[Hoplite]

I have a sneaking suspicion that if the gear is lightened, tomorrow's grunts will just be loaded down with more of it.

I just seem to remember going through equipment checked before going to the field and dreading the words "You're light - take this ammo/battery/diesel engine/whatever."

Guess I just can't see an Army wherein that changes, and looking at individual loads carried by grunts since WW2 (admittedly a non-scientific enterprise usually done while drinking beers and listening to the old timers saying things like "Well, back when it was hard...") the weight of said load seems to come down to how much the soldier can carry, not based upon maintaining a parity with the capabilities or firepower of yesterday's soldiers.

[Travis McGee]

I have a sneaking suspicion that if the gear is lightened, tomorrow's grunts will just be loaded down with more of it.

Put that in the bank!

[Hoplite]

You see, Mr. Prrresident, vonce ve haff eqvipped our truppen vit der superior hellllmet, ve can prrrrogress tovards improffink zehr mobility - ve are movink avay from ze motorized models and haff a functionink prrrototype in field trialz...

Zoon, mein fuhrer, er, Mr. President, zorry, ve shall have soldaten who vill be unschtoppable und ve can rule ze vorld!

or check into a psycho ward and send posts to yourself on FR, whichever comes first eh?

[Movemout]

Interesting. The extra weight carried by soldiers will never change. I've been watching it for over thirty years. They will carry whatever they can bear. Remember, though, that in Mogadishu, Somalia the Rangers took out the ceramic plates in the body armor (too heavy and uncomfortable), didn't bring their night vision hardware, and discarded their canteens because they weren't going to be gone that long.

When I was an enlisted man I always ended up carrying the radio or mortar plate because I was bigger than average. MSG Romero has done more to serve the front line warrior than a whole auditorium of REMF engineers.