Well, they were two million light-years from the heartland, on the front lines. Even with a stargate left behind by the Enlighteners to start from, maintaining supplies for an army of tens of millions and thousands of warships was impossible with the colonies alone. Supplies had to be shipped in from the heartland. Under the circumstances, even the deep-pocketed Empire could consider itself lucky to provide its ordinary front-line soldiers with canned food and hardtack.
Yes, the assault troops on the "Dawnstar Sector" front were currently guaranteed canned meat, nutritional paste, and hardtack for every meal. No one knew exactly what went into the canned meat or nutritional paste, but they provided enough calories, and their nutritional balance was decent enough. Grenadiers got a step up in rations. On top of the above, they also got dried meat, canned fruit, and candy—待遇 roughly equal to that of a warship's crew.
But officers and knightly lords got fresh meat, fruits and vegetables, fancy pastries, and the finest tobacco and liquor. They even had military brothels full of pretty women.
Of course, this system of preferential treatment had been around for several thousand years. Neither the noble-born officers nor the cannon fodder from the lower species thought there was anything wrong with it.
Brigadier General Takai was an Imperial third-class citizen by birth, but he was a general, after all, and could count on enjoying the same perks if he wanted them. But his men were all assault-troop brothers who cost "fifty bucks" apiece. He wasn't a noble lord or a military genius, so if he wanted to lead his troops well, he needed to cultivate an image of sharing their hardships.
So even he, a dignified Imperial brigadier general and a Leg giant who could drink like a fish, hadn't smelled