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I read once where a 70-90 pound kit has been normal since Napoleon's army. Cramming more functionality into fewer cubic centimeters and fewer kilograms doesn't
by dbcurtis 9y ago
I read once where a 70-90 pound kit has been normal since Napoleon's army. Cramming more functionality into fewer cubic centimeters and fewer kilograms doesn't lighten the load, and never has. It hopefully gives the soldier a more functional kit.
- elabajaba 9y agohttps://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1985/IDC.htm https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1985/... According to that, in the 1920s the British Army "discovered that armies in the past had on the average issued the soldier between fifty-five and sixty pounds". Investigations by the British, Germans, Russians, and US into how much infantry should carry throughout the 1900s all end up around the same number of 30% of the soldier's body weight (48lbs) being the ideal load, and that the maximum load a soldier should carry shouldn't exceed 45% of their body weight (72lbs, and will degrade their combat effectiveness for the next few days no matter how physically conditioned the soldier is).
- ryanmarsh 9y agoIf you take into account that the average American infantryman today is bigger than your average 1920’s soldier then yes this sounds about right. A 200lb soldier is, on average, carrying 80lbs.