New Zealand Army: A Comparison of Different Soldier Load Carriage Systems

This project, ‘New Zealand Army: A comparison of different solider load carriage systems’ Pack Trials Report’, was initiated at the request of Major Jacques Rousseau, PhD (Officer-In-Charge, Human Performance Cell, Joint Support Group). The premise of the project was to compare three different pack systems (Variants A-C) worn by members of the New Zealand Army as part of their load carriage ensemble.

Drawn from several New Zealand Army units, 12 soldiers (♂ n=6; ♀ n=6) agreed to complete a 5 km pack march (5.5 km/h; total load = 30 kg) and a short tactical mobility exercise on three occasions wearing one of three randomly allocated pack variants. Objective performance measures (i.e., postural sway, countermovement jump, grip strength) were taken pre and post march. In addition, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index (NASA TLX) and subjective mannequin sketch data were taken immediately following the march and mobility exercise. On the final day subjective rankings and scoring of all packs occurred. Anthropometric data were also captured on a separate day.

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