When I was 19 years old in 1985 I was in the 1st Battalion/ 38th Infantry Regiment. My unit was considered "light infantry" but we humped 90 lbs rucksacks. I sat there on the side of a mountain in South Korea during one field exercise and I wondered what made the distiction between "light" and "heavy." A year and a half later I was at Fort Riley, Kansas and I was the track commander of a M113A2 Armored Personnel Carrier that had a weight of 11 tons and I was still trying to figure out the difference. In 1989, I was completing the ROTC program at UT Chattanooga and it was time to choose my branch of service that I wanted to be as an officer in and I thought about these differences. I chose Armor. I failed to see then, and I fail to see now (I have been in the Army 21 years for retirement/25 years for pay and about to get promoted to Lieutenant Colonel), how carrying a 90 lbs rucksack that caused bloody bruises where the straps were at and neck and spinal issues that I tolerate to this day is "light" infantry. Maybe a whine on a Friday night but just a thought.

Respectfully,

Gerald D. Hodge, Jr.
M.A. Military History - Civil War Concentration.
War Between the States Historian
Historian: 39th Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment