WWII vs. Today: The Cost of Equipping a G.I.

The Center For Strategic and Budgetary Assessments(CSBA) gave a presentation on Tuesday detailing major trends in ground combat that will impact ground vehicle modernization. Buried in the slides was an interesting info-graphic on the accelerated cost of force protection - meaning the price paid to equip the average combat rifleman in the U.S. Military. These costs have risen dramatically. According to the CSBA the average cost of clothing and equipping:

• A WWII era G.I. was $170 with this price including the steel helmet, uniform, combat belt with equipment, combat boots, M-1 Garand, etc.. (my assumption is that the figures are not adjusted for inflation).
• Fast forward to the Vietnam era soldier and the cost has risen to $1,112 per soldier with this cost including the steel helmet, combat boots, uniform, load carrying equipment, flak vest, M16A1, and whatnot.
• Today's U.S. soldier costs $17,472 with this price including the kevlar helmet, safety glasses, night and thermal scopes, body armor, fire retardent gloves, knee and elbow pads, combat boots, M4 modular carbine, close combat optic for M4, and miscellaneous equipment.
• Future force protection systems are loosely estimated, with the spectrum ranging from $28,000-$60,000 depending on the cost of advanced electronics, uniform integrated body armor, individual cooling system, phased plasma pulse-laser rifle in the forty watt range - o.k. just kidding about the last one, those of you who are fans of the "Terminator" movies will hopefully recognize that, but you get the point. 

What's more, the average weight of the individual soldier's kit stayed fairly constant from the Second World War to Vietnam War era at just over 35 pounds, but has exploded today to roughly 75 pounds.