WW1 Soldier Kit (Load out)

[teflon6string]

Ha! ... Yep my Combat Infantryman's Badge has a spear , not a musket on it...
Just kidding ... It has a musket.
Amazing what that award means to me...
Andy

Proceed to your local library or bookseller to obtain a copy of:
Gilkerson On War - From Rocks to Rockets.
I've had mine since 1963 when it was first published. Amazing artist and historian in elegantly few words.

 

[Ura-Ki]

I was just remembering my typical load outs, All up weight was about 68 pounds minus weapons and ammo. Mine included an advanced combat med pack, LBE harness with plates front and rear, underarmor and regular BDU plus all the pads and brain bucket. N.O.D. with case and extra battery's. 16 rounds of 40 Mike, 2 RD-5 and 1 Mk-3 Smoke, personal trauma kit, boots, knuckle buster gloves, Combat knife, extra folder knife, and personal Snubby .38 and 3 full days rations!!!! Weapons and ammo would add up to between 28 to 54 pounds depending on mission specs! Then add Jump gear to the mix if we were going to jump, and O2 for a H.A.L.O. plus Nav gear! Even worse was a Water mission, wet gear, extra rations, P.F.D. fins, extra dry bags for every thing, ropes, and signaling devises!!! Ugg............I had to hump that stuff all over the place, and missions were generally unsupported, I.E. we went in and we brought a means to get back out, Like a pair of PaveHawk!!!

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Thanks teflon ... will have to check that book out!
Andy

 

[teflon6string]

Ha! ... Yep my Combat Infantryman's Badge has a spear , not a musket on it...
Just kidding ... It has a musket.
Amazing what that award means to me...
Andy

Sadly, most American citizens have no idea what your CIB means to all of us.

Thank you sir!

 

[Andy54Hawken]

You are very welcome ... It was my honor and pleasure to serve.
Andy

 

[ageingstudent]

I was just remembering my typical load outs, All up weight was about 68 pounds minus weapons and ammo. Mine included an advanced combat med pack, LBE harness with plates front and rear, underarmor and regular BDU plus all the pads and brain bucket. N.O.D. with case and extra battery's. 16 rounds of 40 Mike, 2 RD-5 and 1 Mk-3 Smoke, personal trauma kit, boots, knuckle buster gloves, Combat knife, extra folder knife, and personal Snubby .38 and 3 full days rations!!!! Weapons and ammo would add up to between 28 to 54 pounds depending on mission specs! Then add Jump gear to the mix if we were going to jump, and O2 for a H.A.L.O. plus Nav gear! Even worse was a Water mission, wet gear, extra rations, P.F.D. fins, extra dry bags for every thing, ropes, and signaling devises!!! Ugg............I had to hump that stuff all over the place, and missions were generally unsupported, I.E. we went in and we brought a means to get back out, Like a pair of PaveHawk!!!

God Almighty, in the 80's when the cold war was on the load-out for fighting Soviets was ridiculous. Everything steel lol. Even your britches. I think the heat and humidity at Ft. bragg made it feel heavier.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

When out on LRRP / LRSD missions we would sometimes cache much of the issued gear and kit and just have what the mission really needed...
Just needed to be extra careful when getting the hidden gear back... it was a easy way to get into a ambush if you weren't careful...
Andy

 

[ageingstudent]

When out on LRRP / LRSD missions we would sometimes cache much of the issued gear and kit and just have what the mission really needed...
Just needed to be extra careful when getting the hidden gear back... it was a easy way to get into a ambush if you weren't careful...
Andy

Thankfully I never had to think about that. Being 130 lbs soaking wet at the time I did have to lean forward at about 30 degrees or my ruck would make me fall back on my arse.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

One of the hardest things to overcome , at least to me was complacency.
A man can get used to seeing almost anything over time ... And not paying attention at the right time or just expecting the "normal" is easy to fall into and get you or your buddies killed.

But yeah those combat loaded rucks seemed to get heavier with each step at times...
Andy

 

[ageingstudent]

One of the hardest things to overcome , at least to me was complacency.
A man can get used to seeing almost anything over time ... And not paying attention at the right time or just expecting the "normal" is easy to fall into and get you or your buddies killed.

But yeah those combat loaded rucks seemed to get heavier with each step at times...
Andy

Well I was a knucklhead some of the weight was my own darned fault. I thought the M203 was cool and wanted the range time so they gladly let me carry one of two in my squad. Ammo is heavy. ...So heavy...

 

[Ura-Ki]

LOL +1 for the 203! Had my full share of fun with them!

 

[etrain16]

Cool stuff This type of history is a lot of fun to peruse.

This thread reminds me of an article I read a few years back on various types of load outs throughout the centuries, some very cool stuff there. Here is the link to that article: Military kit through the ages: from the Battle of Hastings to Helmand

Each load out comes with a detailed list of what's included. But here is a sample of some from the article:

1244 Mounted Knight, Siege of Jerusalem:



1485 Yorkist Man-at-Arms, Battle of Bosworth:



1815 Private Soldier, Battle of Waterloo:



1944 Lance Corporal, Parachute Brigade, Battle of Arnhem:



1645 New Model Army Musketeer, Battle of Naseby:

 

[Andy54Hawken]

I also liked the M203 ... Always nice to have one around.
But yeah its a bit heavy a 11 odd pounds and the 40mm ammo can get uncomfortable to carry around...
We always tried to have one on security when in a hide...
Andy

 

[Ura-Ki]

We had the rigging shop make bandoleers for 40 mike ammo, I had two rounds on each upper leg front with 2 pistol mags, and the rest in bandoleers six rounds each, vertically on each side of the chest! Made it a little easier to carry all that ammo, being spread out! I much preferred that to the M-243 or M-249 gunner and all that ammo he had to carry, except Each of us got a box of his ammo to hump around, Not that I'm complainin! LOL

 

[Ura-Ki]

Any one know off hand, the average combat load out of ammo for the M-1 Garand?
Looking through old photos and what little I can find, there is no mention of what amounts of ammo these guys carried! I don't recall Grand Dad ever mentioning it ether, Just curious! In my little mind, I would think 24 clips would be about right, but what the heck do I know? LOL

 

[Sgt Nambu]

Not any kind of warfare that I would choose!
Look up corpse or trench rats and trench foot!
WW1 was when industrial warfare was introduced on to the battlefield, in a nearly medieval setting!

 

[awshoot]

Interesting -- only the Doughboy, the 1815 Private Soldier, and the 1645 New Model Army Musketeer (hard to see, but in the link it identifies 13 and 14 as dice and cards) got games.

 

[ageingstudent]

Not any kind of warfare that I would choose!
Look up corpse or trench rats and trench foot!
WW1 was when industrial warfare was introduced on to the battlefield, in a nearly medieval setting!

There is a YouTube channel called The Great War. It goes through the war week by week throughout the 100th anniversary of WW1. I'm binge watching it right now it's an excellent history. One of the best uses of YouTube I've ever seen.

 

[Sgt Nambu]

Did you guys notice the trench mace/club in the British NCO's kit?

If I had a lot of discretionary income I'd collect those things!

 

[Ura-Ki]

I need to catch back up with that series, VERY good series! Not a lot of that war gets aired these days.