Quote Originally Posted by Richard W View Post
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).
Six days on foot is very demanding dismounted operation. Not impossible, but the circumstances that would cause it would be pretty specific, and you'd be trading weapons weight for Comms, rations and water.

Rifle Grenades are good, as are 66mm LAWs, but again, these had to be set against trade-offs in other areas. Do you need Rifle grenades if you have 40mm UGL? etc.