I think you have some good points there, Regulator6.

One reason for LBE, beit a soldier's or a civilian's is to have it on your person at all times, as you said.

But the other reason, which is probably so second-nature you don't even think about it, is to make your gear instantly accessible.

All a soldier's "implements of destruction/survival" could also be carried in a rucksack, but imagine, every time you empty a magazine, having to drop your pack and dig around in the bottom for a loaded mag?

That's why I'm still searching for the holy grail of civi LBE.

On another note, I find it depressing that a soldier in full uniform would be called in as "suspicious" and questioned for more than 5 seconds by a cop.

Although looking like a shabby civilian isn't any guarantee either! My parent's house where I grew up is a few miles from where the Appalachian Trail crosses a dead-end road. Naturally I tended to end my multi-day hikes at that point, and simply walk home down the road. We must have looked pretty ragged once because the local cop stopped us and asked the usual "Where are you going? Where are you from? What are you doing?" questions to see if we were up to something. The hitchhiker/vagrant look isn't as invisible as people think.