One thing I learned as a boy soldier was that troops will strip their rations from what they're issued to what they want to carry. Instead of carrying the 10+ items in the ration bag, they might bring the tea, tinned beef and the candy bar.

I think that if there was a shooting war, one way our troops could remain in field is for somebody to resupply caches with tasty food. We can't carry a 3 month supply on our backs. But sympathetic citizens might be willing to sneak a small load of rations to a forward position behind the lines.

CK