Although it was a huge convenience for AFV to be able to draw on the US Armys logistic system for fresh and packaged ration items, there were many problems, including inadequate and incomplete American record keeping; shortages or non-availability of standard items; lack of substitutes in the case of shortages or non-availability; and differences in national food tastes (try getting an American to taste Vegemite).I am currently about two thirds of the way through a book for the Australian Army History unit dealing with the history of feeding the Oz Soldier from colonial times to Afghanistan.
I recently, before I joined the Forum, I came across a posting on feeding Australian soldiers in Vietnam which was quite good but contained some errors. Below is an extract from book manuscript that I hope Forum members will find interesting and informative. Feeding the Australian Force Vietnam From the very beginning, the Australian authorities struggled to maintain adequate feeding of its troops in Vietnam. This resulted from a combination of ration shortages due to problems with the US logistic system, difficulty in obtaining ration items acceptable to Australian tastes, inadequate storage facilities and transport shortages. Ration Sources The Australian Army in Vietnam was supplied with rations from a number of sources, including America, Australia and local purchase. The major supplier, for various reasons, was the US Army, which provided fresh rations (referred to in the US Army as A rations); tinned and packet rations (B rations); and combat rations (C rations). Various items not obtainable through the American supply system or from local purchaseAustralian beef, lamb and sausages, some fruit, cakes, biscuits, sauces, etc.were regularly delivered to Vietnam by Australian supply ships. Finally, units often supplemented the normal supply commodities with items purchased on the local market, especially seasonal fresh vegetables, bread and eggs. For Against Echelons Rar Free World MilitaryAmerican Sources Under a government to government agreement, general supplies, ammunition, petroleum, medical supplies, memorial services (mortuary, cremation, etc), laundry and bath services, procurement services, and terminal and water transportation services were provided as required to Australian forces through the US Army Vietnam (USARV) logistic system in the same manner as the supplies and services were provided to US forcesthis applied to the other Free World Military Assistance Forces as well. One area where exceptions existed was what the Americans refer to as subsistence, i.e. In early 1965, the American Headquarters Support Activity (HQSA), Saigon, under operational control of the US Navy, was responsible for supplying perishable and nonperishable subsistence items to all units in South Vietnam except in I Corps which was supplied by Headquarters 3rd Marine Amphibious Force. HQSA submitted its requisitions directly to the Defence Personnel Support Center in the US; perishables were shipped by air on a 2-2-3 day cycle to upcountry units. Non-perishables were shipped by landing ship tank (LST) on a monthly basis to units located in Vung Tau, Cam Ranh Bay, Nha Trang and Qui Nhon. The US Navy continued to support all US forces until March 1966, at which time the responsibility for II, III and IV Corps was transferred to the US Armys 1st Logistical Command. When 1st Logistical Command assumed the mission of subsistence support from the navy, requisitions were centralized for II, III and IV Corps and submitted through 2nd Logistical Command in Okinawa to the Defence Personnel Support Center. Later the system was modified and requisitions were placed directly on Defence Personnel Support Center. The A Ration consists of a mix of fresh and packaged foods and basically the standard garrison ration, provided when fixed cooking and refrigerated storage facilities are available. The B Ration is also a garrison ration, but is issued when refrigeration is not available; the ration consisted of canned and packaged ration commodities prepared and served by unit cooks. For Against Echelons Rar Full Ration OfThe C Ration, or Meal, Combat, Individual (MCI), was the combat field ration, issued to troops on the basis of one full ration of three meals, plus sundries, per 24-hour period; the C Ration was prepared individually by the soldier. A Rations Units in metropolitan areas such as Saigon, Cam Ranh Bay and Vung Tau were fed A rations, i.e. US Army fresh ration as served in mess halls in the US and which included fresh or frozen meat, fresh fruits, vegetables and milk in accordance with the standard monthly Continental US Master Menu. This was later changed to a special thirty-day menu developed for use in South Vietnam; this menu required more refrigerator capacity than was available, and another menu, a twenty-eight-day cyclic menu was developed in late 1966 requiring less refrigeration. For fixed feeding in base Australian and New Zealand forces were furnished the standard US Army A Ration, supplemented with local purchase items, plus B Ration (see below) items issued in place of non-available A ration items. Australian sugar to Vietnam as grants in aid to the Vietnamese government).
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