Ration (small):

Learn how to recruit allies in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. This guide covers capturing, rescuing, and utilizing soldiers with different careers to build your ultimate squad.

The Ration (small) is not a specific item with a description in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. Instead, the game focuses on recruiting and managing allies. To recruit soldiers, you must first incapacitate them, then drag them to a truck or cardboard box before they recover. Once captured, they will be held in prison on the Squad Management screen. After a period, they will join your unit, with the process being faster if you have a Politician in your squad. Rescued soldiers, unique characters with special conditions, soldiers recruited via AP Scan or passwords, and those who join through Cyber-Survival will join immediately or under specific circumstances.

Soldiers have different careers that affect their abilities and the units they are best suited for, such as Athlete for faster movement in the Infiltration Unit, or Politician to make prisoners join more easily. Cyber-Survival mode allows you to send your units online via WLAN to potentially recruit more soldiers, sometimes even receiving gifts like the Stealth Camouflage, but carries the risk of losing your own soldiers.