and the men were carrying 77% of their body weight?
(100# pack on a 130 pound is the equivalent of a 140# pack on a 180 pound person)
must not be a very desperate survival situation if they have to carry that much gear
Weight of War
https://www2.kuow.org/specials/militaryweight.pdf
Notice additional weight in the bottom left corner.
It’s not a percent of your body weight - it’s your share of the load regardless of your weight.
Depending on the unit and the mission, each man can be carrying 160 to over 200 pounds.
Bravo 2 zero for instance has it’s members describing the weight they were carrying as “”The total weight of each member’s kit was estimated at 95 kg (209 lb) by Mitchell and 120 kg (260 lb) by Ryan””