Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 261 Carrying Weights and Marching

Of course, only the US military would do something as extravagant as having fighter jets make ice cream.

Compared to the US military's arrogance, both the Air Force and the Army must be adequately protected.

While Wang Gensheng and his men were still traveling on foot, the US military had already adopted automobiles.

At this moment, Wang Gensheng was wearing full armor and was also carrying a 38-kilogram M2 heavy machine gun and a large amount of ammunition.

At this point, Wang Gensheng's total weight had reached 150 kilograms, nearly 300 jin.

After walking such a long distance, even though Wang Gensheng's physical fitness was six times that of an ordinary person, he was still a little tired. This made Wang Gensheng think of the convenience and speed of riding two horses at once.

Of course, it wasn't just Wang Gensheng; everyone in the Marine Corps was also feeling a bit tired.

There was no way around it. Even though the least advanced members of the Marine Corps had reached the Ming Jin stage of Zhan Zhuang (standing meditation), and their physical fitness had made a qualitative leap compared to ordinary people, it was still at most twice as good.

With such physical capabilities, carrying a hundred pounds of weight for a long march would be quite tiring.

For ordinary people, carrying 40 to 50 kilograms of weight for a long march is already the limit.

Only a force like the Marines, where everyone is a beginner in martial arts, can achieve such an effect.

Although carrying a 100-pound load doesn't seem like a heavy burden, some people who do renovations can carry 200 pounds up seven or eight flights of stairs at a time, and they can carry it for a whole day.

The difference is that when fighting a war, soldiers carry their loads and run forward, and there are time constraints. But when carrying cement, they carry it on their backs and rest occasionally, taking one step at a time, rather than running.

Before Wang Gensheng traveled through time, he had already learned about the weight of the loads carried in modern military campaigns.

Take the soldiers of the Huaguo Army as an example. During ordinary patrols, they weigh about 25 kilograms. This mainly consists of the weight of the bulletproof helmet (about 3 kilograms), the bulletproof vest (about 10 kilograms), and the remaining weight is the weight of the rifle and bullets.

However, field marches involve a different kind of load. The standard load here can reach about 40 kilograms, which includes a bulletproof helmet, bulletproof tactical vest, backpack, four spare magazines, plus about 150 rounds of ammunition in the gun magazine. The backpack mainly contains food and drinks, individual rations and canteens, as well as sleeping bags and other items.

However, special units like machine gunners have even more extreme loads, carrying up to 60 or even 80 kilograms! But these loads are carried in shifts by the machine gun squad.

The standard combat load for a modern US soldier is 28 kilograms, or 56 pounds. Of this, the bulletproof helmet and heavy bulletproof vest account for 36 pounds, plus a rifle, thirteen magazines, 420 rounds of ammunition, and some tactical tools.

The US military's marching load is even more outrageous, reaching 45 kilograms (90 pounds), because they also have to carry supplies, communication equipment, etc. In emergency missions, the load can reach 120 pounds!
For example, during the East Asian War, the average load carried by US troops was around 100 pounds. In addition to the standard plates, their bulletproof vests also had luxurious features such as neck protectors and groin protectors. As a result, more people suffered spinal injuries than during the actual fighting. After all, carrying such a heavy load for a long time while running is a very serious challenge to the spine.

The weight of these marching loads can be mainly divided into three parts:

The first is protective equipment. With the development of materials technology, especially after Kevlar was used in bulletproof equipment, and with humanitarian protection, in modern warfare, soldiers who don't wear bulletproof vests are embarrassed to call themselves regular soldiers.

Body armor is the heaviest of all, with the US military's heavy version weighing up to 30 pounds, reportedly capable of withstanding Barrett bullets. Of course, besides body armor, body armor helmets are also quite heavy. The lighter ones, which can withstand pistol bullets and shrapnel, weigh about three pounds, while the heavier ones, which can withstand rifle bullets, can weigh up to six or seven pounds. If you add night vision goggles or something similar, it becomes even heavier.

Besides bulletproof gear, weapons and bullets make up about half of the weight.

The main weapon, the assault rifle, can weigh between six and ten kilograms, while the pistol with magazine can weigh up to two kilograms.
Rifle bullets are even heavier. Even if you carry 150 small-caliber 5.56mm bullets, it will weigh 3.5 pounds. If you carry 300 bullets, it will weigh 7 pounds, which is equivalent to carrying three large bottles of Coca-Cola!

Besides weapons, tactical and survival gear can also account for 20-30% of the weight.

The tactical backpack contains food, water, and a first-aid kit, which can weigh between ten and twenty kilograms.

Then there were communication equipment, as well as tactical items such as night vision goggles and demolition tools, weighing about ten to twenty kilograms. These were all necessities for war.

Of course, carrying so much weight looks impressive, but it's not all good in practice. For example, one's physical strength can't handle it. You know, for an average person, carrying 100 pounds for a kilometer and running 5 kilometers are completely different things. Ordinary people simply can't run it! Soldiers have to train every day to barely be able to handle it.

Of course, even if you manage to improve your physical fitness, your body will eventually break down. The data from the US military is the most disheartening. For example, from 2003 to 2009, the number of people who had to retire due to muscle and bone injuries caused by carrying too much weight increased tenfold! Spinal diseases have become the number one killer of non-combat personnel, just like the disease suffered by porters who carry cement upstairs.

So it gradually turned into elevator handling or crane transportation.

Of course, besides the physical strain, the problem was a lack of flexibility in combat.

Although heavy body armor can save lives, it makes running and crouching difficult. Therefore, special forces often secretly remove their equipment to maintain agility and prevent non-combat casualties. After all, carrying so much gear into battle could result in them collapsing before even reaching the battlefield.

Moreover, dressing up like a rice dumpling is not a good tactic, because in the battlefield, if you are not mobile enough, you will get hit by artillery fire.

Heavy body armor may be able to withstand shrapnel from artillery shells, but it is also difficult to withstand the shockwave of an explosion.

Besides artillery shells, bulletproof vests are less effective against incendiary bombs and thermobaric bombs, which rely on heat energy rather than shrapnel.

Moreover, shields and spears are inherently corresponding. For example, before Wang Gensheng traveled through time, he heard that the US military was developing a 6.5mm bullet to replace the 0.556mm bullet.

Its purpose is simple: to deal with increasingly thick and strong bulletproof vests.

The original purpose of small-caliber bullets was to increase the amount of ammunition soldiers could carry. Now that large-caliber bullets have been introduced, although their power has increased, the weight of the bullets has increased back to normal.

This would result in a further decrease in the number of bullets carried by the soldiers.

After all, if the number of large-caliber bullets carried is not reduced, it could really break the soldiers' backs.

(End of this chapter)