It has always been my experience that in the real world, JoeMolly don't really give a fuck one way or the other. If you make JoeMolly's load a little lighter by making Xem carry a smaller weapon and smaller bullets, Xe will voluntarily up the weight of Xir ruck by stuffing it full of pogey bait and snivel gear. If you make Xir load heavier, Xe will start leaving the back plate out of Xir body armor - or forgetting to pack those extra batteries that Xe knows aren't going to get used.
I've watched SF guys leave the wire with a camel back, four spare mags of 556, and an M9 with a spare pistol mag - and the rest of the ammo was jammed into an assault pack that was tossed on the floor of the truck.
...and a Bass Pro Shops baseball hat
...and know in their heart that they were ready to take on Ghengis Khans Army.
I've seen others leave on a local presence patrol to go and drink tea with the local elders, leave that same wire with more fucking body amror than you can shake an MRAZR at - 10 magazines of 556, 3 spare pistol mags, two hand grenades, and enough flex cuffs to repair the Francis Scott Key Bridge...
...then snug down their personally owned OpsCore Helemt with their rail-mounted peltors
JoeMolly is gonna do what JoeMolly is gonna do. The bean counters and aqusitions nerds mean nothing. They could outfit me and my ODA with Adidias Jogging suits, Marlin Model-60s, and 2x power Tasco scopes and one of those jokers would have been seen leaving the wire in Patagonia Pants, a Glock 19, and a Krinkov.
...bean counters be damned
Or at least thats just what I heard