Changes to soldiers webbing

[InterestedParty]

As there isn't a specific question area for those of us who are interested in defence matters but didn't serve, I hope the mods don't mind this thread
I am old enough to remember our diggers going to Vietnam and seem to recall that they kept the front of their webbing clear of protrusions and attachments in case they had to hit the dirt.
Now I see soldiers with so many pouches and other items on their chest and stomach that I wonder what happens in a firefight, it must keep them off the ground and can they access their pouches while prone

 

[Feanor]

As there isn't a specific question area for those of us who are interested in defence matters but didn't serve, I hope the mods don't mind this thread
I am old enough to remember our diggers going to Vietnam and seem to recall that they kept the front of their webbing clear of protrusions and attachments in case they had to hit the dirt.
Now I see soldiers with so many pouches and other items on their chest and stomach that I wonder what happens in a firefight, it must keep them off the ground and can they access their pouches while prone

I mean... it depends on the placement of the pouch and your position on the ground. In principle you can still pull a mag out of a magpouch on the front of your flak even when you're prone, it's just a little more awkward. There's no special reason why you couldn't stick some extra mag pouches on the side of your flak, or anywhere else really. In my experience a standard loadout is 3 magpouches of 2 mags each, but I've seen enthusiastic (or pessimistic depending on your point of view) marines carry 10, 12, or even 14 30 round mags instead of the standard 6, with all kinds of load-outs. It also varies by unit, with some units requiring standardized layouts of mag pouches, IFAKs, etc. I've also seen units that had no problem with marines wearing their own LBVs or H-harnesses over their flak, not even using the regular webbing on their body armor.

 

[OPSSG]

...diggers going to Vietnam and seem to recall that they kept the front of their webbing clear of protrusions and attachments in case they had to hit the dirt.

Old fashioned commonwealth webbing had forward facing magazine pouches with a typical loadout of 8 mags + 1 mag in the rifle for a 2.25 contact rate. This means, we contact enemy x2 times (with .25 spare) before resupply.

...see soldiers with so many pouches and other items on their chest and stomach that I wonder what happens in a firefight, it must keep them off the ground and can they access their pouches while prone

Modern load bearing vests have mags that are horizontal facing. This reduced height when prone but it is still high, considering that under the pouch is the load bearing vests with ceramic SAPI plate inserts. Better placement of pouches is the advantage of modern systems. But there are other trade-offs. The most important of which is heat retention. It is much easier to get heat stroke in a 24km route march — conditioning is crucial — they do vocation related exercises to be able to carry the heavier load with less injury. Soldiers also carry a lot more water these days to mange the heat load.

I have my old fashioned webbing and my son has a modern load bearing vest at home. When you put them side by side, if fully loaded up with 8 mag each, the pouches on mine stick out more due to the forward facing magazine pouches — which is why we push them to the sides (for prone position firing). When prone, you do a 1/3 roll to change magazines. Modern soldiers will carry extra ammo (beyond standard rates, if required), other breaching tools, night vision devices, spare batteries, and even ground sensors for operations — the modern infantryman is very over loaded.

See Singapore’s plan to improve the current design, with a next gen version: There’s Going to be a New LBV for SAF Soldiers & It’s Pretty High Tech