Originally Posted by
Infanteer
Weight was always one of my biggest fights. I always tried fiddling with what we carried but no matter what you do, you were burdened.
My patrol loadout in Afghanistan consisted of:
- Body Armour, Helmet and Ballistic Eye-wear
- Carbine and 7 Mags
- 1 Frag Grenade
- 2 Smoke Grenades
- 1 First Aid Kit
- 1 GPS
- 1 set of binos
- 1 liter water
- MBITR (small VHF radio)
- 4 glowsticks
- Small Folding Knife
- Map, Pens, Paper
In my bag I would have:
- 2 x Rations (MREs; this was 24 hours)
- 3-6 extra liters of water
- 2 extra smoke
- 1 belt 7.62 or M-72 (all patrolmen carry something with omph)
- Ranger Blanket (got stuck once without it, never again)
I would normally take the bag out if I was operating away from the vehicle/outpost for more than 4-6 hours.
This is not much stuff, and it was heavy. If a guy had a support weapon or a radio, he was double screwed. Me and my NCOs looked at it, and you can't really get rid of much more. As someone already pointed out, the big key is to get rid of the weight of the hard armour somehow. The armour adds alot of weight and, usually, adds it in an uncomfortable and constricting way that only fatigues a soldier faster.
Bookmarks