The Stomach For Fighting

"Food is critical to military performance, but it's also central to social interaction and fundamental to our sense of identity. The soldiers of the Great War didn't shed their eating preferences with their civilian clothes and the army rations, heavily reliant on bully beef and hardtack biscuit, were frequently found wanting. Nutritional science of the day had only a limited understanding of the role of vitamins and minerals, and the men were often presented with a diet that, shortages and logistics permitting, was high in calories but low in flavour and variety. Just as now, soldiers on active service were linked with home through the lovingly packed food parcels they received; a taste of home in the trenches. This book uses the personal accounts of the men themselves to explore a subject that was central not only to their physical health, but also to their emotional survival."--Publisher's website.

An Army marches on its stomach, observed Napoleon, a hundred and fifty years later General Rommel remarked that the British should always be attacked before soldiers had had an early morning cup of tea. This book, written to raise money for the Army Benevolent Fund and with a Foreword by General Lord Dannatt, sets out the human story of the food and "brew-ups" of the front-line soldier from the Boer War to Helmand. Throughout, the importance of the provision of food, or even a simple mug of tea, for morale and unit fellowship as well as for the need of the calories required for battle is highlighted with many examples over the century. For many, until 1942, the basis of food was "bully beef" and hard biscuit, supplemented by whatever could be found locally, all adequate but monotonous. Sometimes supply failed, on occasions water also. The extremes of hardship being when regiments were besieged, as in Ladysmith in the Boer War and Kut el-Amara in Iraq in the 1914-18 war. At Kut soldiers had, at best, hedgehogs or birds fried in axle-grease with local vegetation. On the Western Front the Retreat from Mons in August 1914 was almost as severe. The transport of food is as interesting a story as the food itself, ranging from oxen, horses, mules, camels, even reindeer and elephants to motor transport and aircraft in different theatres at different times. The first airdrop of food, not very successful, was in fact at Kut el-Amara in 1916. The inter-war years experiences of mountaineers and polar explorers, supplemented by academic diet studies of the unemployed in London and North England led to the introduction of the varied composite, or 'compo' rations, marking an enormous improvement in soldiers' food, an improvement commented upon by the bully beef and biscuits-fed 8th Army advancing into Tunisia from Libya on meeting the 1st Army which had landed in Algeria with tins of compo. The Italian campaigns of 1943-45, especially the Salerno and Anzio landings and the battle for Monte Cassino, presented particular difficulties. At Cassino food reached forward units on mules with Basuto muleteers and Indian porters for the last stage to men in ground holes or scrapes. Soldiers landing in Normandy and fighting on into Germany were generally well fed even during a hard 1944-45 winter. The worst suffering, though, fell on soldiers in the Burma campaign, especially in the Chindit columns. In one unit, the only food available at one time was the chaplain's store of Communion wafers. Many men died unnecessarily from the results of poor feeding. In the end of empire colonial campaigns soldiers were generally well fed even if the food was monotonous. Units in the Korean War experienced difficulties at the onset; in the Borneo jungle campaigns of the 1960s the problem was not so much the provision of food for patrols as how to eat it without the smell of the food and refuse from the packs giving positions away. For the Falklands War special cold weather compo had to be provided and was eaten on the long 'yomps' or 'tabs' marches. The soldier on the streets of Northern Ireland often lived on egg "banjo" sandwiches but real hardship was suffered by one Welsh battalion besieged by the Serbs in Gorazde during the Bosnia operations when Vitamin C deficiency led to scurvy. The book ends with food supply, often based on whole or part swapping with American military food (usually below British standards) in the Iraq operations and in Afghanistan. An appendix sets out the contents of a typical box of rations issued to a soldier in Helmand in 2011, very generous in quantity and easily prepared. One side of the box carries a stern message to the effect that a soldier must consume the entire contents in order to maintain full fighting efficiency. Such injunctions were not marked on the boxes of food sent forward to the troops in the Boer War; there the boxes were stamped with the initials of the Senior Catering Office Field Force. "Scoffs here at last." The work has been compiled from documents in the Royal Logistic Corps Museum at Deepcut, from memoirs, letters and interviews, and from the superb collection of regimental histories in the library of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. All royalties due to the author for this book will be sent to the Army Benevolent Fund, The Soldiers' Charity.

Ava pretends to be Alex at the cheerleading tryouts in the fourth book of the It Takes Two series! Will the twins get away with their big switch? All of Alex’s new friends are trying out for the cheerleading squad, and they convince her to try out with them. There’s only one problem: she’s the least coordinated person on the planet! Alex knows she can never actually be a cheerleader, but she wants to avoid total humiliation at tryouts, so she enlists Ava to pretend to be her and try out in her place—sometimes having a twin really comes in handy! Alex instructs Ava to be good, but not good enough to make the squad. But Ava finds herself enjoying the routines, giving a great performance, and making the team! Ava can’t be a football player and a cheerleader at the same time…what’s a scheming pair of twins to do?

If you have any interest at all in epidemiology, modern medicine, or the survival of the human race, do read The Chickens Fight Back —Georgia Straight Emerging diseases like mad cow, SARS, and avian flu are — for the moment, at least — far more prevalent in animals than in humans. Still, the knowledge that measles, TB, and smallpox were at one time “emerging” diseases that eventually made a permanent, and quite deadly, jump to humans gives epidemiologists pause. This book examines the various groups of animal diseases, explains what attracts them to the human population — from food to sex to living conditions — and offers suggestions for keeping them at bay. It also points out that diseases must be looked at from an ecological, cultural, and economic point of view as well as from a biological standpoint. Cooking meat till its well done and slathering on insect repellent for a hike in the woods are effective preventative measures, but as the author notes, it’s more important to fundamentally rethink humankind’s place in the world.

“FIGHT BACK by Chauncey Crandall M.D. You want to get a copy of it.” — Pat Robertson, 700 Club FIGHT BACK! WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CORONAVIRUS NOW! UNDERSTAND THE DISEASE AND KNOW THE SYMPTOMS TO LOOK FOR! HOW TO PREVENT INFECTION! WHAT TO DO IF YOU GET SICK! TREAMENTS AND FINDING A CURE! FIGHT BACK: Beat the Coronavirus separates fact from hype and offers practical, proven strategies and hope for conquering the COVID-19 pandemic. World renowned physician and author Dr. Chauncey Crandall outlines the latest health information on how to protect yourself, family, friends and community from Coronavirus, how to stop the spread of infection, and what to do if you are infected. Dr Crandall is known as “The Praying Doctor,” because, along with medicine, he dispenses prayer and his faith in God; he has been heralded for his values and message of hope to all his patients. Co-authored by Charlotte Libov, an award-winning health book author, pioneer in the field of patient advocacy and health reporter with expertise in pandemic outbreaks, FIGHT BACK: Beat the Coronavirus also provides information on potential treatments, vaccines, and cures. LEARN HOW TO BEAT THE CORONAVIRUS: PROTECT YOURSELF, YOUR FAMILY, YOUR FRIENDS & YOUR COMMUNITY!