Rise in soldiers’ loads are
a matter of life and death

Story by Stephen J. Thorne

Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag, the soldiers used to sing. Trouble is, in more recent times, the “kit bag” is the trouble. Relatively stable over centuries of warfare, soldiers’ loads have increased significantly in the past three decades, due largely to new combat technologies and the batteries required to operate them. Alleviating the burdens soldiers carry is a matter of life and death, researcher Linda Bossi told Legion Magazine. “The more you carry, the slower you are; the slower you are, the more vulnerable you are to enemy action.”

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May/June 2018 issue is now available!

The May/June 2018 issue of Legion Magazine is out today! Look for it on newsstands or check your mailbox if you subscribe already.

BATTLEFIELD DOCTOR 
My great-great-grandfather was a surgeon who treated soldiers in the Battle of Ridgeway in 1866

ABUSED PRISONERS AND GREAT ESCAPEES
Canadian soldiers captured in Europe and Asia had little protection from brutality, murder and starvation

NOT TOO OLD TO SERVE
Veterans of the First World War guarded prisoners in the Second World War

STOPPING THE PANZERS
Canada’s role following D-Day was vital to the success of Operation Overlord

INTO ICY WATERS
Fifty years ago, the Ottawa River claimed the lives of seven paratroopers on a routine jump
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May 5, 1918

Sir James Yeo arrives at Quebec, Lower Canada, with more than 400 officers and seamen.

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