[ansel12]

Probably not. You carry what you personally need.

No you don't, you carry what the mission requires, a week long, deep penetration mission during a zero degree winter will require well in excess of 150 pounds of gear per man.

You seem to have a little girls fantasy about the military, where you pick and choose your job, your missions, you fight with just a bandanna and a T-shirt with the sleeves torn off, and a trusty rifle, and you always start already at the place where you will be pulling the trigger from, or perhaps just an easy walk from it.

[SkyDancer]

True, however I come from a military family. Dad a Marine pilot, an uncle a gunship II pilot in Vietnam, two brothers who were in Iraq, one an Apache pilot the other a weapons officer and a mom who's a military brat.

There is nothing in your experience that can equate to me what their experience has taught me.