Heavy heavy heavy uniforms

[John B]

I spent a good portion of this summer and autumn wandering around northern France. In the city of Reims, I came across the Musée de la Reddition, which was where, on May 7, 1945, German armed forces signed a surrender at the headquarters of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force. The building is now a museum about this and has all kinds of artifacts and memorabilia from the event.

Among their collection is a wide variety of US, British, Free French, and German military uniforms, and I was surprised by how heavy it all seemed to be -- thick wool, canvas, and leather were the materials of choice, and then heavy canvas rucksacks with thick metal clips and snaps. Then if marching in rain, add the water weight, too. That says nothing about the helmets, rifles, ammunition, and other fighting gear carried along. I have no specific data on the weight of a kitted-out infantryman.

My father was a W2 soldier who went through northern France with Patton's 3rd Army, and I still have his dress uniform (minus the boots), which is wool and weighs over 6 lbs.

How does this relate to hiking the AT? Just as a gee-whiz post about the comparative weight of our contemporary synthetics and how much weight is saved. In conclusion, I've no clue what a current Army uniform weighs or what materials are used -- surely not wool and canvas?uniform1.jpguniform2.jpg

[perrymk]

I recall reading once that the typical WWII load was around 55 pounds. When I was in the army (mid 80s) we had to ruck 35 pounds over 12 miles in 3 hours as a standard requirement of infantry training. Once I got to my unit packs could go over 100 pounds. Yeah, ammo weighs a lot. Maybe 10 years ago I was observing some military training and collecting samples for analysis (I'm a chemist at this point) and I had to wear some military body armor just to observe from a distance. I was told it was the same as troops wore on patrol in Iraq. It was probably 15 pounds (just the piece I wore). Then add weapons and other gear.

It's definitely a young man's job.

As an aside, if you enjoy military museums, the National WWII Museum in New Orlean is a great place to visit. Also, there is a WWII museum in Carabelle, Florida that is surprisingly well done. Incidentally, the Carabelle area is where a lot of the training for amphibious operations was done. The old officer's quarters are now lower income housing (Lanark Village). There's some nice hiking in Tate's Hell State Forest.

[Mother Natures Son]

I remember my Dad telling me about The Korea outfit he had to wear in the coldest Winter in memory of what is now North Korea. Cotton and Wool. Nothing else. Many men froze to death. Boy these folks had it tough. Then you got folks shooting at you. Thank you Vets!

[HankIV]

There is a book on this very subject; The Soldiers Load and the Mobilty of a Nation by S. L. A. Marshall.