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Originally Posted by jester
Troops tend to be pretty good about "lightening" their packs. And coupled with a lack of replacement gear packs would become light before long, either due to not having the gear, or a lack of equipment to make systems functional.
And also troops are pretty good at just ditching the junk!
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It's true that many guys tend to ditch stuff that isn't working for them. Soldiers have a way of deciding for themselves what is essential, though. The nods that don't have any power probably won't get lugged along. The sleeping bag might very well get taken in Germany in October. Obviously, the first aid gear will have to go along. Ditto enough mags and ammunition to get through the fight. I could go on ad nauseum. The combat load for many, many infantry units in Vietnam was huge. The longer the unit goes out and the cooler the climate, the greater the need for gear.
It's also true that combat is going to cause a lot of folks to lose a lot of baggage. The infantry have a habit of picking up what they need (or think they need) from the enemy or other sources. During the back-and-forth action across Central Europe, there are going to be a lot of opportunities for soldiers to lose their A bags and rucks and a lot of opportunities to rifle somebody else's for needed items. As much as soldiers are going to want to lighten their load, they are also going to be anxious about having what they need when they need it. While I pondered this issue, I thought of a coat-of arms for the anxious soldier: a packrat on a field of blue with the motto "vous ne savez jamais" ("you never know").
The relatively short-range infantry actions probably will see a lot of very lightly equipped infantry on the move. Longer-range actions will place a high premium on self-sufficiency. It would be very, very helpful to have Hummers or other light trucks carrying a platoon's bags so that the light fighters wouldn't have to choose between going very light and having enough to get them through tough situations.
This gets one to horses. I think you're absolutely right about horses, Jester. It will be years before any horse-breeding program in post-nuke Europe yields enough horses to sustain a sizeable army. For a while, I thought seriously about mule trains to support 111th MI Brigade. I just couldn't imagine where the mules would come from.
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