Thursday, June 20, 2019

This Marine Captain Figured Out Exactly How Many Pounds Equal Pain in Combat

This Marine Captain Figured Out Exactly How Many Pounds Equal Pain in Combat
Nicely done research on what people can carry into battle and be effective. Interestingly, the recommendation is no more than 30% of body weight for long term movement, and no more than 45% for actual assault situations. This means the average 180 lb man would never get loaded down with more than 80-85 lbs of gear. But now grunts are routinely carrying 100 lbs all the time, and sometimes even more. I've watched videos of combat sequences in Afghanistan and under fire the men are running as fast as they can, but it's not that fast at all, and they're not dodging back and forth either, they're far too weighed down for any of that. Clearly there's a point where the extra weight increases danger rather than increasing safety, and it's time for everyone to understand that and start thinking about it. And of course, this again says you can't have women in the infantry, the most a 120 lb woman would be supposed to carry would be 55 lbs, and that simply can't work. Loading her up with 80 lbs means 2/3 her body weight and nobody is going to be very effective loaded down like that. --Del

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