The Horrifying Truth About Stormtrooper Rations

hello there friends welcome back to another episode of generation tank my name is Alan it's 10 BBY and life is kind of terrible your promise Great Adventure heroics an opportunity to carve out a legacy of your own as one of the emperor's finest Troopers attached to the 224th Imperial Armor division you were trained for mechanized Warfare a fluid and beautiful dance and man machine and overwhelming amounts of Firepower but now you're covered in mud you're a synthetic leather boots are soaked and instead of rotting Along on an armored column to the next objective you're defending a trench line and all you can see in every direction is just mud it's a big matter is worse this planet euron has no agricultural potential and that means all the food you're having is shipped in from orbit and that food is from many many layers away you haven't had real actual food since you step foot onto the plants enter the reality of military logistics now the military food supply chain is very different from the civilian food supply chain that we are all used to well there are some federal subsidies in most countries and planets and shortly some staple foods are affordable and accessible the majority of Civilian food supply chains are built on consumer demand and these food supply chains can be simple or very complex depending on the wealth culture and taste of those consumers one of the great perks of living in a place like New York City is that you can literally eat anything you want in the world there are many different immigrant communities who all bring their food to the city and locals who live here are far more open-minded about what they consume as a result combine that with massive amounts of wealth and you have a Diner's Paradise but New York City has been a relatively stable place for the last century and such stability is necessary for such a complex food supply chain to develop a luxury that a military logistics chain can never really have in the Empire's military food supply chain the end consumers wants are not really taken as seriously as what their needs are and more importantly the military espion actually one that has expeditionary capabilities it's going to be mobile it's going to travel to different parts of a planet to different parts of the Galaxy that means less permanent and predictable food supply chains and so most military organizations have a variety of different rations that are used in different situations now at the most simple level of categorization there are two types of rations you have Garrison rations and field rations Garrison rations are basically food that can be obtained or sold within a more permanent Outpost this can vary vastly depending on how large a military base is and where it's located on the food supply chain and you know what is grown locally and then you have field rations which are designed for units or individuals far away from military infrastructure field rations mean instead of deploying a unit with a kitchen or mess unit you're deploying the individual with their own food which is usually preserved or packaged in a way that it can last for the duration of an operation now before we continue though a quick word from our sponsor for today's video ownershiper.com they are one of the Premier lightsaber sellers on this side of the Heidi and white and from July 3rd to July 31st the entire store is going to be 30 off with free shipping plus Now ownership.com is offering the option for you guys to engrave The Wraith Bearer lightsaber Health with any phrase or name that's up to 10 characters long all you have to do is add the rafe Barrow special bundle into your cards and then type in the notes section what you want written on the shaver Hills remember guys for this to work you have to select The Wraith Bearer and the special bundle option if you just select the rayfair from the Padawan saber category you will not get the engraving done I'll be linking everything in the description down below if you guys are interested in this offer as usual thank you for your patience until the rest of the video one of the most famous Innovations made by the United States during World War II was the k-ration this was a field ration that consisted of three meals breakfast dinner and supper it contained a wide variety of non-perishable foods like hard biscuits cheese canned sausage and other mystery Meats along with Wrigley chewing gum Hershey bars and a pack of Lucky Strikes if you were lucky and maybe some palm oil if you were not the gay ransoms were designed for emergency and fueled use and handed out to paratroopers motorcycle cores and other individuals who might find themselves far from a proper field mess for days at a time the k-ration definitely didn't win the war but it was another example of America's economic and agricultural mites during this time period And I would argue that these k-ration significantly increase the operation time for the average infantry Soldier before they had a comeback and basically fill up with more food and supplies so Garrison meals put a lot of energy into the preparation of the food that means Cooks field kitchens and fresher ingredients the creation of field rations put a lot more energy at the beginning of the food supply chain at the processing stage military field rations have always needed preservation in many ways that need has driven the food Private servation Industry as a whole salt pork and heart attack were two popular preserved Foods used during the American Civil War as a kid I actually remember talking to a Civil War reenactor who let me try some hardtack that was preserved from 1850. and basically you can consume it it was impossible you had to use massive amounts of saliva to break this stuff down but then again desperate times called for desperate situations and a field ration has spoiled is more or less useless I can put a quick end to an otherwise successful military operation of course not all fueled rations are as Bland and disgusting as hard tech for instance did you know that M Ms were invented around World War II in an effort to prevent chocolate from melting they put a candy shell around it the Galactic Empire also had their own version of field rations including the infamous Stormtrooper ration Infamous because of what it did to one spouse considered as non-transferable Imperial property as in you weren't allowed to transfer it to any civilian unless you want to violate code e973-a these small packs of nutrition were so important for the Empire's ability to wage special operations against its own people that these Food Packs became a strategic asset and they're oftentimes found on the tool belt of a stormtrooper right next to their spare mags these packs are made up of hydrated veg meat and poly starch and become active and expanded once exposed to water the meal itself didn't taste like bread or meat or whatever it was supposed to look like but the point is it kept people alive and basically lasted forever I mean all those scabs on Jack who 30 years after the Galactic Civil War ended we're still working for old food rations from that time period ration packs also add energy bars protein cubes and nutrient paste the latter of which is rumored to be made up of recycled clone troopers some of these rations were also labeled as you know like drop a stew or Nuna jerky but again these were just vague descriptions of what they're going for didn't necessarily mean they actually made these rations taste anything like the real thing should be noted in Rey's Survival Guide she mentioned that the new Republic's rations were tastier than what the empire was dishing out but spoiled a little bit quicker we actually see Luke Skywalker bring out several boxes of Rebel military rations during his trip to Dagobah and it definitely looks more indecent and very than Imperial rations Yoda even gets a sample love some of this stuff and I guess having lived off of frogs and mushrooms for a few decades made him appreciate the variety that Luke was getting here there are also emergency ration bars which were used by clones and the Rebel Alliance they were described as Bland as well but to those not familiar to them like the Ewoks they were considered to be quite tasty and nutritious one of the reasons why the Rebel Alliance had tastier rations is because they had to build a logistics chain from the ground up and they also had to serve a much smaller military force the Rebel Alliance would create safe worlds all across the Galaxy like the one we see the resistance fall back onto on crates during the first order War some of these safe worlds actually became agricultural centers that primarily focused on creating rations for the growing Rebel Alliance military and stationed on these plants you had wounded service members you had the you know spouses of Fighters you had political prisoners other non-combatants who weren't necessarily willing to fight but they could help in other ways also the fact that most Rebel forces were drawn from the outer Remnant that you had plenty of planets that were still suitable for massive agricultural production the Empire on the other hand would seed their food production capabilities decrease throughout the war especially after the midrum offensive as more and more worlds joined the Rebellion food supply chains became more strained units cut off from their Logistics Network would have to rely more and more on field rations to supplement their Garrison rations to make matters worse the Empire had a stupid tendency to over Farm entire planets and leave their soil Barren instead of practicing more sustainable field rotation techniques after a decade of Imperial rule once vibrant and Rich agricultural worlds returned to desolate wastelands all in the name of building the Glorious Imperial military these would be assets and resources that the Empire would desperately need at the end of the war now Pro sandor became increasingly difficult for the Empire to resupply and equip their Imperial class Star Destroyers many of the vessels were now running on skeleton Crews with just a portion of their weapons and placements turned on the Empire would fall into a cycle of losing tariffs for you and then losing food production capabilities which would lower morale which would also cause more Imperial soldiers to desert making it harder for them to defend whatever territory they still have left and producing field rations wasn't all that simple it required processing plans and massive amounts of raw materials something that became harder and harder for the Empire to secure in the months leading up to the final battle of the Galactic Civil War Imperial troops stationed on jakku desperately scavenged for whatever food and more that they could find on the planet reverting to a more old-school way of provisioning your military force with food by raiding pillaging and stealing from the locals now ultimately shipping soldiers out with their own emergency food instead of shipping a kitchen mess with your unit was a huge breakthrough in military technology a lot of more streamlined supply lines and more mobile troops and deployment of light infantry far away from the front if you take a closer look at the Empire's military and their military Doctrine you'll begin to understand how big of a challenge they faced even at its height the Imperial military never had enough resource to maintain a permanent presence in all of its territory and so instead they had to depend on these mobile bases of operation at the center of the Imperial military strategy was the sector Fleet which was comprised of several Imperial class Star Destroyers these 1.6 kilometer long vessels were battleships by Design but in reality served more as a forward operating base for a legion of Stormtroopers these ships served as not only a home but also as a recreation center there were hospitals schools and of course multiple cafeterias and Cantinas there's usually enough food supplies on these ships that last the crew up to two years now because in Imperial class Star Destroyer was so large there was actually room for livestock for small gardens Hydroponics that kind of stuff but the reality was most of the Empire's food was mass produced and heavily processed especially what was consumed by the Imperial Navy you had a variety of different blobs and cubes and pastes they were all grayish in color and very nutritious but lack taste now there was fresh food available especially for officers but there was also a strict culture that shamed individuals who avoided consuming the nutrient blocks and nutrient drinks and ate real food instead enjoying real food was seen as a luxury and also a weakness such social restrictions are important especially when you're confined inside of a small space vessel with limited resources also being on an imperial plant Star Destroyer meant that you were actively deployed so lower food quality was tolerated because these weren't seen as permanent deployments but on Coruscant in the federal district I'm sure the mess hall in the Imperial military headquarters building is going to be excellent and take full advantage of coruscan's place as the Galaxy's hover trade and so you had food stuff from every corner of the Galaxy flowing into Coruscant and that is what made Garrison rations on Coruscant excellent and it makes sense I mean if you're Emperor Palpatine you would want to reward those who are most loyal to you and you could find those individuals on coresight certain military installations like the Death Star was also built with such luxuries in mind and actually featured multi restaurants and cantina dining options it was a way for the emperor to thank his most elite and loyal officers and soldiers but what happens if you start moving away from the core away from all of the elites that are stationed there well if you're stationed at a Outer Rim Garrison which you eat depends a lot on what's being produced locally in the region these locally sourced foods are designed to supplement The Garrison rations on lothal for instance the melee run was heavily coveted by the Stormtrooper Legions and the Empire would buy out local stocks in order to improve their own rations and while you're at it maybe your quartermaster can convince some local farmers to part with a bath or two one bath that could be split into hundreds if not thousands of delicious rations so that's all the information I basically have on how the Imperial military fed its soldiers this might not be the most interesting video but again we all know Logistics are what wins Wars and an army marches on its stomach well guys I hope you enjoyed today's episode don't forget to subscribe and hit that notification button down below so you don't miss out on the rush of our awesome content my name is Alan reminding you that my allegiance is to The Republic to democracy

Channel: Generation Tech

Views: 269,774

Keywords: generation tech, star wars, stormtroopers, galactic empire, storm trooper, imperial, imperial military, imperial trooper, imperial troopers, mimban, mimban campaign, k-rations, field rations, stormtrooper rations, stormtrooper food, ration bars, protein squares, rey bread, force awakens bread scene, bread awakens, self rising bread, luke skywalker, yoda, rebel alliance, new republic military, rebel alliance rations, star wars food, star wars meals, star wars food products

Id: n5zvw3fiU0k

Length: 13min 22sec (802 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 09 2023