Individual Load Carriage Front End Analysis Warfighter Feedback

Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC), now the Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC), in partnership with Product Manager Soldier Clothing and Individual Equipment (PM-SCIE),collected Individual Load Carriage Front End Analysis data with 2,645 Soldiers at 11 locations. The objectives were to determine Soldier perspectives on current load carriage challenges, particularly of equipment carried by the individual Soldier; prioritize focus area for future research and equipment development; and provide recommendations for improvements when sufficient data allowed. All participants completed a load carriage survey that covered spending one equipment, compatibility, requests for improvement, weapons, body armor systems, rucksacks, load carriage vests, belts/sub-belts, hydration equipment and pouches. A subset of 218 Soldiers, identified as experts, provided additional feedback on attributes, importance prioritization and trade-offs between body armor and rucksacks. Focus groups were conducted with 242 Soldiers representative of the total population surveyed and captured qualitative data not covered on the surveys in the areas of prioritization of load carriage challenges, identification of needs for specialized load carriage equipment, access to and awareness of existing equipment and training on the features of adjustability of load carriage equipment. Findings revealed Soldiers are not fully aware of or experience challenges in obtaining new or even existing equipment. Participants reported inadequate training on load carriage equipment, particularly on adjustment features. Many reported sub-optimal fit of body armor from Central Issuing Facilities (CIFs), with improper sizing as challenge area. The most important attributes of body armor were mobility/ease of movement and weight of the body armor with hard plates, followed by durability and adjustability to fit body armor to individual torso size.