Two cents:
Over the years, there has been a lot of cross pollination of ideas between civilian and military gear. Camelbak was originally a civilian idea for bike riders who wanted to take a hands free drink. It was quickly snatched up by the military community. This caused Camelbak to make even better gear and these good ideas flowed across the military and civilian product lines. This sort of thing happens time and again.
A good idea can come from anywhere.
A lot of .mil guys spend a fair amount of money on civilian outdoor gear. In short order, the civilian outdoor companies realize this trend and tailor their gear with an eye toward possible .mil uses. This is especially true for SOF buyers where SOF will often just buy what they need. Latter, Big Army will realized what a good idea this is and make it a general issue item.
PEO Soldier and MARCORSYSCOM have done yeoman’s work taking civilian gear and tailoring it for troops in the field. We have come a long way from the brown wool sweater and field jacket.
The current trend in military equipment is to look at the ‘ultralight’ backpacking and alpine community. This is largely due to our current fight in the mountains and valleys of Afghanistan.
A while ago, folks realized that 500D nylon was nearly as tough as 1000D at half the weight. 500D is norm for civilian alpine equipment.
The same goes for the shooting community. Nearly every good idea in small arms improvements, training, and employment came from the civilian 3 Gun/ IPSC community. Aimpoints were the IPSC standard long before every GI in the Army had one on their M4. Of course, military use then required Aimpoint to improve their product for their new best customer.
Again, this stuff has been cross pollinated for years. I for one am glad we have a lot of civilian shooters. This forces companies to be competitive and innovative. It forces shooters to continue to validate and improve their technique. For generations, America has been a nation of Riflemen.
As to particular loads…
As others have said, the mission will dictate your equipment. For me personally, I carry one M4 mag on my belt in a Bladetech holder, 3 mags on my plate carrier, one in my weapon, and three more mags in my tiny assault pack/GTS bag. I have never felt under armed but I also have yet to have a Blackhawk Down style running gun battle.
As a general rule, I too would argue that you should be able to run an obstacle course in your fighting load. Running, clearing a fence or climbing through a window are pretty routine tasks. If you can’t do this in your current kit than you may have problems when the shooting starts. If you cannot drive a vehicle in your current rig than you will also have problems.
don’t tell my wife that I have 8 differant set ups). Prep your kit and train in it.