A man can carry only so much. What are the limitations of the average, young man in terms of weight bearing? How far can he walk with a designated weight? Does the West still need foot platoons?

We know that prior to WWI that the Imperial German Army conducted exhaustive testing regarding the first two questions.(Certainly at that time there was no question as to the right answer to the third question.) We also know the results of the march testing. Generally speaking an average young man

1) Can carry about 1/3 of his body weight over extended distances.

2) He can march in day light on a reasonably surfaced road at a rate of about 3 MPH with a 10-minute break every hour for about 8-hours a day for a total of about 20-miles a day. Anything more than this is a "force march" and impacts on the health of the average young man.

3. Our young man can do this 6-days a week with a single day of rest.

If we assume that he weighs around 150 lbs then his marching weight his around 50lbs. As we all know if our young marcher is issued with an old 7.62 machine gun (M 60 or MAG 58) and about 400 rounds of link outside of its packaging then he will approach or exceed the 50 lbs limit without counting the other necessities of survival (The way things are going our young soldiers may soon be carrying 50 lbs in battery weight alone.)

The 1944/45 German infantry platoon solved this problem with issuing 2-4 pony carts to a platoon. The young German marcher put his machine gun, ammunition and much of his other gear in the squad cart and marched along carrying his basic webbing and pistol. Sadly I do not think that I could convince the Western Defense establishments to return to unshod ponies and wooden carts as the principal support vehicle for foot platoons).

My guess is that a foot platoon made up of average men and operating without vehicle support for a 6-day mission and relying on the carrying power of its young men would have the following limitations in terms of weapons and protection.

1. No body armor.
2. One belt fed machine gun per squad with 1,000 rounds split up among the squad.
3. Bullet trap rifle grenades that can also be hand thrown.
4. A very short range, disposable rocket launcher.
5. A small, light and handy firearm for each solider that fires a lot of little bullets and launches rifle grenades. (If memory serves the original Armalite weighed about 5.5 lbs).

But does the West still need foot platoons?

Regards

Richard