The definitive guide to load carrying and it's impact?

[ChrisJHC]

Came across this fascinating study into load carrying in Defence and its impact on performance.

Warning: it's 70 pages!

Here's a snippet from the Abstract:
An individual's load carriage capacity is influenced by a multitude of factors that can broadly be
categorised into three groups; 1) personnel characteristics (e.g. fitness, body mass, gender, age, injury profile, load carriage experience),
2) task characteristics (e.g. total external load, distribution of load, load carriage equipment design, movement speed, march duration,
work to rest ratio) and 3) environment (e.g. terrain, heat, humidity, altitude) in which the task is performed. Some of these factors may
in some situations be controlled (e.g. marching speed) whilst others are not (e.g. ambient temperature). There is a dynamic interaction
between these factors which ultimately impact on an individual's load carriage capacity.

https://www.dst.defence.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/documents/DSTO-TR-2765.pdf

[peregrinator]

There is sheer genius in such documentation from Defence. Here’s the Abstract from another one I’ve sussed out. (It fell off the back of a tank.) Warning: it is 7000 pages in length.

“A weapon’s capacity to kill, maim or cause serious injury is influenced by a multitude of factors that can broadly be categorised into three groups:

1. How much it cost to buy.

2. Its purchase price.

3. The amount of expenditure required.

There is a dynamic interaction between these factors which ultimately depends on the gullibility of the Minister for Defence.”

[ChrisJHC]

Yeah, but that one is probably less relevant to us amateur bushwalkers here in Aus!

If we were in the US then it would be different.

Having said that, I'll have to remember to tell my wife "it didn't cost much, it just required a considerable amount of expenditure".

[north-north-west]

You'd think your average government dept. could afford to pay a proofreader who knows the difference between 'personnel' and 'personal'. Unless they've blown all their budget on those JSFs.

[Moondog55]

NNW I think in the context of that sentence it "Personnel" in the plural, the brass don't take note of much or anything below company level [ ~120 to 150 men and/or women]

[Warin]

The military are a good source of amusing information.

Daily allocation of toilet paper:
3 sheets per man per day. One up, one down and one for polish.
Double allocation for curry nights.

Being a soft civi I allow myself 10 sheets ... 1 sheet of 3 ply weights 0.5895 grams, so that is ~6 grams per day.

Army feeding: Offices get fed last, as the army relies on the troops to do the work they need the food (fuel) to do that work so they get priority for food. The officers get the left overs, if it is bad than the officers are best placed to improve the food for all.

[Orion]

Toilet paper? I haven't read those 70 pages but I didn't realize they talking about that sort of load.

I have also come to the same conclusion with regard to toilet paper weight: 6g/day. I don't count sheets, just the average weight I use. Sometimes I buck the average and run out. It happened recently and for some odd reason I kept running into people who wanted to shake my hand. Those that I took a liking to I warned. Those that I didn't I shook their hands and smiled.

One guy I warned shook my hand anyway and then proceeded to tell me I wouldn't have shaken his had I known what he'd been up to recently!

[nq111]

I love these types of papers - and can be hard to find.

Thanks for sharing.

[Mark F]

I did a trip to PB in 1970? with a person who budgeted on toilet paper - 3 or 4 squares per day. They got a mild case of the runs and ran out after 3 days. We miserable *&%$#! were offering him tp at $1 a sheet. Luckily, for him, we found an abandoned air drop with a supply of tp a day or so later. After that I have never skimped on tp.

As for carried weight - the less the better but not if getting into stupid light territory.

[rcaffin]

They got a mild case of the runs and ran out after 3 days.
What - with all that damp moss around???

Cheers
Roger