You know, after 20+ years of watching the military purchase individual gear, I am bloody impressed! When I came in in the '80's it cost about $7-900 USD to equip a soldier with field gear, and it wasn't much different from the Vietnam era junk.
I just drew my gear here the other day, and then got my Rapid Fielding gear on top of that...take a guess....nearly $9500 USD!
I cannot believe the improved quality, and quantity of the gear, it's freaky!
As for body armor, I'm in one of those good jobs where they have purchased me three different sets from quality sources (RBR and Paraclete) and I love/hate them all. Wearing body armor sucks, let's face it, but it still has a purpose. Now we need some armor that weighs as much and looks like my uniform, cools/warms me at the same time, is sealed against all CBRN threats, and can take a hit from an artillery shell! LOL! Now all I need to do is patent this sucker and I'll be a billionare and ETS will have an in house benefactor! No more scrounging for denero for Shot Show there Chris and Doug!
This war has been an absolute boon for the "Soldier as a combat system" concept, I think we're better equipped and trained than we ever imagined, and the technological advances that we're adding onto the soldiers individual equipment are just some Sci-fi stuff!
Well, gotta go, I'm headed out to do a little hiking while I get used to 6000ft less atmosphere than I'm used to...LOL!

Cheers all....