# What soldier carries/carried the heaviest gear? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 29, 2014, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soldier-carries-carried-the-heaviest-gear/694326 "2014-07-29T15:03:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soldier-carries-carried-the-heaviest-gear/694326/1 "2014-07-29T15:03:08Z")
Into battle, specifically. If you put all the equipment, weapons, ammunition, uniform, armour etc. on a weighing scale - everything the soldier is expected to carry into the field down to his underpants - which soldiers gear would top the scale? A kind of two parter - I’m interested in what soldier today holds the record and which soldiers in history had to lug around the most. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soldier-carries-carried-the-heaviest-gear/694326/2 "2014-07-29T15:22:40Z")
I don’t know about “which soldier today” but in general, modern soldiers carry vastly more weight on their bodies than the average soldier in the past. Maybe the grunt carrying pieces of the platoon’s M2 machine gun in WWII carried more weight day to day than a modern supply clerk in Afghanistan, but the average soldier today carries a lot more (body armor alone is ~45lb) than the average soldier of yesteryear. I’ll see if I can look up cites. ---
**Author:** ![JerrySTL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@JerrySTL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerrySTL)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soldier-carries-carried-the-heaviest-gear/694326/3 "2014-07-29T15:29:23Z")
The cook. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soldier-carries-carried-the-heaviest-gear/694326/4 "2014-07-29T15:31:41Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > Into battle, specifically. > > If you put all the equipment, weapons, ammunition, uniform, armour etc. on a weighing scale - everything the soldier is expected to carry into the field down to his underpants - which soldiers gear would top the scale? > > A kind of two parter - I’m interested in what soldier today holds the record and which soldiers in history had to lug around the most. Romans carried around 20kg at times. They were expected to hike around 30km with that. I have seen estimates as high as 40kg if they had to carry all their own food. Modern soldiers might carry 15-25kg. That’s on the high end and for maybe 8 miles. The Royal Marines carried 36kg over 90km during the Falklands. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soldier-carries-carried-the-heaviest-gear/694326/5 "2014-07-29T15:32:00Z")
I remember reading a book called _[As Eagles Screamed](http://www.amazon.com/As-Eagles-Screamed-Donald-Burgett/dp/0553238434)_ when I was a kid. In it, it lists all the crap that a WWII paratrooper carried on D-Day. It was a crap-ton of stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soldier-carries-carried-the-heaviest-gear/694326/6 "2014-07-29T15:47:19Z")
Mortarman. [142.26 pounds.](http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21603.html) ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soldier-carries-carried-the-heaviest-gear/694326/7 "2014-07-29T15:58:15Z")
Mortarman is definitely up there but I wonder if the ammo bearer in an MG team on an airborne-inserted long range reconnaissance patrol in cold weather might not go higher. They might not be able to count on being resupplied and would have to carry everything. The MG might be the most powerful weapon they have immediately on hand and they’d want to carry a lot of ammo for it. That’s what the ammo bearer is there for. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soldier-carries-carried-the-heaviest-gear/694326/8 "2014-07-29T16:04:26Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > I remember reading a book called _[As Eagles Screamed](http://www.amazon.com/As-Eagles-Screamed-Donald-Burgett/dp/0553238434)_ when I was a kid. In it, it lists all the crap that a WWII paratrooper carried on D-Day. It was a crap-ton of stuff. Including on leg-bags, with lethal results - I’ve read accounts of troops dropped in boggy terrain were dragged down by the weight and drowned. What about communications; the fellas who have to lug around radios on their back? Are [these](http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t185/norge_2007/ranger70radio3.jpg) as heavy as they look? ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soldier-carries-carried-the-heaviest-gear/694326/9 "2014-07-29T16:11:14Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > What about communications; the fellas who have to lug around radios on their back? Are [these](http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t185/norge_2007/ranger70radio3.jpg) as heavy as they look? It looks like this: [AN/PRC-77 Portable Transceiver - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AN/PRC-77_Portable_Transceiver) That’s less than 14 lbs, about the weight of 200 rounds of 7.62 NATO in their belt. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soldier-carries-carried-the-heaviest-gear/694326/10 "2014-07-29T16:37:06Z")
I’ve hear it takes a big muscular guy to lug around a BAR in combat. It may not be the heaviest item carried. But the BAR guy has to lug that thing around 24/7 while in the field. Add in all his other standard gear and its quite a load. 16 lbs. > **[M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1918_Browning_Automatic_Rifle)** > > approx. 11 kg (24 lb) (M1922) > The Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) is a family of American automatic rifles and machine guns used by the United States and numerous other countries during the 20th century. The primary variant of the BAR series was the M1918, chambered for the .30-06 Springfield rifle cartridge and designed by John Browning in 1917 for the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe as a replacement for the French-made Chauchat and M1909 Benét–Mercié machine guns that US forces had prev... ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soldier-carries-carried-the-heaviest-gear/694326/11 "2014-07-29T16:42:14Z")
Second vote for the mortars. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soldier-carries-carried-the-heaviest-gear/694326/12 "2014-07-29T17:45:28Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > It looks like this: [AN/PRC-77 Portable Transceiver - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AN/PRC-77_Portable_Transceiver) > > That’s less than 14 lbs, about the weight of 200 rounds of 7.62 NATO in their belt. And modern man portable radios are smaller now. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soldier-carries-carried-the-heaviest-gear/694326/13 "2014-07-29T18:05:11Z")
Everybody avoided being assigned to any of the crew-served weapons, if possible. The mortar has the base plate and the tube to carry. The M-60 had the weapon, the tripod and the ammo cans to hump. By comparison, the PRC-77 was a piece of cake. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soldier-carries-carried-the-heaviest-gear/694326/14 "2014-07-29T18:13:25Z")
As the old saying goes, "The senator asks, ‘What will it cost?’ The general asks, ‘What does it do?’ The infantryman asks, ‘What does it weigh?’? ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soldier-carries-carried-the-heaviest-gear/694326/15 "2014-07-29T18:44:51Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Everybody avoided being assigned to any of the crew-served weapons, if possible. The mortar has the base plate and the tube to carry. The M-60 had the weapon, the tripod and the ammo cans to hump. By comparison, the PRC-77 was a piece of cake. The first year I was in Iraq, I carried the [SAW](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M249_light_machine_gun). Occasionally, somebody would complain about having to carry their 7lb M16 around all the time (we were mostly Fobbits, a term that didn’t come into vogue until my second tour). I was like “Screw you! I have to carry this 20lb behemoth 24/7!” But the heaviest thing we had to carry was the body armor, which we only wore on guard duty or when going outside the wire. The [vest](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modular_Tactical_Vest) weighed 30lb, and the [plates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Arms_Protective_Insert) weighed 14lb for the two of them. Throw in weapons, ammo, helmet, water, other supplies and maybe a rucksack and you’re carrying more than the average grunt in any other modern war ever carried. I’ve heard renaissance plate armor was up around 70lb, but that’s all they really carried, being knights and all. Though most medieval soldiers were actually peasants with little more than smocks and sticks. I’ll admit, in other wars there was a lot more walking. In Iraq, we hardly marched at all, we just hopped in a humvee and went on a convoy to get anywhere. Which makes me wonder why military PT is stuck in the “skinny marathoner” mode instead of “big strong powerlifter”. But that’s a subject for another day. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soldier-carries-carried-the-heaviest-gear/694326/16 "2014-07-29T19:48:40Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Which makes me wonder why military PT is stuck in the “skinny marathoner” mode instead of “big strong powerlifter”. Because scoring high on the PT test (including a fast run) is a good way get more promotion points and get promoted past your peers. Those with higher rank make the rules. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soldier-carries-carried-the-heaviest-gear/694326/17 "2014-07-29T21:23:07Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Because scoring high on the PT test (including a fast run) is a good way get more promotion points and get promoted past your peers. Those with higher rank make the rules. In the military, if you’re not a complete fuckup and want to stick around, you can easily get promoted up to at least E-6 based entirely on PT performance. ---
**Author:** ![EdwinAmi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5fc32e/32.png) [@EdwinAmi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EdwinAmi)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soldier-carries-carried-the-heaviest-gear/694326/18 "2014-07-29T21:30:36Z")
A Protoss Zealot’s gear is clearly the heaviest, though he is aided by the mechanical suit ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soldier-carries-carried-the-heaviest-gear/694326/19 "2014-07-29T21:35:21Z")
A WWI-era flamethrower weighed 70+ lbs. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soldier-carries-carried-the-heaviest-gear/694326/20 "2014-07-29T21:42:04Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > than a modern supply clerk in Afghanistan Don’t count on it. Every unit, HQ included, has a table of equipment, and it likely includes crew-served weapons. I, for one, carried the M-249B at a hefty 14lb. Someone had a SAW, despite never leaving the wire. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-soldier-carries-carried-the-heaviest-gear/694326.md?page=2)