This study examines the factors that cause or contribute to the overloading of dismounted combat soldiers in the Army of the 1990's. This examination considers the body of literature on the subject, primarily post-World War Two, to identify what factors cause soldiers to carry too much weight into battle. The goals of the study are to identify the causative factors and increase leader understanding of the problem. From the research, the study identifies twelve factors that cause or contribute to soldier's overload: lack of appreciation of the problem, fear and fatigue, the fear of risk, the fire load, the drag of orthodoxy, failures of discipline and the enforcement of standards, myths of peacetime training, the nature of the soldier, lack of transport, the effects of technology, terrain and weather, and physical conditioning.

ADA 284389 Approved for public release; Distribution is unlimited. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the student-authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College or any other governmental agency. (References to these studies should include the foregoing statement.)