Different militaries provide differently, most produce back then was grown locally and purchased thus. Plus, there was no guarantee of a good crop. Also, it wasn't shipped like you have today. Transport of fresh vegetables from England to France and it doesn't arrive as fresh vegetables, if not turning bad already. Check out WWII submarines and see how foods were stored and what was eaten first before it perished, ...then go back another 20 yrs. This is what's wrong with today's society, very few know how to provide for themselves...they think the store provides it all. It would be a windfall of knowledge if people worked on a farm for at least a year...I've worked 3 farms through my years (beef, milk and vegetable).

Why on earth would you include grenades in kit you're not taking into battle? Are you going to frag the batman if he doesn't polish your boots correctly? The valise contained the officer's personal kit, not weapons. If for some reason an officer wanted to carry grenades then they would be in his belt kit/small pack that he does take into battle.

You don't have a volume control on your device? I suppose you want someone to adjust it for you too?

@@mattyb7736 Yes, I do have volume control. Two, actually. I only rarely go very high on either but with them both maxed out the volume on most of his videos is barely audible.

I was happy that I was prior enlisted when I got my commission, so it was mostly just a change in insignia. Even still my Officer ASUs was around $500 for everything but the shoes.

Well, shit, that ain’t nearly enough once the dysentery sets in.

A famous photo of Lancashire Fusiliers at the Somme in 1916 includes a second lieutenant who seems to be wearing an enlisted man's tunic. He has also moved his rank badges to his shoulder straps, as opposed to the much more conspicuous sleeve rank badges of the regulations.

This is the contents of the valise. You wouldn't be carrying it into battle!

@@robertstallard7836 Somebody would have to. Unless trench warfare of course. Sleeping gear has to be on the back. In a backpack. A solider has to carry everything into battle.

​@@roberthunter6927 No - a soldier most certainly did NOT carry everything into battle during WW1. This is a common misconception. The officers had a valise for their personal kit (as shown in the video), and the men had the 1908 large pack. Both performed the same function - just different shapes! Both were intended only for containing kit such as the greatcoat and a blanket when changing stations. They would occasionally be carried when marching from place to place (although where possible they'd be carried in the baggage waggon in battalion transport) but they wouldn't be taken into battle; simply brought up later by battalion transport. You'll see this time and again in Operation Orders of the period, where the men are instructed to leave large packs at X location for collection by battalion transport. Here's an example: "Kits for Transport: Great Coats, Valises, Packs, Blankets, etc, will be dumped outside Batt. H.Q. by 4.00p.m. These men of "I Company who remain at the Brown Line will keep their blankets with them." (1 Bn, Rifle Brigade). For battle, if they were part of the initial assault force, they would generally carry just basic webbing with the small pack (haversack) that contained necessities such as washing kit, mess tins, rations etc. Follow-up troops would bring up the spades, wire etc that were required for consolidating the captured position. The greatcoats and blankets would be brought up later still or, more likely, the assaulting troops would be replaced by others and they'd be reunited with their large packs once out of the line. As for your last points, the basic premise was the same then as it is now - the men's welfare came first, as you rightly state, and the officers' second. The close bond between officers and men in the British armed forces has been borne out of this concept and well practiced before and since WW1. Even with the huge expansion of the army during the war, with officers being drawn from other than traditional sources, the level of training was still maintained at a high level and they performed perfectly effectively.

@@robertstallard7836 Probably why they died like flies then.

@@roberthunter6927 Quite the oposite! A soldier in contact with the enemy doesn't want to be burdened with unnecessary kit like greatcoats and blankets! Hence the very common sense-approach of dumping that and equipping lightly for actual combat with only the essentials like ammunition, basic rations and water.