Just talked about this with a colleague.
When he served in Afghanistand he was a squad leader - fully equipped for a footmobile op ( max 72 hrs) they started out with a total of 51 kg kit. Including plates, comms,some of the water needed and I think around 420 pc. 5.56 , 64 pc. 9x19mm, flares etc etc. If the skip it pack/ small pack was left in the vehicle it was " only" around 30 kgs.
In comparisson the 7,62N weighs around 35 kgs for a crate of 1000 rnds. If equipped with or former AG-3 rifles the ammo would have weighed around 16 kgs - bringing the total kit up to around 60 kgs.
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Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic
I understand what you're saying but I do have some level of disagreement. Back then they didn't always carry less gear or ammo and I fully understand that once the military makes one thing lighter they give you more crap to carry so the weight ends up being the same.
When my father went to Vietnam to the time that I was in the Reserves, we carried about the same weight of gear despite the decade or so of time difference. I carried a pack, sleeping bag, 2 x Claymores, entrenching tool, the M60, 300-rds of ammo for it, four litres of water, 3 days worth of rations, a couple of smoke grenades, a steel helmet and a bunch of other crap I can't remember at the moment.
That was my unit, other units had different ideas of what the gunner should carry but believe me, nobody was running like a sprinter, it was a slow, tedious jog - the Army wants packhorses not racehorses and we were all foot mobile.
I'm not trying to get into a "who's got the bigger dick competition" with you but it seems that the weight of gear you're carrying was pretty much the same amount that I was carrying when I was in during the 1980s - they used to joke that if you could carry all the required gear and still run then you had obviously left something out of your kit. I understand the bitching about the overall weight carried but I still have little sympathy for bitching about the weight of a 5.56mmN compared to a 7.62mmN MG
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