The Improved Load Bearing Equipment or ILBE is a United States Marine Corps program that includes individual load carriage equipment, individual hydration systems (Source One Hydration) and individual water purification. Since the rucksack was the first part of the program issued to Marines, the ruck is commonly referred to as simply "ILBE". The ILBE ruck was designed to replace the existing ALICE and MOLLE packs. The ILBE is designed by Arc'teryx's Law Enforcement and Armed Forces "LEAF" program and manufactured by Propper Inc. The backpack is made from Cordura 725 denier fabric, with MARPAT camouflage pattern printed onto it. The pack is also covered with a PALS grid, for the attachment of smaller modular pouches. It includes a main pack, a detachable assault pack and a 100-ounce (3 liter) water reservoir. The ILBE can hold up to 120 pounds and has room for 60mm and 81mm mortar rounds outside the main pack. Specialized bags for corpsmen and reconnaissance units are also available.
Because the ILBE was fielded before the creation of the Modular Tactical Vest, the pack does not integrate well, and this stress with body armor can cause discomfort and injury. Marine Corps Systems Command announced a replacement was forthcoming in 2009, with possible replacements including two entries from Mystery Ranch, Granite Gear, and the Army's improved version of MOLLE. In 2011, the Corps finished testing and released a solicitation for prototypes under the name "USMC Pack", outlying design requirements that are similar to improved MOLLE.
Famous quotes containing the words improved, load, bearing and/or equipment:
“A friend and I flew south with our children. During the week we spent together I took off my shoes, let down my hair, took apart my psyche, cleaned the pieces, and put them together again in much improved condition. I feel like a car that’s just had a tune-up. Only another woman could have acted as the mechanic.”
—Anna Quindlen (20th century)
“Belief and love,—a believing love will relieve us of a vast load of care. O my brothers, God exists. There is a soul at the centre of nature, and over the will of every man, so that none of us can wrong the universe.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“the whole sea become an entanglement of watery bodies
lost to the world bearing what they cannot hold. Broken,
beaten, desolate, reaching from the dead to be taken up
they cry out, failing, failing! their cries rising
in waves still as the skillful yachts pass over.”
—William Carlos Williams (1883–1963)
“Pop artists deal with the lowly trivia of possessions and equipment that the present generation is lugging along with it on its safari into the future.”
—J.G. (James Graham)