<story><title>The Overloaded Soldier: Why U.S. Infantry Now Carry More Weight Than Ever</title><url>https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/a25644619/soldier-weight/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>sa46</author><text>Ah, an article I can comment on.  I was an Infantry officer for 6 years and did all the normal schooling and a deployment.&lt;p&gt;This is a pretty well done article.  Here&amp;#x27;s some general ideas to keep in mind.&lt;p&gt;- Most dismounted missions are run from trucks or an established forward operating base, so you don&amp;#x27;t carry a huge rucksack most of the time because you can just go back to your base.&lt;p&gt;- Like the article states, even a day pack with body armor gets you up to 70lbs quickly.&lt;p&gt;- Ammo is really heavy, it being made of lead and all.  100rds of 7.62mm ammo weighs about 7lb.  You want at least 800rds per M240B.&lt;p&gt;- Rucksack weights are sometimes inflated because it&amp;#x27;s a way to brag.&lt;p&gt;- The Marine infantry officer course requirement for 152lb load is excessive.  At that weight, you can only do an admin movement on a road.  All the anecdotes I found about combat loads that heavy were for an initial, short infil followed by a stationary mission.&lt;p&gt;I think the article nails the root cause towards heavier protective equipment.  Public perception and the news cycle makes the death of American service member a bigger deal than in past conflicts.&lt;p&gt;It will be a long time before we get electronic mules in the Infantry.  Adopting the mules adds a huge complexity budget to a simple movement.  The Army decided some years ago to give every Company (~140 people) a Raven drone for recon.  However, it&amp;#x27;s a huge deal if it gets lost (if the GPS guidance were to suddenly fail), so no one ever uses them to avoid the fallout associated with losing Army equipment.</text></comment>
<story><title>The Overloaded Soldier: Why U.S. Infantry Now Carry More Weight Than Ever</title><url>https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/a25644619/soldier-weight/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>woodman</author><text>I actually wrote an essay that dug pretty deep into this topic, many years ago, after I finished my enlistment as a Marine infantry machinegunner - likely the most overburdened MOS.  I&amp;#x27;m surprised this didn&amp;#x27;t get a mention in the article, especially considering the latest developments: women in combat roles.  The significant difference between male and female upper body strength is going to be impossible to ignore under combat loads.</text></comment>