In the US Army, a standard load for a soldier carrying an M4A1 rifle is 210 rounds of ammunition, divided into seven 30 round magazines. One magazine is in the rifle, and six are in magazine pouches, typically on the front of the soldier.

Sorry. I don't know why I felt the need to type that, it just kind of happened automatically.

[–] peoplebeproblems@midwest.social 3 points 2 days ago (2 children)

That's way more than I was expecting.

But now you have me thinking all sorts of other questions.

But it really can be summed up with: goddamn what don't soldiers carry? Like you got a have less cartilage in those knees after a deployment to an active battlefield than anyone older than 70?

[–] FordBeeblebrox@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Weapons, food, bedroll, comms gear, mission specific items, spare parts for everything to try and thwart Murphy, etc…yeah it’s a lot and that’s just a regular grunt, not someone like a machine gunner with an even heavier weapon/ammo or carrying rockets.

Knees and ankles are an issue for pretty much every infantry soldier, the ones jumping out of planes with all that shit bundled to you even more so.

[–] peoplebeproblems@midwest.social 2 points 1 day ago

Man, I don't get it. Infantry has pretty much been a "hold this heavy ass shit, walk long distances, kill enemies before they kill you."

And somehow militaries for thousands of years have been able to convince huge groups of young men to either sign up for this or because they were told "or else."

And I guess "or else" is usually starvation, conscription, or execution. At any point a group being trained could say "yo guys this is stupid" everyone else would probably agree, and then the entire army thing would ... Stop. wouldn't it?

[–] chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

Soldiers carry a TON of stuff. Physical fitness and strength are a big part of the job.

The main reason soldiers carry so much ammo is that suppressing fire is so critical to modern infantry tactics. Without suppressing fire of your own you’re going to get pinned down by enemy suppressing fire. An immobilized unit is a dead unit.