The Army is hoping to balance equipment and safety with the ability to be quick and stealthy.
Even if new technology is touted as better than what soldiers are currently using, the Army said it has to take a holistic look.
"You gave [the soldier] a weapon that shoots farther, but it's so heavy he can't even carry it," said Col. Travis Thompson, director of soldier division atthe Capabilities Development and Integration Directorate, Maneuver Center of Excellence. "Or it shoots farther but he can't even see it."
Thompson joined two other colonels at the Equipping the Soldier: Balancing Capabilities with Mission Requirements panel during the AUSA conference inWashington, D.C., on Wednesday.
Moderated by Military Times Executive Editor Tony Lombardo, the colonels addressed how to make U.S. soldiers more effective war fighters.
"We lost soldier mobility over time," Thompson said. "When I was a lieutenant, I didn't wear body armor. Now you don't do anything without body armor."
Part of the ability to beat the enemy is speed, so the Army is working on how to improve that without compromising safety.
Col. Dean Hoffman IV, project manager for Soldier Protection and Individual Equipment at PEO Soldier, said one thing that resonates with him is howrequirements are stricterfor a military plane than a soldier.
"You can't put anything on that plane until you have the size and weight," Hoffman said. "It's very regimented before you add anything."
The soldier is not treated the same way.
"Nobody comes to us and says, 'I want to put Widget X on the soldier' " and hears that it can't be added because the maximum load has been reached.
The Army doesn't control what else the soldier attaches to the uniform.
"The soldier load is not just about physical load but mental load," Thompson said. "You can only process so much at a time."
Hoffman said a key piece that helps the soldier in the field is the ability to adjust his or her protective gear with modular body armor.
"The commander on the ground has the ability to adjust the protective gear," he said. "I might have to get to my environment faster and quicker."
In that case, the soldier can adjust exactly how much armor is worn for a specific mission.
Thompson said leaders should be trained to know how much protection is needed.
"Do you have to carry all your body armor?" he said. "The easy answer is yes, but it doesn't make it the smart or right answer."
Col. Keith Hirschman, with the Army's new Rapid Capabilities Office, said one of office's goals is to see where some Army programs fall short and to fill inthe gaps.
"The way we're set up is to complement" the ideas and equipment that are already used in the Army.
Another way the Army is hoping to improve soldiers' maneuverability is with upgraded boots.
Hoffman said the Army can use the PEO Soldier's Soldier Enhancement Program to buy jungle boots for troops.
With operations dialing up throughout the Pacific, soldiers require boots that are better suited for wet conditions.
"We saw the characteristics and capabilities that soldiers desire in a boot," Hoffman said.
He said the Army put out a requirement last week for new boots after Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley visited Hawaii and watched some limited user evaluations.
"We focused on the Middle East a long time," Hoffman said, but now the focus is turning to different environments, like the Pacific.
He said the Army is going to try to equip two brigade combat teams with the bootsby the end of the fiscal year.
For full AUSA 2016 coverage:
www.defensenews.com/ausa
