In Alma 58, we see the first intimations of a supply problem. Helaman’s forces are not receiving the food and so forth that they required, but they don’t know why.
We’ll hear more about this particular situation very shortly.
In today’s military, some estimates suggest, there are roughly four people in support positions for every soldier in an actual combat role, and perhaps only 1-4% of the military actually engage in fighting. (If these figures aren’t precisely accurate, they at least suggest something of the proportions and make my point sufficiently clear.)
In other words, as is often said, armies “march on their stomachs.”
And when the support team fails, when the stomachs are empty, the combat troops are in crisis.
I’ve recently read about illustrations of this very situation with George Washington’s Continental Army and George Patton’s Third Army at the time of the Battle of the Bulge.
This chapter is very realistic, thoroughly true to life.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In