than 10 per cent of the men in the firing line are
to be away from the trenches at the same time.
RATIONS AND COOKING:
(a) Ration parties from the support and reserve trenches will be made
up in complete units, _i.e._, platoons or companies.
(b) The company mess sergeant will accompany the ration parties for
his company and will report his arrival to the company commander.
(c) Great care is to be taken that ration and carrying parties make as
little noise as possible.
(d) Cooking if possible will be done behind the front line trenches,
and should be concentrated by sections or companies. Steps must be
taken to insure that as little smoke as possible is made by the cook's
fires.
(e) Waste in any form will be discouraged.
(f) Arrangements should be made to insure that soup or some hot drink
be available for the men between midnight and 7 a.m.
Each company commander must see that timely requisitions for rations
are made and to have no delays at meal times. Food should be brought
up in tin boilers about the size of wash boilers so that two men can
handle one of them easily without a relief. In front line, men send
mess kit relayed from hand to hand to these boilers at stations in
each platoon or section and they are relayed back. Sometimes men in
the front line are relieved for a few minutes. Always carry 24 hours
rations.
Camping and Camp Sanitation.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES:
Great care must be exercised in selecting a camp site, but it must
never be forgotten that the tactical situation is of paramount
importance.
The following principles govern the selection:
(1) Sufficient supply of pure water.
(2) Good roads, but not too near a main highway on account of dust
and noise.
(3) Wood and forage must be obtainable.
The ground should:
(1) Give ample room without crowding.
(2) Have porous soil.
(3) Have high elevation to make site dry.
Avoid:
(1) Marshy ground and mosquitoes.
(2) Woods or dense vegetation.
(3) Ravines or depressions in terrain or dry stream beds subject to
sudden freshets.
Water must be obtainable:
(1) Arrange immediately where to obtain
(a) Drinking and cooking water.
(b) Water for animals.
(c) Water for bathing and washing.
In the case of running water, the point furthest up-stream shall be
guarded for drinking and cooking water. Bathing shall be done at a
point furthest down-stream.
Successful military camping depends upon three (3) things:
(1) Discipline.
(2) Cooking.
(3) Sanitation.
Discipline means control; it means order. Nowhere are these more
essential. Confusion is loss of control, loss of time, and loss of
respect by the men.
Upon arrival at a favorable camp site get the men off their feet. Do
not wait around. As C.O. have your decisions made and the work
organized, so that each squad will be under a leader. Keep squads
together, allowing none to stray off until the work is done, then let
everyone rest except the sentinels.
Do not omit to post sentinels over the water supply and at important
points, even though you have not decided upon the exact location of
camp.
Organize the work by platoons or squads and rotate, if camp is to be
made every few days.
Discipline in camp means more than order and dispatch, however, men
must understand that they are under discipline when off duty--that
they cannot disregard sanitary measures, eat promiscuously, destroy
property, vegetation, or timber and must police the grounds at all
times. Papers, cigarette butts, and newspapers, should never be
allowed on the ground near camp. Eatables should never be kept in
tents to draw vermin. Where possible, in dry weather, the company
street should be wet down to keep the dust out of the tents. Have men
ditch around tents immediately upon making camp. Though it may seem
somewhat of a hardship, a sudden down pour of rain, will recompense
them for this labor many times over. In ditching the tents, completely
circle them, for if this is not done a great deal of rain will come in
the front of the tent.
Food means everything to a soldier. The camp cooking is a barometer of
the organized efficiency and of the enlisted men's attitude. Nothing
else can do so much to help or hinder.
The Company Commander should realize the controlling power exercised
by the company cook and keep the matter in his own hands. He should
accept no excuse for burnt or dirty food.
If officers mess with their companies they will appreciate the
attitude of the men and be able to judge the real situation. Officers
will be well repaid for doing this, as it gives them an idea of the
food that is being served their men.
In the mechanical details of preparing food, the fire is of first
importance. A quick method of cooking is by laying a pair of large
green logs on the surface of the ground just wide enough to place the
pots between them, so that the bottom of the pots will be resting upon
them. Build a fire between these logs, making sure to place the logs
parallel to the direction of the wind.
A pit may be dug, with a sloping bottom, and across this may be placed
the pots, and if iron rails are available, the utensils may be placed
on these. For longer stays this pit may be lined with stone. Stones
retain the heat and less wood is required. Four trenches radiating
from a central chimney will give one flue whatever may be the
direction of the wind. (For more specific data on the subject of fires
and camp cooking, see Manual for Army Cooks--U.S.A.--also notes in
i.d.r., pp. 154-155.)
Make a rule never to allow food to remain in tin cans after opening
them. Remember to place kitchen near available water supply and
furthest from latrines, horse picket lines, or dumps of any kind.
Sanitation comes last in the thoughts of the enlisted man, but it is
no less important for that.
The first requisite is cleanliness. Food receptacles must be scoured
and covers and cracks in tin ware scraped as well as scalding the tins
themselves. Have boiling hot water in tanks (galvanized iron ash cans
are good) for men to wash mess kits in after meals. One can should
contain soapy water so as to cut the grease from the dishes, and the
second tank should contain clean, boiling water for scalding the kits.
Scraps of food should be scraped from the mess tins before immersing
them in water, otherwise washing water becomes filled with small
particles of food. Wiping cloths will greatly add to the convenience
of the men and takes but a short time to make them clean and fit for
use again.
Care must be exercised over three kinds of waste:
(1) Garbage.
(2) Kitchen slops.
(3) Excreta.
Garbage can be burned in the kitchen fires. It should never stand
exposed to the air, but should be tightly covered in iron cans, and
should be disposed of every twenty-four hours. Kitchen help have an
aversion to prompt disposal of garbage and need watching. Fly traps
should be made of muslin and used freely about the kitchen.
Kitchen slops, fats, greasy water, etc., must be drained into covered
pits, never allowing them to be tossed on the ground around the cook
tent. A hole dug and partially filled with stones with a barrel placed
upside down on them, makes a very good receptacle for kitchen slops.
The barrel should be placed so that the inverted top will be a little
way beneath the surface of the ground. A hole should be bored in the
bottom of the barrel and a funnel inserted, through which the slops
may be poured. If the soil is porous, a trough may be dug and covered
with mosquito netting or cheese cloth, and the water poured through
this and allowed to drain off.
Excreta is the most deadly form of waste, and too much care cannot be
exercised in disposing of it. Impress upon every man that he must
cover completely with dirt all excreta so that flies may not have a
chance to approach it.
For short stops and while working in the field "straddle," latrines
are the best. These are shallow trenches the width of a shovel, about
12 inches wide, and several feet in length. For long stops a deep
latrine is dug of the following dimensions: 2 feet wide, 6 feet deep
by 15 feet long. Two posts with crotches, driven at the ends of this
trench, supporting a substantial pole to make a seat * * * for
convenience a hand rail placed in front of this improvised seat will
add to the comfort of the men.
A more permanent latrine is made by covering the pit with a wooden
box, in the top of which are cut holes of the necessary diameter. To
these holes should be fitted spring covers which will shut down
tightly. A wooden frame boarded around this arrangement makes a
satisfactory enclosure.
A urinal made of two long boards joined together to form a V-shaped
trough and drained by a pipe into the pit completes the whole. A pitch
sufficient for rapid drainage should be given the urinal trough.
When necessary to utilize separate urinals, a hole filled with stone
and sprinkled daily with quicklime is sufficient for short periods. At
night there should be a galvanized iron can placed in each company
street and emptied before reveille each morning. This can must be
disinfected by burning out, as must be the latrines when earth or sand
is not used as a covering each time.
Pits must be covered daily with quicklime, ashes, earth and filled
when within two (2) feet of the surface. Their position should be
distinctly marked so as to prevent reopening.
It is a safe rule never to use an old camp ground, but select a new
one, even if less conveniently located. Camp sites should be changed
if it is found that the soil is becoming polluted, or if the ground is
cut up and dusty from constant use.
The condition in which a camp site is left by an organization will
clearly indicate the efficiency and discipline in a command.