Clerks of the Commissary Depot at Aquia Creek Landing, Va. Taken in February, 1863.

There is a military axiom which says:

Amateurs discuss tactics. Professionals discuss logistics.

Great captains from our earliest days have understood that having an army does you no good if you cannot feed it, clothe it, arm it, and train it. This was a lesson learned, and that right well, by both sides during our own Civil War.

During the Civil War, the daily ration for an enlisted man in the Federal Army was as follows: (from US Army Regulations, (rev) 1863)

Meat:

• 12 ounces of pork or bacon, or
• 1 pound and 4 ounces of salt or fresh beef

Bread:

• 1 pound and 6 ounces of soft bread or flour, or
• 1 pound of hard bread [hardtack] or
• 1 pound and 4 ounces of corn meal

To every 100 rations:

• 15 pounds of beans or peas, and
• 10 pounds of rice or hominy
• 10 pounds of green coffee, or
• 8 pounds of roasted (Or roasted and ground) coffee, or
• 1 pound and 8 ounces of tea
• 15 pounds of sugar
• 4 quarts of vinegar
• 1 pound and 4 ounces of adamantine, or star candles
• 4 pounds of soap
• 3 pounds and 12 ounces of salt
• 4 ounces of pepper
• 30 pounds of potatoes. when practicable. and
• 1 quart of molasses

Paragraph 1191: “Desiccated [dehydrated] compressed potatoes, or desiccated compressed mixed vegetables, at the rate of 1 ounce and ½ of the former, and I ounce of the latter. to the ration, may be substituted for beans, peas, rice, hominy, or fresh potatoes.

MARCHING RATION;

• Meat and Bread; same as above
• Coffee, Sugar, and Salt; same as above

For it’s time, the Federal Army ate very well. Even the Confederate Armies ate pretty well, their failures in supply being, in almost every case, the result of a lack of transport rather than of the rations themselves.

The image accompanying this short article is of a group of Clerks of the Commissary Depot at Aquia Creek Landing, Va. It was taken in February, 1863. Even in the CW there were REMF, and from their clothing it appears they lived rather well in the field.

Having said that, I would ask the reader to look at the pile of boxes in the background. Those are boxes of hard bread, the ubiquitous “Hardtack” of so many songs, commentaries, and jokes. It was a cracker made of flour and salt water, about 3” square by ½” thick, baked and then air-dried until it was hard as a rock. A common moniker was “sheet-iron shingle”. It’s advantage was simple: It would provide basic nutrition for a soldier in the field, traveled well, and would last almost forever as long as moisture was kept out of the boxes.

Regardless of the stories, hardtack kept very well, and it became such a staple of the American Diet that one company, Bent’s Crackers, still makes it today.

The boxes in the image each hold 50lbs of hardtack, and are made of white pine board. The ends were strapped with bands made of stripped saplings, and if you look at the ends of the boxes, those dark lines are the bands. Note also on top of the pile that a portion of the tarpaulin which keeps the weather out has been pulled back to show off the pile.

Now, to bring this back to the beginning, chew on this fact: A soldier, being issued 1lb of hard bread a day, requires a steady supply to keep him fed. To ameliorate the problem, 3 days’ rations were issued to the soldiers at a time when in the field. If you look at the 30 June 1863 returns for the Army of the Potomac, you will see there are approximately 85,000 men. That’s 42.5 TONS of hard bread a day just to provide the bread ration. To put it into perspective, that is a train of 50 wagons a day, just to get bread to the army, and those wagons also require forage for their teams. Which means more wagons to haul just forage along the route. Now add the meat and coffee rations, and you begin to understand why accurate maps of road networks, of route of march planning, and the locations of water and rail lines are so vital to a commander.

This was just one army. The Federals also had the armies of the James, the Ohio, the Tennessee, the Gulf, and various smaller commands to supply.

This is also why virtually every campaign keeps it’s route of march within 3 days’ march of a railroad. A wagon is useless beyond 3 days’ because you cannot carry enough forage for the teams as well as it’s cargo. You simply couldn’t keep an army in the field for any length of time without adequate resupply, and the only way to maintain momentum and maneuver, and prevent losses due to foraging, was to use the railroads.

The wonder is not how well those planners and supply folks provided for the armies. The wonder is that they were able to do it at all.

A NATO Sea Sparrow missile is launched during a live-fire missile exercise aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69). Dwight D. Eisenhower is conducting carrier qualifications in the Atlantic Ocean. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd class Jon Dasbach/Released)

US Supreme Court allows sonar use
US Navy can practice again

General Dynamics Awarded F-35 Lightning II Gun System Contracts
The F-35A will carry an internal 25mm gatling gun. The B and C models will need to carry an external gun pod.

Norway Chooses F-35 To Replace F-16s
Taking Lightnings instead of the Swedish-built Gripen

Skittish Israel Pares F-35I Extras
Customized Lightning model came in at $200 million per copy

AKLightning Bolt
Videos of left-side charging handle for AK clones

Pakistan army practices shooting drone aircraft
Wish they’d spend more time actually shooting bad guys

I support Iraq insurgents but I loved England, says terror accused
Wannabe nightclub bomber loves England by trying to kill Englishmen for the terrorists

Lessons of the surge
At its core, the surge has been about cooperatively protecting the Iraqi civilian population.

Newer Russian Nuclear Attack Sub Sought for 2010
Severodvinsk-class can supposedly operate down to 1970 feet.

Soviet Subs In The Sunset
The Rooskie sub fleet is dwindling.

Not Exactly Under the Radar
The gun buying spree is nationwide and not a secret

J.J. Abrams’ New USS Enterprise Fully Revealed!
Not sure if I think this is going to be any good

Army Sets First Execution in Over 50 Years
Ronald A. Gray, cook convicted of multiple rapes and murders in 1986 and 1987, dies next month

Uranium at Syria site come from Israeli missiles: FM
LOL!

IAEA: Bombed Syrian site had features like a nuclear reactor
The Israelis probably dropped construction materials and building layouts with their missiles, too

Army orders another 20,000 M9s
No comment

Muslim killed Catholic girl in love with flatmate
There is going to be more and more of this in Europe, I think

Pete Townshend tips his hat to Obama
“Most wonderful” election will apparently bring a new new boss

Conway: Sealift key to Corps expeditionary legs
Most Marines seem to be more like soldiers than Marines these days

Repaired data drives restoring the Moon
Pulling hi-res Lunar Orbiter mission imagery from hundreds of old tapes

Somali pirates pocket at least $1.67 million

The dollar total is for only one of the ships. The figure for the second is unknown. Earlier this week, another chemical tanker was released for $2.5 million. Owners of the oil tanker taken on Saturday are currently in negotiations.

This is sure to discourage pirates.

Murdoc votes we tell ship owners that we’re all pulling our naval assets from the area if they make payments.

In an increasingly anxious campaign for a $25 billion government rescue, Detroit’s Big Three car makers and their allies in Washington are warning the demise of the auto industry will damage U.S. national security.

Indirectly, maybe. Big maybe. But the Big Three’s direct impact on military production is minimal.

Some things would certainly have an indirect impact on the military The supply base would shrink if the Big Three go under, for instance, meaning that some parts may be harder to get or become more expensive. There would be a sort of “brain drain” as the workforce shrunk and a lot of good people retired or moved on to other things. The ability to ramp up production in a truly catastrophic scenario would be greatly reduced. All of these things do matter and should not be ignored, but I’m not at all convinced that it’s worth bailing out the auto industry for gazillions of tax dollars so they can go on being bad businesses.

Much of what the Big Three contribute to the military can fairly easily be picked up by Toyota or other international manufacturers with US operations. If the Army needs pick-up trucks, they can be ordered from Toyota and built in the US.

Additionally, if the UIS makers really do go TU, the vultures will swoop in to feast on the remains. Parts of the industry with military contracts or the potential for such will be among the tastier morsels, I would think, and will go on in some fashion. As I said recently, there’s some good meat left on some of those bones.

In short, I think making claims that the US auto industry needs to be bailed out because our national defense depends upon it are exaggerated. However, when making decisions about what to do, the overall picture of US industry cannot be ignored.

More automotive bailout links:

• A Simple Argument Against the Auto Bailout: A Bailout Would Destroy Jobs
• Union busting is the real motivation
• GM is probably going to be back for more within the year
• Let Detroit Go Bankrupt
• What Would Ronald Reagan Do?

The number of young people considering a military career has significantly increased for the first time in about five years, buoyed by more positive news out of Iraq.

Murdoc would guess that the national employment situation has even more to do with it than the situation in Iraq. Even during the darkest days, the military met recruiting goals nearly every month.

An Indian naval vessel sank a suspected pirate “mother ship” in the Gulf of Aden and chased two attack boats into the night, officials said Wednesday, as separate bands of brigands seized Thai and Iranian ships in the lawless seas.

A multinational naval force has increased patrols in the waters between the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa, where pirates have grown bolder and more violent. The force scored a rare success Tuesday when the Indian warship, operating off the coast of Oman, stopped a ship similar to a pirate vessel described in numerous bulletins. The Indian navy said the pirates fired on the INS Tabar after the officers asked to search it.

“Pirates were seen roaming on the upper deck of this vessel with guns and rocket propelled grenade launchers,” said a statement from the Indian navy. Indian forces fired back, sparking fires and a series of onboard blasts — possibly due to exploding ammunition — and destroying the ship.

They chased one of two speedboats shadowing the larger ship. One was later found abandoned. The other escaped, according to the statement.

National Ammo Day:

It is a nationwide BUYcott of ammunition. You buy ammunition. 100 Rounds a person.

The goals of Ammo Day:

The goal of National Ammo Day is to empty the ammunition from the shelves of your local gun store, sporting goods, or hardware store and put that ammunition in the hands of law-abiding citizens. Make your support of the Second Amendment known–by voting with your dollars!

There are an estimated 75 MILLION gun owners in the United States of America. If each gun owner or Second Amendment supporter buys 100 rounds of ammunition, that’s 7.5 BILLION rounds in the hands of law-abiding citizens!

The gun/ammunition manufacturers have been taking the brunt of all the frivolous lawsuits, trying to put these folks out of business. Well, not if we can help it! And we CAN help it by buying ammunition on November 19!

Murdoc ordered a bunch of ammo online. I don’t know if that counts or not, but I’m also planning to pick up another 100 rounds at the local store on the way home.

A scientist pleaded guilty Monday to selling U.S. rocket technology to China and bribing Chinese officials to secure a lucrative contract for his high-tech company.

Bad. How could an American do such a thing? Must be the evils of capitalism and greed. Or maybe it’s a bit more than that:

Quan-Sheng Shu, 68, pleaded guilty to two counts of violating the federal Arms Control Act and one count of bribery at a hearing in U.S. District Court in Norfolk.

Shu is president of AMAC International Inc. of Newport News. He is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Shanghai.

Meanwhile:

Russian spy in Nato could have passed on missile defence and cyber-war secrets:

Herman Simm, 61, an Estonian defence ministry official who was arrested in September, was responsible for handling all of his country’s classified information at Nato, giving him access to every top-secret graded document from other alliance countries.

He was recruited by the Russians in the late 1980s and has been charged in Estonia with supplying information to a foreign power.