Yeah, I’ve actually humped a 120 lb pack - not far, not well. Poor planning and packing ruined that part of what was otherwise a pretty fun trip. What’s that adage about hard-learned lessons? ;-) That was an odd one. I’ve been exhausted before from physical exertion. But that time, I could feel I was out of energy. Hard to explain but it was different than simply being tired.
I think the reasoning is they won’t have to hump the heavy loads anyway. The next few wars will be extremely clean affairs. A bad guy on a screen, a drone strike controlled by some pilots in his PJs and the Rangers will just be there long enough to collect DNA to verify. /s/
Been there too. Someone called it ‘hitting the ‘thunk’’. Thunk, you are out of gas. That simple.
You know what’s heavier than 120 lbs pack? The 245 lbs saw gunner that needs to be carried out of a fire fight because they can’t walk.
That’s the other thing.
For the first time, we will be leaving our people behind in firefights.
Not for a lack of honor. It’s just physics.