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The invention of modern body armor that allows for effective protection from small arms has been greatly underappreciated as to its effect on modern combat. Modern body armor has brought about a problem the infantryman has not dealt with since before the gunpowder revolution. The problem is how does the military balance protection offered with the weight and mobility issues of heavier armor.
The current infantryman engages in what would have been considered historically light infantry tasks. This specification is due to the inability to provide personnel protection from small arms to the infantryman prior to the invention of modern ballistic armor. This current concept should be understood as a unified infantry concept: one type of infantryman tasked with all infantry tasks. Trying to make a one-size-fits-all approach centered on the current unified infantry concept has led to problems within the military at large. Load carriage issues, injuries, and difficulties managing equipment and combat effectiveness can all be traced to trying to And a balance between mobility and protection.
Historically, pre-gunpowder armies divided infantry between heavy and light, generally, to balance this mobility protection issue. Examining the historical uses of heavy infantry provides us broad insight into methods and techniques employed previously by heavy infantry. These historical examples can suggest how to solve our current infantry problems using a split infantry methodology. Embracing a methodology split between heavy and light infantry can solve many of the current problems while at the same time expanding the infantry's capabilities.
Armor and Load Carriage: More Than Just an Endurance Problem
Load carriage is a perennial problem for Soldiers and has been an area of scientific inquiry for multiple nations' armies since the turn of the 19th century.1 Though all sources acknowledge that it is a problem, most historical and modern studies agree that commanders are more likely to overload Soldiers then risk going without. The general understanding of load carriage in the U.S. Army today is informed by S.L.A. Marshall's The Soldiers Load and The Mobility of a Nation, which was published in 1950.2 Marshall focused on the problems of Korea and World War II, and his work is often sighted as front material even though problems have been identified with his analysis.3 Marshall identified some of the...