I was raised with the notion that doing something a certain way, just because that's how its always been done, is just stupid. Big Army has a lot of that I think and I'm curious to hear opinions from current and former military on the following and related events. One of my biggest pet peeves is when a packing list is pushed out to me with a whole bunch of stupidity. Schools and certain situations - I got it. But battalion or company level field problems usually raise my blood pressure in that regard. I'm an adult, I've been in the field before, and I know pretty well what I use and what I don't. And I try to treat my Soldiers (I'm a PL) that way, and so far, I've had nothing but great results. So when a packing list comes to me for an "FTX" that isn't even 24 hours and it has 6 pairs of socks, 6 shirts, extra boots, 2 sets of ACUs, 2 ****ing washcloths, etc - I get heated. So I asked why we're bringing all of this extra shit, and the answer I got: "Because that's what you'd be bringing on a real mission. You never know how long you'll be out." We know exactly how long we're going out. I know that I have been out for longer in the exact same environment and never opened my ruck. If it were a ruck march, again, I got it. But we're not rucking anywhere so I see absolutely no training value to bringing all of that shit. The last time we did an FTX (different company CoC), there was no company packing list and I was too happy making my own. I put the bare essentials, confirmed with my senior NCOs, and then told all of the Soldiers that if they wanted more then it was up to them.

I HIGHLY doubt it, but is there something I'm missing?