Quote Originally Posted by Steve Blair View Post
Actually it's more of a "forgotten, then reinvented" area of research. Since a group of Prussian medical students studied the combat load of infantry in the early 1870s it's come up, been forgotten, come up again, been forgotten again....you get the idea.
I have never found "A Soldier's Load" useful reading. It's a very variable work.

What was done by the Germans in the 1870's should be the bench mark for all load carrying tests, yet I know of no attempt to repeat it. The closest I have evidence of is a 2002 Australian Army test. All load carrying should be based on testing, but almost none is.

The US Army has only ever conducted two complete audits of loads carried in Combat since 1942, and the UK has never done it, in terms of published results or data that has usefully informed progress in the area.