As far as the spread of scabies was concerned, one reason seems to have been the overcrowded nature of the barracks and camps. More importantly, the logistical and bureaucratic problems reviewed in the last chapter meant that, as was seen above, the soldiers were rarely issued new uniforms and that they had to stay in their old, often dirty ones for a long time. When Hassan Efendi, the adjutant-major of the 8th Infantry Regiment, received orders to investigate the appearance and uniforms of his soldiers he found most of them in direct violation of the regulations. In a report he sent to his major he said that their uniforms have worn out and “hardly anything is left of the shoes on their feet and a lot of them walk bare-foot in the markets.”

XREF: Connects to the pattern of provisioning failures and red tape affecting soldier health seen throughout the book, e.g., contaminated bandages (loc 1133) and budgetary shortfalls disabling regulations (loc 1139). Builds on: "Budgetary shortfalls disabled even the most detailed military regulations."

Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed…, loc. 1142