Battle Rattle

After putting on IBA for the first time, I understood the meaning of the term, “battle rattle.” One is carrying between 40-50 pounds of gear, mostly in the form of body armor and kevlar helmet. Miscellaneous gear (ammunition, magazines, etc) is stuffed into other pockets on our DCUs. The result is a strange rattle produced when one is walking -- in my case waddling -- from place to place.

Our first march with IBA happened last week during weapons familiarization. Although it was only about a fifteen minute walk, I really began to feel carrying not only the IBA but rifle and pistol as well. For some reason, wearing my helmet gives me a headache (probably due to the extra weight). Needless to say, I have new found respect for the Army or Marine infantryman; they have to carry not only IBA but other gear (radios, more ammunition, etc., etc.) as well which typically adds up to 70 pounds or more. On a good day I weigh 140 pounds dripping wet; I am not used to all this extra weight.

As the week went by though I began to get more comfortable (a relative term, believe me) with moving around in IBA. We take it to every training evolution but thankfully remove most of it off to practice shooting. For some reason we kept it on for our M9 pistol qualification last week (we did our practice shooting with it off). Some people had difficulty with the transition but I qualified nonetheless. Thankfully, we have been assured that next week’s M16A2 rifle qualification will be shot without IBA.