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IMHO, most civilian packs are not properly set up for military use.
They hump better, and are much more comfy, but do not have the external pockets we need for military loads (probably the most popular thing being added to ALICE packs is more pockets). Your average Alpine climber probably does not have to drag out a Claymore, IV set, NVGs, a parachute flare, an MRE, a poncho, a spare battery, etc. quickly and quietly. The civvie pack also does not have to be certified for airborne ops, or being dropped on a lowering line to smash into the ground. The average backpacker probably does not have to hump 125 lbs, of lightweight gear either. Finally, I would surmise that Joe Backpacker does not have to wear his fashion pack over body armor and LCE, or shoot move and communicate (simultaneously) while wearing it. In fact, most civvie packs I have seen are designed to be as light as possible and slick externally, except for hardware tie downs and ice axe lash-ups.
The ALICE pack is a compromise. An ideal military ruck would be sized/sizable, mission configurable, have the extra pockets soldiers are paying to add, better materials and construction, PALS webbing over the exterior, a much better frame, with much better shoulder straps and belt.
Just my .02 and worth what you paid for it.
TR
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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - President Theodore Roosevelt, 1910
De Oppresso Liber 01/20/2025
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