ALICE gear - All-purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment

ALICE gear. Just for the record , Im not a fan of this system. I was issued ALICE gear at Infantry school at Ft. Benning back in 1976 and hated it.

The Medium alice pack is perhaps the most tortuous device ever issued to an 11B. Even with the frame the medium or large ALICE packs bite the big one.

When assigned to scout platoon 2/505th Infantry, 82nd Ariborne Div. I drew my TA-50 issue and was given the prior old school canvas issue web gear. One of the old 'Nam vets in my platoon showed me how to modify the "H" harness and adjust the belt and ammo pouches so they rode in a less uncomfortable manner on my light ass, 135 pound frame.

Here is a little info on the (to me) worthless issue ALICE gear;

By March 1972, so many deficiencies and shortcomings had developed in the load-carrying equipment that the United States Army Test And Evaluation Command requested that the test at Fort Benning be suspended until test items could be repaired or replaced. Officials held a meeting at Fort Benning on 6 April 1972 to discuss the failures.[9] In their discussions, they agreed that Natick Laboratories would take action to correct the problems so the tests could resume 9 June 1972.
Most deficiencies were found in field packs, users asked that the inner flaps on the small arms ammunition cases be removed as they impeded the rapid removal of cartridge magazines. Developers replaced these with simple strips of nylon fabric to divide the cartridge magazines. At some point during 1971 the Marine Corps found that the small arms ammunition case with the divider flaps was acceptable and initiated acceptance procedures. On 31 January 1972, the army issued military specification MIL-C-28981(MC) and these small arms ammunition cases were type classified and assigned the Federal Stock Number 8465-464-2084. The Defense Support Agency (DSA) issued contracts for the item for fiscal year 1973.
Natick Laboratories completed the modifications of the test items and military aircraft transported them to Fort Benning 1 June 1972, but testing did not resume until 3 July 1972. Testing finished 18 August 1972 and the final report was received on 24 November 1972.[10] As a result of the test, the Infantry Board recommended that no further development effort be expended on the load-carrying equipment as a system. On 31 October 1972, representatives from Natick Laboratories visited Fort Benning to discuss the problems which appeared during the testing of each item and to arrive at a decision whether to continue development of each item.[11] Prior to these final meetings the LINCLOE LCE components had been type classified and assigned Federal Stock Numbers as follows:

Belt, Individual Equipment – 8465-001-6487 (large), 8465-001-6488 (medium)
Carrier, Entrenching Tool – 8465-001-6474
Case, Field First Aid Dressing – 8465-001-6473
Case, Small Arms Ammunition – 8465-001-6482
Cover, Water Canteen – 8465-001-6472
Suspenders, Individual Equipment Belt – 8465-001-6471
The three field packs were also type classified and assigned Federal Stock Numbers:
Field Pack – 8465-001-6479 – small
Field Pack – 8465-001-6480 – medium
Field Pack – 8465-001-6481 – large
After the final meetings, the group proposed the following changes prior to manufacture:
Belt, Individual Equipment – Adopted; but with the standard buckle. The test item had been equipped with the Davis two-piece aluminum buckle which provided a quick-release capability.
Suspenders, Individual Equipment Belt – Adopt a set of individual equipment belt suspenders similar in design to those tested, but modified to increase ajustability by four inches.
Carrier, Entrenching Tool – Adopted

Case, Field First Aid Dressing – The panel rejected the test item and retained the M-1967 version. The adopted characteristics required that this item to be of sufficient size to carry two field first aid dressings. The panel determined that the M-1967 version, that accommodated one field first aid dressing, was acceptable.

Case, Small Arms Ammunition – The group adopted the small arms ammunition case as tested without the internal divider flaps.

Cover, Water Canteen – The group rejected the test item and retained the M-1967 nylon water canteen cover modified by stiffening the closing flaps so that they would not collapse and interfere with the insertion of the water canteen; to enlarge the water canteen cover somewhat for easier insertion and extraction of the water canteen cup; to add a reinforcement band to the inside of the water canteen cover to help prevent the lip of the water canteen cup from rubbing through; and add a grommet drain hole in the bottom. As requested by the NCO Board, the test cover was made without a pile liner, whose purpose was to provide evaporative cooling, and with openings in the bottom to provide better drainage and to make extraction of the water canteen cup easier. However, the test indicated that the pile liner added shape to the water canteen cover and kept it from collapsing completely when empty, making insertion of the water canteen cup much easier. The tests also determined that the openings in the bottom constituted a camouflage hazard as the metal of the water canteen cup bottom was exposed.

The group accepted the medium and large field packs with minor modifications but rejected the small field pack as unnecessary. Retesting of the modified medium and large field packs were conducted at Fort Benning during 27 November through 18 December 1972. The tests showed that the deficiencies and shortcomings of the field packs previously reported had been corrected.

The formal Development Acceptance (DEVA) review on the LINCLOE LCE occurred at Natick Laboratories 17 January 1973. The panel members agreed, by consensus, that the components be type classified as Standard A. After acceptance, the individual equipment system was given the designation M-1972 Lightweight Load-Carrying Equipment (LLCE). The Defense Support Agency (DSA) began issuing contracts for the components of the new individual equipment system for fiscal year 1974, which began 1 July 1973. After the DSA issued the initial contracts, the individual equipment system was re-designated All-Purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment (ALICE) and the use of year-model designations officially ceased.


The ALICE system has been phased out of all Active and Reserve Component (USAR and Army National Guard) units in the Army. Basic and Advanced Individual Training units, to include OCS, ROTC, and USMA, use the current MOLLE equipment in the digital Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP). ALICE was succeeded by Generation I MOLLE equipment. MOLLE I was then replaced by MOLLE II which, unlike MOLLE I, is strictly for the Army's Army Combat Uniform (ACU) instead of the Battle Dress Uniform (BDU) and Desert Camouflage Uniform (DCU).
The Navy and USAF use ALICE gear for ground personnel as well, although the USAF is phasing out ALICE in favor of MOLLE.

The Marine Corps still issues the medium ALICE pack for some radio operators. Both it and the large variant can still be found with NROTC units (who train Marine officers in addition to Navy officers). Active-duty training units (Recruit Training, School of Infantry, Officer Candidates School, The Basic School) and deployable units have switched over to the new Family of Improved Load Bearing Equipment (USMC Pack) or the slightly older Improved Load Bearing Equipment (ILBE) system. MARSOC makes extensive use of ALICE or Modified ALICE (MALICE) packs for ruck-running events in training (Assessment and Selection, Initial Training Course, and Special Operations Training Course), pre-deployment evaluations, and the Raider Games.

Small maneuver elements which rely on lightweight pack design and durability still use ALICE packs today.

Iranian Military and Law Enforcement still make heavy use of ALICE, MLC and LCE gear, but they are switching to MOLLE equipment (specifically IRGC and Army special forces) because of being more modular and to IIFS for being more lightweight.