The A.L.I.C.E vs the M.O.L.L.E: why constraints can be good

Around the start of the GWOT, the Army introduced a new backpack - the Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment (MOLLE). It was the new hotness, and everyone pretty much lost their friggin minds over it. Modularity!!!!111. I remember getting my first MOLLE rucksack at Ranger school, I was so pumped. It was like Christmas had come early. Yeah, Ranger school is so awful that a new rucksack equals Christmas.

this was cause for great excitement. yeah, this.

The MOLLE rucksack replaced the ancient All-purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment (ALICE) backpack, which had been the Army's workhorse since 1973. The MOLLE system offered numerous advantages, allowing wearers to customize the rucksack to their specific needs and allowing considerable more amount of weight to be carried. So the ALICE rucksack was sent upstate to Uncle Jim's farm, where it could run and run, all day long.

A unforeseen second order effect of the new rucksack that could carry much more equipment was that it could much more equipment. No, I didn't write that incorrectly. You see, the ALICE could, when every square inch was packed to the limit, carry maybe 80 lbs of gear. More if you just started strapping crap to the outside of the frame. The MOLLE, on the other hand, could contain upwards of 120 lbs of "lightweight" gear. Carrying 80 lbs sucks. Carrying 80 lbs in Afghanistan sucks a lot more. Carrying 120 lbs in Afghanistan defies accurate suck measuring. The MOLLE rucksack eliminated an imposed constraint: Soldiers could now carrying much more weight than previously possible. Super awesome fun time, right? However, it also created a new, more dangerous constraint: Soldiers could carry such a heavy load that it was literally endangering lives.

A friend of mine participated in Operation Anaconda in Tora Bora. If you don't know what that is, hang your head in shame, go look it up, then come back. His platoon rode helicopters onto a top of a mountain to create a blocking position, in an effort to prevent Al Qaeda members from escaping the battlefield. He was carrying about 120 lbs of gear: cold weather clothing, ammunition, food, water, batteries, etc. He couldn't even get the rucksack on and stand up by himself. Instead, he'd lie down on it, strap himself in, try to roll over like a turtle stuck on its back, then get helped up by another 2 guys. When his platoon reached the mountain pass, he moved off the helicopter's ramp and immediately sunk chest deep into snow. And stayed stuck in the snow as enemy mortars and machine gun fire was redirected to his platoon's position. Wisely, that 120 lbs of lightweight gear was ditched and he ran for cover.

The 80 lbs limit of the ALICE rucksack worked as effective constraint against trying to carry too much stuff. We knuckle draggers like our gear, we'll carry everything and the kitchen sink if we can. Like a kid in a candy store, if you let them have as much as they want, they'll take the whole damn store. But back in the days of the ALICE rucksack, if you were going on a week-long patrol, and you couldn't carry more than 80 lbs, then you thought long and hard about what exact would be carried. 4 radio batteries and 3 extra magazines of ammo? Or 3 batteries and 4 extra magazines? The 80 lbs constraint forced leadership into detailed planning. This constraint drove hard decisions, which is precisely why leaders exist in the first place. To arrive at the best answer, they had to delve deeply into their mission, it's requirements, and the many assumptions necessary to achieve the mission. The 80 lbs constraint forced assumptions to be challenged. Was enemy contact likely, and so the extra magazines were more important than the batteries?

The MOLLE rucksack eliminated that constraint, and like the same kid in the candy store, we went nuts. I'm just as guilty as the rest: When I first got that MOLLE rucksack, I loaded it with so much crap I nearly threw my back out. But just like the kid after he's gorged himself, the Army started to feel the second order effects. The lack of weight limits on the rucksack let individuals and leaders skip past the difficult decision making previously required of them. Instead, a "screw it, throw it in the bag" mentality was allowed to foster. By dodging the hard decisions previously required of them, leaders failed to maintain the same level of responsibility that had been previously imposed on them by the 80 lbs limit.

Did the ALICE suck and need to be replaced? Yes. Is the MOLLE rucksack a good replacement? Yes. My point isn't to disparage a friggin rucksack, people. If that's what you're getting from this post, please just leave and don't come back. Here's my final take away: Leaders make hard decisions, often. That's what we're paid to do and what we volunteered for. The limitations or requirements that we like to bitch and moan about can in fact be useful tools for driving an organization's decision making process. When those limitations or constraints are removed, it still remains a leader's responsibility to continue the same difficult decision making. Don't be the kid in the candy store.