Nothing Has Changed: Soldiers' Kits 1066-2014

[Malik]

Inventories of war: soldiers' kit from 1066 to 2014 - Telegraph

The similarities are stunning. Soldiering hasn't changed in a thousand years. The technology has improved, but check out how much has stayed the same.

 

[skip.knox]

Gaius Marius would not be surprised.

 

[ThinkerX]

Blades never go completely out of style.

Modern soldiers appear to have larger wardrobes.

The persistence of dice, cards, and other games is impressive.

I remember looking into the rations and kits carried by roman soldiers as part of my worldbuilding. That helped fix an older story.

 

[Malik]

And of course, when you're building your fantasy / sci fi soldiers' kits, they don't have to be historically accurate, but there will be commonalities with all of these. Soldiering is soldiering.

From this article you could even generate an idea of what soldiers will be packing a thousand years from now. It doesn't matter if they have ray guns and powered armor; they'll have an infighting tool, a way to eat, a way to pass the time (I guess back then, like today, a soldier's life consisted of a lot of waiting around), and a way to write home.

 

[Gryphos]

War... war never changes...