Posted on Jun 13, 2019
This Marine captain figured out exactly how many pounds equal pain in combat
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Marines
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Infantry
Equipment
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 13
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CW5,
I have never seen a patrol with 120lbs of gear. I have seen all gear except H-harness, weapons and armor placed at HQ, or RP before crossing the line of departure.
One can out manuver the enemy if one is in better shape. You know, doing 20 pull ups and being able to run 5 miles at pace. That means, if you lower the PFT and call it gender neutral, you might as well call your mommie to do it for you.
Have a good day Sir.
I have never seen a patrol with 120lbs of gear. I have seen all gear except H-harness, weapons and armor placed at HQ, or RP before crossing the line of departure.
One can out manuver the enemy if one is in better shape. You know, doing 20 pull ups and being able to run 5 miles at pace. That means, if you lower the PFT and call it gender neutral, you might as well call your mommie to do it for you.
Have a good day Sir.
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CPT Ray Gilmore
How many patrols in Afghanistan or Iraq did you walk?
It is 40+ pounds of plates and armor, before you add ammo, water, weapons, demo....
Going out into the mountains, and off the streets, add batteries, more ammo, more water, and hopefully some socks.... and you easily pushing 100 lbs.
Carry an AT4 or other light armor weapon, and it is very easily over the 120 mark.
All the perfect PT scores in the world do not prepare the body for a years worth of that beating.... and to do it deployment after deployment....
The numbers of back injuries do not lie.
It has nothing to do with Genders or calling mommy.
There are Rangers, Sappers, SOF and grunts alike, whose bodies are failing them because of the foolish addition of more and more plates.
In 2004 plate carriers were enough.
By the end of 2007, we had IBA, plates on the front, back, and sides, plus shoulder pads, neck & nut protection... to counter IEDs, in the mountains?
Protective Postures should be METT-C dependent, not based off of SOPs from Iraq, when you are serving in Afghanistan.
It is 40+ pounds of plates and armor, before you add ammo, water, weapons, demo....
Going out into the mountains, and off the streets, add batteries, more ammo, more water, and hopefully some socks.... and you easily pushing 100 lbs.
Carry an AT4 or other light armor weapon, and it is very easily over the 120 mark.
All the perfect PT scores in the world do not prepare the body for a years worth of that beating.... and to do it deployment after deployment....
The numbers of back injuries do not lie.
It has nothing to do with Genders or calling mommy.
There are Rangers, Sappers, SOF and grunts alike, whose bodies are failing them because of the foolish addition of more and more plates.
In 2004 plate carriers were enough.
By the end of 2007, we had IBA, plates on the front, back, and sides, plus shoulder pads, neck & nut protection... to counter IEDs, in the mountains?
Protective Postures should be METT-C dependent, not based off of SOPs from Iraq, when you are serving in Afghanistan.
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Cpl Mark A. Morris
CPT Ray Gilmore - That is the first time anyone has asked me that question. I will give it some thought and I might get back to you.
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CPT Lawrence Cable
31 Lbs. is the official weight of the vest with plate, M4 with a magazine comes in around 7 1/2 without optics, closer to 10 with optics. We used to carry a basic load of 6 thirty round mags at a bit over a pound a piece and a couple of quarts of water at a pound an ounce, so you have more than 50 lbs without LBE, helmet, batteries, radio, grenades and whatever portion of the squad gear is assigned to you that day.
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CPT Lawrence Cable
And back in my day, I carried an M47 Dragon ATM. I had 45 lbs (with the night sight) before I put on my skivvies.
What a dicked up weapon system. Aside from the numerous reliability issues, there was absolutely no comfortable or even reasonable way to carry it, and if you ever had to fire the damn thing in combat, you might as well have painted a big bulleye on your shirt and yelled "Shoot Me".
What a dicked up weapon system. Aside from the numerous reliability issues, there was absolutely no comfortable or even reasonable way to carry it, and if you ever had to fire the damn thing in combat, you might as well have painted a big bulleye on your shirt and yelled "Shoot Me".
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I believe Captain Thompson is about to receive multiple proposals for marriage or at least have numerous rifles named in her honor.
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If you are on a long range foot patrol your load will be heavier than if you are mounted or on a shorter patrol. One would think, on a long range patrol, when you engage the enemy force, you would drop the heavier pack and have only your basic protective gear on during the immediate fight. You need more gear on a LRP because you are out further and longer and have to take what you need for the time you will be out.
Optimally you would like the element of surprise on your side but that doesn't always happen. I agree that more weight equals less mobility and can cause you to be an easier target. More weight also can case non combat injuries (sprains, fractures, breaks etc.) We also have a lot of equalizers on the battlefield, small drones to see the enemy, larger drones to fire on the enemy, snipers, heaver arms for suppression, optics on our rifles to allow for better shots etc.
Optimally you would like the element of surprise on your side but that doesn't always happen. I agree that more weight equals less mobility and can cause you to be an easier target. More weight also can case non combat injuries (sprains, fractures, breaks etc.) We also have a lot of equalizers on the battlefield, small drones to see the enemy, larger drones to fire on the enemy, snipers, heaver arms for suppression, optics on our rifles to allow for better shots etc.
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