Weight of Marching Pack

[jvrjenivs]

That's tough with no pack.

Conditioning has a lot to do with it as well as the limited distance each day. During the American Civil War, "Stonewall" Jackson's division occasionally made forced marches of as much as fifty miles a day, surprising the enemy.

BTW, elsewhere I've read threads about not marching in step. When I took basic training (in the last century) I was told we learned to march because it was the fastest way to move a large number of people quickly. Assuming at least a legion was involved, would they move fastest in step or out? Has anyone tested it?

I didn't test it, but I would argue fore marching in step, although the evidence for it in the Roman period is small. I've found that when people know how to walk in step (you've learn to do it first, off course) they automatically will do it when walking in a big group. On the march I did last year, we one evening wanted to visit the old town centre of the town we stayed that night and walked out of our camp and found out that we were all walking in step, where nobody intended to do so. I also found that I found it easier to get the same speed as someone else just by walking in step with that person, as that will give you the same movements.

But all that is after I got used to walking in step! Otherwise all this wouldn't have worked out well.