Certainly the weight/heat was a contributory element to the loss at Hattin which wrote finis to the First Crusade. But isn't this sort of a given? I mean to say that even a modern soldier, if fully burdoned and exposed to the heat, would doubtless cease to be an effective fighter.
This little snippit shows that serious heat related disorders have 3 times the incidence of wounding in Iraq. And that is within a modern army!
BTW, I read in my searches that the load amedic carries is 65 lbs(!)
Quote:
Assuming medical air transport is an indicator of serious wounds, injuries, or sickness, these data can also be described as follows:
* 6,273 seriously wounded;
* 6,430 seriously injured in non-hostile events (e.g. vehicle accidents)
* 17,662 seriously ill (e.g. serious heat prostration)
* A total of 30,365 seriously wounded, injured, or sick – all causes.
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http://www.cdi.org/program/document....intversion.cfm
Serious stuff indeed.
ETA I just noticed that heat related illness is one of the disorders counted among the 17000.