You can absolutely burn 5,000 - 6,000 or more calories in a day if you're traveling on foot with a heavy load. Especially if it is cold and you are sleeping cold, even more if you're at altitude. Reqs for manhaulers in Antarctica are like 6,000 a day and medieval peasants ate moronic amounts of calories too. The being cold all the time and exposed actually increases calorie needs a surprising amount.
That said, modern armies are not generally sending guys all that far on foot or having them out that long, so a deficit is fine. You burn less not moving.
Ye olden days, this is one of the reasons armies moved on their stomachs. When Napoleon goes to Moscow or when Auerlian fights a campaign in Syria, then goes to do another in northern France, then goes to Italy, then back to Syria to fight again, they have to do the whole thing on foot carrying their shit in the elements. Which means lots of food. Also why you get huge % casualties before any fighting starts lol.
>Or do they consistently run on a deficit?
even with the best MREs soldiers lose weight during maneuvers and combat on MREs. that's why paletability is so critical to MRE effectiveness. men under physical stress tend to neglect themselves and lose their appetite, so not eating components is catastrophic for their energy levels and immediate health. NCOs have enough on their plate to not have to stand over every private and watch them chew and swallow every last crumb of a shitty ration. so making them good enough that soldiers want to eat them under duress is as important as providing them at all.
Active duty can mean six months in the field carrying a heavy ruck or it can mean six months behind a desk typing on a computer.
We know that very heavy physical work, especially combined with a harsh environment, can cost 6-7000 calories on a day. It is very hard to sustain daily activity like that over time even if you can just shovel in food, as your body isn't a mechanical device that can just increase speed of energy transfer or nuitrition breakdown.
A military full day ration is 3300-3800 calories per day, the largest rations being meant for arctic environment. Typical meal rations tend to be around 1200. Civilian emergency rations like the UN distribute tent to be around 2000 cal for a whole day
In the field? Easily 5000 for infantry.
Do MREs usually make up for that? Or do they consistently run on a deficit?
most MREs have like 2k-ish calories unless they're a multi-meal one
MREs are around ~1,250 per meal.
yeah that rounds up to 2k
>yeah that rounds up to 2k
Ya only round up if it's > 50% to the next rounding increment.
They roughly break even on short ops but staying in the field long-term gives a gaunt keto look as the deficit takes its cut.
Hence the 3 archetypical soldiers' looks of semi-athletic in garrison/lean during deployment/strongfat after retirement.
You can absolutely burn 5,000 - 6,000 or more calories in a day if you're traveling on foot with a heavy load. Especially if it is cold and you are sleeping cold, even more if you're at altitude. Reqs for manhaulers in Antarctica are like 6,000 a day and medieval peasants ate moronic amounts of calories too. The being cold all the time and exposed actually increases calorie needs a surprising amount.
That said, modern armies are not generally sending guys all that far on foot or having them out that long, so a deficit is fine. You burn less not moving.
Ye olden days, this is one of the reasons armies moved on their stomachs. When Napoleon goes to Moscow or when Auerlian fights a campaign in Syria, then goes to do another in northern France, then goes to Italy, then back to Syria to fight again, they have to do the whole thing on foot carrying their shit in the elements. Which means lots of food. Also why you get huge % casualties before any fighting starts lol.
>Or do they consistently run on a deficit?
even with the best MREs soldiers lose weight during maneuvers and combat on MREs. that's why paletability is so critical to MRE effectiveness. men under physical stress tend to neglect themselves and lose their appetite, so not eating components is catastrophic for their energy levels and immediate health. NCOs have enough on their plate to not have to stand over every private and watch them chew and swallow every last crumb of a shitty ration. so making them good enough that soldiers want to eat them under duress is as important as providing them at all.
10 pounds of TNT equivalence imagine eating the explosive force of 10 pounds of TNT
The people at lewis and clark expedition had a caloric maintenance of 10-12k calories.
what the heck did they eat? hardtack?
Mainly meat
that's like 4kg+ of meat a day
Yea, they ate a shit load of meat per day. I think its like close to 5kg of meat.
"How much calories" go back to school moron
Bout 36 chickie nuggies worth a day. 38 on a day with lots of rucking.
Active duty can mean six months in the field carrying a heavy ruck or it can mean six months behind a desk typing on a computer.
We know that very heavy physical work, especially combined with a harsh environment, can cost 6-7000 calories on a day. It is very hard to sustain daily activity like that over time even if you can just shovel in food, as your body isn't a mechanical device that can just increase speed of energy transfer or nuitrition breakdown.
A military full day ration is 3300-3800 calories per day, the largest rations being meant for arctic environment. Typical meal rations tend to be around 1200. Civilian emergency rations like the UN distribute tent to be around 2000 cal for a whole day
Yea, the civilian ration makes sense. Because civies typically need less calories than soldiers.