At 14.00 the Soviet Army was having lunch. Lunch is as sacred as morning tea... By 14 o'clock in the afternoon, life in the armed forces froze. Fighters and bombers landed on airfields. The personnel hurried to the dining room, where the laid tables were waiting. For lunch served hot soup, on the second - constant porridge. The third is jelly (liquid fruit jelly) or compote (dried fruits boiled in boiling water). There were 50 minutes for lunch. Then half an hour to rest and 20 minutes to put yourself in proper order. Lunch is over - you can resume fighting.

Captains A. Artyushenko and N. Kovalev, exercises of the Siberian Military District, November 1975. On black overalls, shoulder straps from everyday uniforms with shiny stars are attached.

At 15:30 The second training cycle of the day began. On Mondays and Tuesdays at this time, the political officers held political classes. On Tuesday and Friday, the crews worked on equipment, Friday in general was often declared a park day, when all working hours were occupied by the maintenance of military equipment and weapons. On Saturdays and Sundays, the personnel did sports after dinner in an organized manner, and football was very popular.

Personal time was allocated one and a half hours a day. Personal time ended at 20 h 10 min formation for a trip to the dining room for dinner. For the evening they were given 100 grams of fish, 300 grams of potatoes or porridge, black bread, 20 grams of butter. Tea was served in the same way.

The quality of food was largely determined by the degree of quickness of the officers and divisions in charge of rear services. The food problem poisoned the life of the entire Soviet people, the army even had to go to the creation of their own agro-technical complexes - military state farms. In many shelves, chickens and pigs were kept on their own, and vegetables were grown. Up to 5% of the personnel of the first line regiments were diverted to agricultural work. The regiments were recommended to completely switch to self-sufficiency in meat at the rate of 15 kg per person, in other words, the regiment had to raise 28,000 chickens in a year.

Another additional source of food was the usual state and collective farms. The officers negotiated with the heads of agro-technical farms about exchange in kind: soldiers' labor for food.

The quality of the diet strongly depended on the type of troops. The construction troops were supplied worst of all (at the rate of 2,800 calories), tankmen and motorized riflemen were supplied at the rate of 3,400 calories, the best of all were jet aviation pilots (5,000 calories).

The role of the drink, which is known in the West as vodka, in the history of the army is truly legendary: everywhere dry law and everywhere drunk! Tricks that Soviet soldiers went to for extraction and storage alcohol-containing liquidsdeserve a separate study. So, in the troops, wheeled armored personnel carriers were most loved than tracked infantry fighting vehicles. The technical and operational properties of technology were not taken into account at all. It was just that it was possible to pour alcohol into the wheel chambers, but somehow alcohol did not fit into the iron tracks of the tracks. The Air Force was very fond of the Tu-22 supersonic missile carriers - champions in alcohol content. Alcohol was usually allocated for flushing contacts, but few people thought of wasting precious liquid on such nonsense. The jam sent from home served as an excellent raw material for making mash, or even moonshine, and cylinders of regular fire extinguishers were used as containers for preparing alcohol. In terms of the amount of alcohol consumed, the officers were not only inferior, but rather superior to the rank and file.

1. Pilot of the MiG-21 fighter of the front-line aviation of the Air Force

The pilot is wearing a VKK-3M high-altitude compensating suit. In the 60s, such suits were mandatory on every flight, but then they began to be used only for high-altitude flights in the stratosphere. On the head there is a GSh-4 pressure helmet, also designed for high-altitude flights. In bags of blue color there is an emergency stock.

2. Pilot of the MiG-23 fighter of the front-line aviation of the Air Force

The pilot is dressed in a flight overalls typical for the 80s, on his head is a protected helmet ZSH-3. He holds a KM-32 oxygen mask in his hand. The standard clothing of the pilot of the frontline aviation.

3. Air Force technician in work clothes

Air Force ground attendants at the airfield wore a work uniform of trousers and a jacket in black or gray-blue, almost white... Headwear - takes on the same color as the work uniform. A shirt and tie were used by techies under a jacket on very “formal” occasions.

In all the famous Russian folk tale a soldier, stopping at the house of a greedy but stupid hostess, cooked porridge for himself with an ax.

A folk epic of this kind clearly shows that a soldier's life has always been interesting to people: the military seemed to be a kind of superhuman, capable of solving any problem through cunning and ingenuity.

Over time, this image not only did not disappear, but, on the contrary, intensified. In the USSR, his successor was the army, first the Red, and then the Soviet. And, as you know, the main source of a soldier's superpower is the kitchen, sometimes in the field, sometimes in the barracks. Let's see what the Soviet soldiers were fed with.

Soldier's ration

In the Union, the nutrition of the soldiers was approached from a scientific point of view. As a result of research, it was possible to find out what a certain norm of calories is needed per day for soldiers. For rank-and-file armored forces, this norm is 3400 kilocalories. Motorized riflemen have 3500 kilocalories, and with field trips - 4100 kilocalories.

As a result, when joining military service, each private should receive a combined-arms ration daily according to the norm №1. To fulfill the calorie norm, there is a special table of foods, in which all foods and their weight are listed in the 31st position.

This food set includes cereals, vegetables, meat, fish, the amount of vegetable and animal fats, and even such trifles as bay leaf and pepper. This ration is standard for the rank and file of all combat arms. It allows you not only to replenish the calorie intake, but also to receive all the necessary vitamins. Nevertheless, in certain branches of the armed forces and services there are some additions to it that correspond to the specifics of the service.

Motorized shooters

Motorized riflemen are essentially the same infantry. The queen of the fields and the most massive branch of the army. Those who found service there in soviet time, can fully tell that the food there was extremely disgusting. According to the documents, the fighters were preparing food for replenishing calories, however, in practice, the quality of food preparation was disgusting.

Of course, everything depended on the part, but for the most part the situation was sad. The menu was monotonous, while warrant officers and officers robbed privates without a twinge of conscience. A good army stew instead of a soldier's cauldron ended up in the officers' closets, and instead of meat, the soldiers were supplemented with rancid fat obtained by unknown means.

The diet of the paratroopers by and large did not differ from the motorized rifle, however, due to the fact that these units were guards, the discipline and order there were stricter, therefore, much more officially allocated products reached them. The slight differences were smoked meats and condensed milk, and in addition, in the order on food supply there was a clause: “In addition to this norm, at the expense of the state, to issue per person per day 15 g of chocolate, 200 g of fresh fruit or 200 g of fruit and berry juices and 50 g of compotes from fruits and berries "

Armored troops

Service on technology had a number of its disadvantages and advantages. Exhaust gases, fuel vapors and other negative factors were compensated by the addition to the soldering. During periods active work on the vehicles, the tankers had a separate table, on which milk, eggs and butter were added.

Naval

No less nice bonus those who served in the navy also had. During long voyages, when only the sea is overboard, they had a nice bonus to the rations. They were daily added 50 grams of dry wine to remove radionuclides, 50 grams of chocolate to relieve stress, and one dried vobla to compensate for salts from the desalination of drinking water.

Writes chitatel_goda: Among the numerous memories of service in the Soviet Army, I have not yet come across posts about one of the most important components of military service. If you think that I want to talk about combat duty, flight support, shooting or exercises, then you did not serve in the army.

It will be about food, about grub, about a snack or about food rations, as it was officially called. Of course, everyone's memories differ, depending on the place of service. Therefore, first of all, we will determine the place and time. So: the place is an aviation garrison on the territory of the USSR, not a training course, I immediately got into a "combat" unit, the time is the mid-80s.

The first visit to a soldier's canteen, there are 800 seats, and the surprise that there are no aluminum spoons or mugs. Plastic blue, aviation all the same, plates and cups. From canteens cutlery - spoon... Here she was, it was a classic aluminum, as in all civil dining rooms. On tables for 10 people, there were "cisterns", something like a cauldron but with a flat bottom. And in them, it was dinner, something bright orange. The people around were taking a ladle, a "scoop" in the army, this substance, put it in blue plates and ate it with appetite.

Upon closer inspection, there was a potato under the orange layer. In fact, it was considered mashed potatoes. But there were many root vegetables in the tank that retained their natural shape and skin. And the orange layer on top was combed fat refried with tomato paste and paprika. This explains the strange color of this food. She was eaten accompanied by the corpses of heavily fried hake. There was such a fish in the Soviet Union. Then it was the turn of tea. It spilled out of a large, again this is an adjective, but what can you do - in such a dining room everything is big, a teapot. On the table was a plate of lump sugar, 2 pieces per person. But how do you stir sugar in a cup? Here the soldier's ingenuity came to the rescue. Some of the fighters carefully licked the spoon and used it as a teaspoon, some did the same thing, but stirred the sugar with the handle of the spoon. 3-4 times in two years, instead of fried fish gave canned fish in tomato sauce... These were pleasant exceptions. Oh yes, bread. He stood on the tables, black was unlimited and white, in my opinion, 2 pieces per person. Why did I start with dinner? Well, firstly, it was the first meal I had, and secondly, the dinner menu was unchanged for 2 years.

Breakfast. Usually some kind of porridge, tea, sugar, bread and, the only milk product relying on us, butter... The oil was in the form of cylinders. Theoretically, 20 grams, practically, of course less. After all, the cook had fellow countrymen and friends. And once a week, on Sunday, a steep egg was given for breakfast. It was not eaten in the usual way... The protein was separated and added to the porridge. And a sandwich was made from the yolk. Per hunk white bread butter was spread, a ball of yolk was put on top and gently crushed with a spoon. The whole structure was thickly salted and washed down with sweet tea. Cholesterol talking? There was no cholesterol then, but it was very tasty.

But this is on Sunday. On weekdays everything was easier and porridge could be - pearl barley, she's a fraction of sixteen, God knows why she was called that. Experiments carried out more than once showed that if the tank was turned over, the porridge remained on the table as a shaking dark lead-colored pudding that retained the shape of the dishes. It was impossible to eat this mass even during the difficult weeks of quarantine. Therefore, our opinions differed regarding barley. Some suggested throwing it into the trash immediately from the digester, and complete radicals called for eliminating the cooking process altogether and pearl barley, for disposal, to distribute by a warrant officer. But there were also more or less edible cereals and noodles.

True, once a mouse was found in a bowl of noodles. Most likely, she gnawed paper bag in the warehouse, seeing so much food, she decided that life was good and decided to stay there, but she was poured into the cauldron with vermicelli. I'm sure she wasn't dreaming of such an end. If you think that the canteen has turned into something like the battleship Potemkin, I must disappoint you. The mouse was put aside, the most fastidious stopped eating, and those who thought that their vermicelli did not come into contact with the rodent continued their meal.
And so, after an intense military and political study, it was time for lunch. Lunch, as expected, consisted of three courses... For the first one they often gave conditionally edible borscht. It could be sipped, but without much pleasure. For some reason always succeeded pea soup, he enjoyed continued success. For the second - noodles, porridge or vegetable stew... The latter was made from potatoes and cabbage stored in the garrison vegetable store. The closer the spring got, the more of the cabbage became inedible. And although it was cleaned before putting it in the cauldron, by the end of winter, the taste of the stew changed dramatically for the worse. The second was accompanied by salad. It could have been sauerkraut, pickles or tomatoes. And those and others green color. Summer salad from fresh cabbage. And on the third - dried fruit compote, almost not sweet, but still loved by everyone, or jelly from briquettes. Usually he shared the fate of pearl barley.

Of course there were parts that were fed much better than us. I suspect we were supposed to have absolutely no "pumped" diet. In our dining room, at two tables, soldiers were sitting, receiving unprecedented delicacies every day: canned fish, cheese, something else, and in the evenings from the officers' dining room they brought, according to rumors, a pan of milk. They served in a top secret company, with a nondescript name. And it is clear that the entire garrison knew that they were transporting rocket fuel on their Zils. But we, by that time, already understood where free cheese is, and having heard enough horror stories about the properties of their cargo, we did not envy them. There were rumors about fabulous feeding on nuclear-powered ships. That they even give a glass of wine there. And of course, enterprising people fantasized: "And I would save up all week, and at the end of the week, into the smoke!" They explained to the simpleton that two years in boots is better than three years in boots. The idea that "in the smoke" and the submarine are somehow not very compatible, did not come to some shorn heads at all.

In fact, from drinks, the Motherland offered its defender tea, compote, jelly and water from a tap / well. And I think this is correct. Well, young organisms wanted something strange. Well, you understand. And the seeker will always find. In our case, it was a massandra alcohol-water mixture. I still don't know if it was an official name or slang. In the Navy, the SAF was called "awl". And here it is with us. It was used to cool electronics on airplanes and there was a lot of it. We didn't have access to it. And here the "fellow countrymen" factor came into play. In all sorts of cunning ways, sometimes out of friendship, sometimes as a result of natural exchange, but never for money, but such were the times, the massandra spread to the barracks, points, car parks.

A picture from life: Private A, balding early, walks through the fleet of our battalion. In his hands he carefully carries a three-liter glass jar with a clear liquid. Warrant officer M. to meet him. "What are you talking about A.?" - asks the ensign. "Massandru" - answers honest A. "Tryndish. Probably distilled water for batteries" - says the shrewd warrant officer. And after half an hour, the entire fleet is in the trash! Furious M. finds staggering A. "What have you done, your mother!" ... "So I honestly said: I'm carrying a massandra" - A.

Theoretically, the diet of a Soviet soldier was designed so that he had enough calories to carry out the orders of the command and persistently endure the hardships and hardships of military service (for this one phrase, Trotsky is supposed to be in hell, surrounded by ten Ramons Mercaders with ice axes in each hand. excuse for all gouges with stars on their epaulets). But in practice, most of what was cooked was very tasteless. In addition, the first few months were getting used to a new lifestyle and diet. Therefore, at first, I did not want to eat all the time, but almost always. Then, after the quarantine, the service got back on track, new ways of solving the food problem were found, the habit of soldiers' food appeared and the question, although it always remained on the agenda, lost its urgency.

P.S. I read the comments and, I think, we can conclude: they did not know how to feed large units in the Soviet Army normally.

Bonus: ZGV. The airfield company goes to the cafeteria. Wittstock Dosse. 1992 year:

And how they feed these days:

Of course, each meal was different depending on the place of service, but we decided to remember what was on the tables at the majority.

First of all, I would like to say that in most parts of the cutlery there was only a spoon, as in all ordinary dining rooms of that time. For the usual dinner table accommodated up to 10 people, and on the table stood "tanks" - army thermoses.

Food was collected from thermoses with a ladle or "scoop" and was eaten with "appetite". Usually, it was an orange-colored substance, probably consisting of potatoes fried with tomato paste and paprika. Hake was served as a supplement.

Sometimes, instead of fried fish, they gave canned fish in tomato sauce, but this was more a pleasant exception than the norm. As for bread, if black bread was given without restrictions, then white bread was given two pieces per person. After consuming the main course, tea was poured from a large teapot. Sugar was allocated 2 pieces per person. He was usually stirred either with a spoon carefully licked after eating, or with its handle.

We took the first place for dinner as it was eaten first when we got into the army and its diet usually remained unchanged.

Breakfast. Usually they were fed some kind of porridge, tea, sugar, bread and butter in the form of cylinders. Such a product was supposed to be 20 grams, but, as you understand, it got much less. A hard-boiled egg was handed out every Sunday. Usually, egg white put in porridge, and the yolk was spread over a sandwich with butter. All this was washed down with sweet tea. On weekdays, the diet was simpler. The porridge turned out to be either pearl barley, or "a fraction of sixteen." When the dishes were turned over, it represented a pudding of dark lead color, which retains the shape of the dishes. This mass was not even eaten during the weeks of quarantine. Opinions about barley were different. Someone offered to throw it away immediately, and some offered to distribute cereals for disposal to warrant officers. But there were also edible cereals and noodles.

Dinner. Consisted of three courses. At first, they were given disgusting "borscht" or really delicious pea soup, which all the soldiers loved. For the second, usually there was noodles, porridge and vegetable stew. The latter was usually prepared from potatoes and cabbage. Naturally, closer to spring, cabbage became less edible. The second was accompanied by a sauerkraut salad. In the summer there was a fresh cabbage salad. The third was unleavened compote from dried fruits (well, not from cabbage), or jelly from briquettes. Usually he also shared the fate of pearl barley.

The assortment of drinks was not amazing: tea, compote, jelly, tap water. But, of course, young organisms wanted more.
Of course, the servicemen of individual units were better fed. Theoretically, the diet of a Soviet soldier was designed so that there were enough calories to perform military and civilian tasks