List of United States Marine Corps Individual Equipment - Load-bearing & Packs

Load-bearing & Packs

• The Improved Load Bearing Equipment (ILBE) is the latest load bearing equipment and pack to be issued to Marines. It replaced the MOLLE, was the first to be made in MARPAT (MARine PATtern), and greatly increases durability, comfort, and decreases complexity. It comes in a standard, Recon (which adds two side pouches), and corpsman versions. The ILBE load equipment provides an improved load bearing vest and the associated pouches to carry ammunition, grenades, radios, and other items.
  • The USMC Pack is being developed to replace the ILBE. Because the ILBE was designed as a modified version of a commercial Arc'teryx product, it doesn't integrate well with body armor, which can cause stress and injury. After the initial announcement of replacement in 2009, The Marine Corps finalized design requirements after testing and released a solicitation for prototypes in 2011, which resemble the Army's improved version of MOLLE.
• All-purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment (ALICE) mixed with some Individual Integrated Fighting System (IIFE) items remain in some limited use in training and non-deployable units.
• The standard canvas or nylon seabag, a militarized duffel bag, has been issued to servicemembers of all branches since before World War II. However, the increase in equipment issued to an individual Marine has made containing and transporting it all in a standard seabag difficult (a phenomenon nicknamed seabag drag), in addition to a tactical load-bearing pack. The Deployment Bag holds the same cubic footage, but rugged wheels allow it to roll much like a ruggedized version of commercial rolling luggage.
• A rubberized waterproofing bag liner has been provided to Marines for decades as a way to protect the contents of a tactical pack from water. Newer versions (known as the "stuff sack") have a purge valve to expel excess air to compress the sack.
• The Gunslinger pack allows a Scout Sniper to conceal and protect his sniper rifle within the pack while on the move.