Some men get bones broken in their feet when their exhausted muscles cannot sufficiently support the bones any more.
I show this because I mentioned the principle a couple times, without backing that up. The BROACH warhead combines a shaped charge with an explosive warhead that follows through the hole or at least penetrated the badly weakened cover. This can be done with anything from big bombs to man-portable munitions (Bunkerfaust, for example). The consequence of this technology is huge, for it devalues hardened aircraft shelters. Those really only protect against blast, fragmentation and the tiniest of munitions (autocannon shells, 70 mm rockets). A Small Diameter Bomb (250 lbs class) can penetrate the weak roof of a hardened aircraft shelter even without a shaped charge. A single cruise missile that dispenses submunitions could penetrate three hardened aircraft shelters if those submunitions use shaped charges to assist the penetrator.
I don't think it's very important for land attack because they would need their Su-34 high end strike fighters and MiG-31 interceptors for different tasks.
It would be interesting to see what's the practical visible range (important for rear area troops who lack night vision and make use of illumination munitions) and how well it works with night vision goggles (likely fine, especially when the luminescent coating is thin).
The cone angle in which this is visible is interesting as well, for tracers also have a communication function. A team or squad leader may use a different tracer colour to point at where to shoot at, controlling the fires of his small unit by visuals.
The cone angle in which this is visible is interesting as well, for tracers also have a communication function. A team or squad leader may use a different tracer colour to point at where to shoot at, controlling the fires of his small unit by visuals.
I would love to have a current Bundeswehr infantryman's gear list in that format, to compare with what ultralight gear is on the market and see what's the difference.
I made a rather comprehensive excel table to see how low you can go in regard to weight with an extremist ultralight approach, but I arrived at about 24.4 kg for a rifleman and 26 kg for a light machinegunner in non-urban summertime missions. That's what the marching load (not fighting load) of a fit 90 kg man should weigh. One might reduce this to about 24 kg for both with even more extreme measures, but I don't see how one could reasonably go lower without polymer cartridge cases (up to 2.1 kg savings for light machinegunner and 0.9 kg for rifleman at 600 and 250 rds respectively).S O
Some points about the gear list:
ReplyDeleteIt shows clearly how much todays western tms armies set priorities on clothing and protection and how few weight is invested in firepower and camo.
With an true extremist ultralight approach you can very easily get the weight down even to 20 kg and that does not mean expensive special ultralight equipment but replacing only a few items with lighter ones and mainly to not use some of the items at all.
Lets take a closer look and lets take only some of the items:
Helmet ~ 1kg, Body Armour/Plate Carrier ~ 12 kg, the mags ~ 1 kg (there are much lighter ones), Molle-attached backpack ~ 1 kg, Combat Shirt/Pants (there are much lighter ones) ~ 1,5 kg, 1 radio/pouch/antena ~ 2 kg, Ellbow and Knee-Pads ~ 0,3 kg, Assault Gloves ~ 0,2 kg, Combat Boots ~ 1 kg
Alltogether: 20 kg
Now we need to invest some of the weight back in (fewer) ultralightweight mags with higher capacity per mag, in ultralightweight boots with half the weight and an lighter Shirt/Pants Combi, plus some additional camo / sensor stuff and we can spare at least still around 16 kg.
From an overall weight of 36 kg this reduces it to 20 kg. The main point here is simple to wilful do without protection / helmet / body armour. The same moment you spare them, and other heavy stuff you can simple reduce the weight of many other items too. Only one example: if you do not wear much weight, you do not need heavy boots and light shoes can do instead etc
Its therefore a spiral: the more weight you spare in not using items, the lighter can other items become because they then must not be that heavy anymore (backpack, Battle Belt etc)
But moreover it is not only a question of the weight alone but also mainly of the distribution of the weight on the body. The todays chest rigs are for example not very good in carrying weight efficient in comparison to other systems.
To summarize everything up: The following picture shows clearly everything that is wrong today with our western tm infantry:
http://www.afghanistan-connection.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/ausr%C3%BCstung1-e1405690964757-1320x564.jpg
Not much firepower but an incredible amount of protective equipment, Bad Camo but an unbelievable hawkers tray (chest rig) full of redundancy.
Cannot move, cannot use the terrain in the right way, cannot hide, no firepower, but so much additional that the strain and exhaustion will fast kill him without 24/7 nearby vehicle support.
No way such an "infantry" man could fight an true infantry combat in terrain in which infantry should act.
I have a comprehensive list for a hypothetical ultralight basic fighting load of rifleman, fire team leader and light machinegunner. 20 kg is out of range (the grenadier has 5 kg worth of LAWs, though). That list is rather on the optimistic side - some items would fail too quickly in field testing and be replaced with more durable and thus heavier items.
DeleteI'll likely write more about the UL infantry/scout topic in the 2nd half of June. That theoretical exercise with the excel list gave me an idea, and that one requires some additional research and needs to mature.
I make ultralight trekking since several years and without the consumables i brought the weight of the complete equipment down to around 7 kg (without food/water). And that does not mean starving on cold rations or sleeping on the ground without protection. The whole weight includes a sleeping system and even a cooking device. And i walk realy great distances with that equipment much faster and even saver than the people with the heavier and only feigned more durable items. I started this years ago because of my knees - which after serving in the german mountain infantry began to fail me. Then i find this book:
ReplyDeleteLightweight Backpacking and Camping from Ryan Jordan and it was amazing and become my bible over the years. For your study on this case i therefore highly recommend this book for you.
Today i march faster, longer distances with all the comfort necessary with so few weight i can often easily outperform much younger and much fitter ones with conventional equipment.
Here a example which is even lighter:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61aTQ1yqbGs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHmtdtctzzc
Infantry is not on a hike. I know the 3.5 kg rule for UL hiking and what's done for it. I know there are 2-person tarps that weight less than 150 grams with all necessary accessories, and less if hicking sticks are used as tent poles.
DeleteBut infantry needs firearms, munitions (smoke hand grenades are awfully heavy), night vision, radios, batteries and some crossloaded stuff like belted rounds, prybar, entrenching tool. Leaders also need some additional tools like binoculars and pyrotechnics.
Nobody has yet found a way to make water lighter.
These things add up quickly.
In the end a sensible capability basic load sums up to about 25 kg and that's a too heavy fighting load for a 18-20 y.o. who has 70-80 kg body mass. It only gets worse once you add ubrna warfare kit (lockbuster and wallbuster charges), AT load (15 kg heavy AT weapons and munitions), stuff for commando mortar or a M4 Carl Gustav portable infantry gun.
Let us assume a weight of 3,5 kg per Person for complete clothing, camo, cooking, water desinfection, "tent" / sleeping system, then we have 18,5 kg free to the named 20 kg.
DeleteLets Take moreover 3,5 kg for night vision, radio, entrenching tool (only one for every second soldier!), pouches for the ammunition, when we still have 15 kg left for Weapons and Ammuniton alone.
Because if you spare helmet and body armour, you can then invest this 15 kg complete in Weapons and Ammunition per Person and still have only reached 20 kg which is possible to carry without any hindrance.
For example an 8 Men Infantry Group:
1 x "Anti Tank" - Lets take an Textron 6,5mm Carbine which wheighs around 4 kg with optics, which fire Polymer-Ammunition - which is 40 % lighter - and therefore Ammunition for 1 kg and a Spike SR which wheighs only 10 kg but has a range of 1500 m !
1 x "Machine Gun" : We take a LWMMG in .338 Norma Magnum which wheighs only around 11 kg and 4 kg of ammunition for this Semi-SMG with an Range up to 1700 m. No Pistol, no Back-Up Weapon - only the MG.
1 x "Machine Gun Ordnance" : lets take an Textron 6,5mm Carbine with 4 kg and then 1 kg of ammuniton for the carbine and further 10 kg of ammunition for the LWMMG
2 x "Grenadier" : Textron Carbine 4kg, UBGL (AG-36) 1,5k, 4,5 kg Grenades, 5 kg of Ammunition for the Carbine
1 x "Explosives Specialist" : Textron Carbine 4 kg, 1 kg of Ammunition, 10 kg of explosives, smoke grenades, wallbuster charges, pyrotechnics etc acts moreover as second in command
1 x "Leader" : Textron Carbine 4 kg, 4 kg of Ammunition, 7 kg radio, batteries, sensors
1 x "Scout/Sniper" - AX Rifle in .338 Norma Magnum (Range up to 1700 m) with optics etc around 7,5 kg, Ammunition for this rifle 1,5 kg, an Textron Carbine 6,5mm with 4 kg and Ammunition for that with 2 kg
And we have a complete infantry group with a much stronger firepower, more round overall and still around only 20 kg per soldier.
For the question of water:
DeleteA folding bucket weighs near to nothing and water desinfection weighs only 100 gramms per 10 000 Liter ! And water is nearly everythere available in central and western europe and if every soldier of sad infantry group carries 100 gramms the group can disinfect up to 80 0000 Liters of Water for drinking without cooking it. That should be more than sufficient.
You think so, but thoughts don't make it real.
DeleteI've got my table, it adds up to about 25 kg and is already on an extremist ultralightweight side.
And there's no reason to not use a helmet when it weighs as little as the lightest ballistic helmet does.
Chlorine-based water disinfection is diarrhea-inducing crap. Satisfactory water filters can be had for less than 50 grams.
BTW, you forgot to count clothes and pouches - those weigh more than 2 kg even with an extreme UL approach.
As I wrote before - that stuff adds up relentlessly. One cannot stay below 20 kg with a satisfactory basic equipment and I'm not even talking about sleeping system or tarp here - just the fighting load.
A couple of years ago a company here in austria sold disposable high-tech water filters you could srew on standard water canister and field bottles that were good for a couple thousand litres of water. Can't remember the name and couldn't find any information on the quick. But I tried the small one for 50€ that I could screw on the plastic water bottle the austrian army used and it worked really well. Tried it on all kind of hikes here in europe for 2-3 years before I got bored and I never had any issues whatsoever with water from puddles and rivers. If I remember correctly it was meant for third world countries and disaster releave in a lot of cases were contaminated water was the only available water source. I always thought this could be really useful for the military to save some weight in a lot of situations.
DeleteSawyer mini is a pretty good choice. No filter is perfect, though.
Deletehttps://sawyer.com/products/mini-filter/
Yep, don't doubt it. The one they made couldn't handle gasoline contamination and I thought this could be a huge issue in third world countries were it would be necessary to transport both water and gasoline by hand or at least in small containers. Cross-contamination could hardly be avoided.
DeleteJust weightet my combat pants (with knee pads ! included and run into the pants) and my jacket with hood, both in pencott greenzone and together the weight 720 gramms (and i am a very tall person). Very lightweight, i feel them like nothing and the dry around 4 to 6 times faster than my BW Cotton uniform if they get wet. For comparison: the combat uniform in the list you linked weighs more than 1,4 kg, so my camo uniform is 50% lighter than the one in the list and such a solution is available to nearly every item mentioned there.
DeleteThe boots in the list have around 0,7 kg, i know Gore Tex Boots with under 300 gramms.
And a battle belt with some suspenders and a few pouches does also not weigh so much, there are very lightweight ones etc etc
The reason to not use an helmet is, that it only hinders you and even the lightest helmets weigh at least 1,2 kg (for example the ACH Gen II). This 1,2 kg and the problem of heat and water loss because you sweat and your head overheats are more a problem than a solution.
To the question of water: it is absolutly no problem to carry some filters too, of cause, but the main point is especially: the lighter the clothes, the fewer body armour you were, the less you sweat and therefore you do not need as much water as an conventional western tm armies infantryman. Especially the clothes, the boots, the helmet and the body armour all trap heat and make you sweat tremendous amounts of water. And as there is water nearly everythere available in central and western europe (rifers, creeks, ground water, fountains and also the civilian infrastructure which should provide some water i do not see water as a problem as long as the equipment you wear on your body is as light as possible and as breathable as possible. Most times you could drink even in germany right out of the stream for longer periods without becoming sick. And against diarrhea you eat some coal powder and it will not become a problem. Moreover one can neutralize the chlorine in the water chemically and then it is not an problem anymore. I have drunk such water for weeks without any problems.
I and for sure many other too would be very interested in your list. Perhaps i find several items which can be spared or which exist in a even lighter form. Moreover going ultralight is not primarly about ultralight equipment but about replacing equipment with skills and not use some equipment at all. Therefore for example no helmets and many other of the named items in the list.
Of cause a helmet is a great advantage for some things, but to the opposite a great disadvantage in other areas. To go ultralight means to not use equipment, therefore one could win advantages from not using a helmet, not using any body armour, not using 2 radios but 1, and not using 2 pairs of gloves but 1 etc etc and in the rest to use equipment which weighs only half so much.
But i am awaiting with suspense your post about this matter and especially your list in which i am very interested.
I will also prepare a detailled exact list and will send it to you, with exact data not the mere gueses which i made until now.
Check out the LJD Aire helmet. You need some headgear to mount night goggles and a hood or hat anyway, so the savings are down to maybe 600 grams without helmet.
DeleteThere are actually many places without ground water at useful depths in Central Europe, but there are usually spots at buildings that accumulate rain water. I suppose NE Europe should still be wet enough.
On my preliminary list I have 2,338 g for all clothes (no spares) incl. balaclava, gloves and knee pads. I calculate with some clothes that would more likely than not be rejected in troops tests on grounds of durability. All underwear is no melt/no drip, or at least more than 50% non-synthetic (that's an issue for the arms where the shirt is synthetic and has no no-melt base layer).
I estimate 1,200 g for a hypothetical load-bearing belt that includes all the pouches needed (and that's a lot since I despise chest rigs and don't consider backpacks to be part of a fighting load). It might be 1,000...1,500 g depending on features and design.
One of the really big issues with researching lightweight clothing is that even when makers praise "lightweight" they do not offer the weight info, or rather tell about the area weight of the fabric instead of total weight. I'm not going to buy all that stuff to weigh it myself.
600 gramms are 600 gramms. And there are new ultralight night googles you can easily carry without a helmet.
DeleteTo the question of the clothes: the named in my list i weigh for myself (interestingly the weight differs from what the maker claims which you said here also). By load-bearing belt has 1350 gramm so also here your weight is realistic imo.
IMO you do not need a balaclava and also knee pads are only a luxury. The clothes i included in the list have a relativly high durability, i have worn them under worst conditions and in dense bushes. The synthetic / melting issue is an important thing. The clothes of mine are 100 % synthetic and would melt in contact with flames. This is an disadvantage of cause in an military context and would lead to problematic wounds if you are burned. To the opposite this offers weight savings and also it drys very fast and this last point is of outmost importance. Clothes will get wet in central/eastern europe and there perhaps not be the possibiity to dry them out in dry rooms with a heater or near a fire (because of opsec no fire). Fast drying clothes are warmer and much better. They are also much better in very humid / tropic climate. I regard this lightweight / fast drying capacity as more important than the question if clothes are melting or not.
Sven,
ReplyDeleteI am curious as to what you think about the situation in the Horn of Africa. Do you have any particular thoughts about the fact that the world may have its first long-prophesied war over water?
Best,
A Reader
http://defense-and-freedom.blogspot.de/2017/07/somaliland-and-puntland.html
DeleteNothing new since on my part. I don't pay much attention to most of Africa.
OK, you'll probably laugh, but what about delegating much of the firepower of the unit to small drones carried in a trailer towed by a quadbike or even in a rudiementary self-driving transport UGV. Rather than carrying a Carl Gustav or GPMG, the squad only take rifles and UGLs and instead use hand held devices to cue the explosive laden drones onto targets.
ReplyDeleteIt's not infantry but AFV terrain if that makes much sense.
DeleteThere's an in-between kind of terrain where infantry or scouts can do very well as defending forward observers with support by arty et cetera, but then it would only need to hide, not move much.
Ok here a complete list of basic equipment including rifle, rounds and grenades:
ReplyDeleteThe original list linked here from last dingo:
https://lighterpack.com/r/90layq
leads to a overall weight of 36,32 kg
My list leads to a overall weight of only 18 kg, which was my target: to half the basic load !
Here it is:
Kleidung (bei einer Körpergröße von 199 cm)
BE-X Softshell Jacke in Pencott Greenzone 300
BE-X Softshell Hose/Knee Pads in Pencott Greenzone 420
BE-X Reflective Poncho in Pencott Greenzone 450
BE-X Poncho Liner in Pencott Greenzone 995
Gtx Stiefel – Inov-8 Roclite 286 – Größe 48,5 700
Handschuhe 230
2 Paar Seidensocken 80
2 Paar Quechua Unterhosen 120
Schlafsystem
Relags Iso-Matte 195cmx49cmx0,9cm 146
Schutz, Kommunikation und Sensorik
Peltor Ohrschützer mit Funkanschluss 220
Oakley M-Frame ballistic eyewear 110
Nachtzielgerät 440
Funkgerät mit Kabeln/Headset usw 1700
Wirkmittel und Verbrauchsmittel
Textron Carbine 6,5mm mit Polymermun 3900
7 Magazine für je 30 Schuß 950
210 Schuß mit Polymerhülsen 1516
5 Extra Batterien 100
1,5 Liter Isotonisches Sportgetränk 1500
4 Handgranaten 2000
Tragesystem
Battle Belt, Suspender, Pouches 1350
Gossamer Gear Murmur Rucksack – 36 Lt / max 9 kg 240
PET-Flasche für 1,5 Liter 45
Sonstiges
Relags Erste Hilfe Set 98
Wasserfestes Papier und Bleistifte 90
Ohrstöpsel 6
Leatherman MUT Multitool 317
Gesamtgewicht 18023 gramm
All named equipment would be available at the spot, and is even not the most ultralight one i know of. All of the clothes i used under heavy and difficult weather conditions in foreign countries with extreme enviroment.
The poncho, the liner which can be worn alone as a kind of coat and the iso-mat over you a complete sleeping system in which you can sustain even nights down to 5 Degree Celsius without problem.
Even Water and a Bottle i included in this list.
Critics highly welcomed !
Half of fighting load items is missing IMO, and some items aren't fighting load (sleep stuff).
DeleteSpecialised sleep stuff is only 146 gramms and moreover useful for fighting too because if you ly longer on the ground or you want to trench, an sleeping pad is immensly useful. Therefore such an sleeping pad (iso-matte) should be included in the fighting load.
ReplyDeleteAnd the poncho / ponch liner were also dual used as camo, against colder/rainy weather and can also camouflage one against thermal vision (reflective poncho). The substitute a coat, thermal camo, and a tent, and also give you a complete sleeping system, all in one.
And of cause many items are missing, but this is designedly. I canceled them because i am not regarding them as basic fighting equipment and/or even necessary. This load includes imo everything you realy need for even a longer period of time, including over 200 rounds and a high performance rifle and 4 high output grenades.
What do you regard as absolutly necessary and a basic load that is missing here ?
My idea of basic fighting load includes items needed by stragglers to find their way back to friendlies over several days, for example.
DeleteYou're missing
compass
map of general area
basic NBC mask (more escape hood-like to save weight)
small LED flashlight
different bandages for normal and burn wounds
IR beacon with battery
mini lighter
750 ml pot, UL knife, UL spork, toothbrush
multitool should be a custom one with can opener and skeletonised frames
camo paint (one colour, due to crossloading)
caffeine pills
energy bars (soldier fuel)
Esbit UL burner, Esbit bars
one instant smoke hand grenade
some crossloaded stuff (prybar, mineclearing probe, entrenchment tool, wire saw)
Your radio and hand grenades are way too heavy, old-fashioned types. One set of underwear suffices for fighting load, even socks. Your gloves are way too heavy - no kind of gloves is truly durable and you should know the pair you use is too heavy if there's a decent pair weighing less than half as much.
Roclite 286 isn't in production any more
https://www.inov-8.com/roclite
hence I chose the 325 GTX model.
Disagree:
Delete(conventional) compass is not necessary, can be replaced by functions (digital compass, maps in the display etc) in the radio and especially with skills. For example i nearly always know there north is etc It is absolutly sufficient if perhaps one soldier in a group have one compass additonaly
An NBC Mask without further NBC protection equipment is near to useless, therefore i regard such items as special equipment and not part of the basic load.
bandages for wounds are included in the first aid kit which is in my list, also i included a multitool and therefore also a knife is not necessary because a knife blade is part of the multi tool
a 750 ml pot per soldier is unnecessary and a waste of place and gramms, the same with a tooth brush and a spork. The fingers are sufficient (even for cleaning the teeth with salt and ashes) and food and containers, pots, and the named other items etc can be buyed, commandeered or looted in central and eastern europe with ease.
Camo paints i included explicitly, even with sawed in soft knee pads. I even named the camo pattern.
esbit burner and esbit bars are imo highly inefficient and i would not use esbit at all. Especially esbit fails in very cold conditions. This would fail the soldier if the conditions would get worse and will not give much advantage in comparison to weight and effort.
What i truly realy forgot is a Fire-Steel, to start a simple conventional fire with wood or other stuff from the area of operation. Simple ovens (for wood and/or denatured alcohol) can be improvised at the spot nearly everythere extremly easy even from cans
smoke hand grenades are imo very heavy in comparison to their usefulness which i do not regard as high as you do, mainly also because of an other doctrine
Only every second soldier as a maximum should have an entrenchment tool and as with other items you list i would regard such a tool as special equipment and high mobility and camo more important than entrenching in the earth which is absolutly inadequate with a ul shovel in a realistic amount of time. Such a tool is therefore a waste of weight because the idea that the soldiers should entrenche them in the ground would lead only to a stationary infantry which would be destroyed by modern artillery in such insufficient holes and flat trenches that can be digged with such tools. To entrench rightly one need real equipment for that, item real shovels, picks machines etc
Underwear and socks are absolutly necessary in a combat load because in an serious war you will perhaps not be supplied in the way it is common now with vehicles and a base nearby. Perhaps you must march several days one after another without getting fresh clothes and if you then cannot change socks and underwear it will fast weaken your health. Even in one day you can get trench-feet or an inflammation of the skin between the legs / at the crotch
Agree absolutly:
if i can spare even more weight with much lighter radios / hand grenades / gloves this would even give more buffer. Therefore one could then easily invest the spared weight in some additional grenades and/or rifle grenades and/or smoke grenades etc
As a ultimate principle i would in every case choose more firepower and better camo before everything else.
Also i forgot a map, which is necessary as an redundancy for identical functions in the radio set.
I wonder how much you're thinking about soldiering and how much about airsoft.
DeleteThe way the army is supposed to work in a peer war (no stationary outposts) is that the troops get food (and water) delivered into their position from company or battalion level (field kithcen for hot food). Then they need to have the dishes and cutlery to eat the food. One-day ration packages are supposed to be a backup.
A 10 gram toothbrush is good for morale and discipline (hygiene) and worth its miniscule weight IMO.
You can't find directions without compass in the woods, and radio batteries of stragglers would be depleted. I know a 25 gram compass that's worth its weight.
You shouldn't expect to buy anything in a peer war theatre.
The radio I was thinking about is a really lightweight intra-squad radio (including GPS and GLONASS) without a map function.
Would you be so kind to tell me the name of this radio? Moreover i weighted my gloves wrong, they are indead lighter.
ReplyDeleteAlthough i did not want to answer further i must tell you, that you can find directions in the woods without a compass if you have the skills for that. Compasses are highly overrated in central / eastern Europe, but i can agree with you, that 25 gramms are near to nothing and therefore i do not realy have a problem with the weight or that it is a further item etc, it think you miss the most important point here:
To not use for example an compass (or other items) is not that the weigh 25 gramms (which is so light it would not matter anyway, but it is about the mentality, about the true underlying concept of going Ultralight:
The core principle is imo: not to replace equipment with much lighter equipment, but to not use several kind of equipment at all. As everyone could see, i do not even used the lightest available equipment but heavier things instead (for durability, effects and so on). To become ultralight means imo not to use the lightest items, but mainly to not use items and replace this items with skills. For example replace an compass with land navigation skills etc.
And yes, this would lead to disadvantages and capability gaps ! To accept those gaps and to work with that disadvantages, that is imo the meaning of going truly ultralight.
So in reality it is not about a 10 gram toothbrush or a 25 gramm compass which would increase therefore my 18 kg only for 35 gramms, but it is about a core principle to use as few equipment as possible and to accept gaps and fill them with skills.
And that would be an real advantage especially in a peer war, in which the logistics could easily collapse for days. Then no food would come from the Bataillon or perhaps one would have to choose if the rare transportroom should be used for ammunition or food etc
In a modern peer war, the logistics will be very problematic. The more infantry is used to that conditions before, the better. Therefore ultralight infantry should more think about acting like guerilla-fighters, lrrps, snipers etc and not about entrechning and fighting in great numbers against other conventional enemy forces.
And the equipment should therefore mainly allow that kind of fighting style / doctrine. Because against mechanised forces pure light infantry cannot act in any other way and even against other light infantry this is the most succesful tactic.
And according to this core principle of not using equipment - the light infantry should learn the skills to improvise and to live from the land, to use temporarily civilian vehices which are looted or commandered and the same with food, toothbrushes and so on. One can replace so much with skills alone and therefore bushcraft / survival training should be an important part of the light infantry training. Such ultralight infantry should be able to stay so long without sustainment and logistics as possible. This is only possible if you are able to not use equipment willfully. So much about my idea / doctrine in this context.
Motorola SRX 2200 ECR: 309 g + accessories and 2 batteries
DeleteYour emphasis on skill is ill-advised because there will always be people in combat who lack the skill. People also fail to use their skills when under stress or when exhausted by sleep deprivation, stress, exertion, thirst, hunger.
And again; 10 g for a toothbrush is a good idea for morale and discipline reasons. Some other items are good ideas for morale reasons as well.
I'm investigating UL infantry because I argue that infantry needs the battlefield agility to break contact and vanish after 2-4 minutes of contact, or else it might be caught by indirect fires against which body armour doesn't help enough.
I'm all for foraging, but keep in mind that to simply take civilian property without at least some official I.O.U. message may be criminal and would put POWs in great jeopardy.
I've put together a load list on lighterpack.com and will show it in June. The basic rifleman war weather load there is 22.647 kg, but several items would certainly be replaced after troops testing of that setup. In the end, it would likely be 24...25 kg.