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Throughout history, the dismounted soldier has had to carry heavy combat loads while marching long distances under very demanding terrain and environmental conditions. While they can doff their packs and much of their sustainment load once they arrive at their objective, they must still be fit to fight while wearing significant assault or fighting loads. As General Marshall noted, the infantryman is “a beast of burden” but his “chief function in war” does not really begin until he delivers that “burden” on the objective. 1 This chapter introduces this section’s topic of “easing the burden,” presenting the enduring problem of soldier physical overload, characterizing its prevalence, severity, causes, and consequences, and then examining the potential for Human Performance Enhancement (hpe), deliberately increasing human potential, beyond that accomplished naturally, to help mitigate the problem. In contrast to many …