The weight of equipment was a secondary reason, I believe, why we always cruise around in HMMWVs. Its hard to do long patrols with all that crap on, especially in the summer. Another factor that impedes effectiveness is not just the weight, but the bulkiness. Some people loath this idea, but Im a firm believer that speed = security. And there is no speed with all that body armor on and it's associated magazines and commo gear. Actually a better word than speed is agility. You cant be agile with all that on. Imagine getting in the prone, but being held up off the ground by the plate in your vest and your magazine pouches and your MBITTR radio, and whatever else you've got. I was never under direct fire, but I can easily imagine worrying that you cant get low enough to get under some grazing fire or properly use a low piece of cover. On your feet, your a bit top heavy. I suppose you can train for this to some extent by wearing full gear during PT or something. Or doing obstacle courses with it all on. That would suck. And by the way, I got to work around that CPT Mahowald for a couple weeks in Baghdad in 2005. He was the BDE battle captain. Suffice to say that when I heard he had gone down to take over a company, I was jealous of those PLs. The quality of that little piece he wrote was typical of all his work. Definitely a great officer.
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