Well, when you're fighting aliens with magi-tech shields and plasma weapons, realism doesn't matter much. And besides, where does the Chief keep his ammo?

the ammo issue is explained in novels- spare magazines are either taped on or held on by magnetic force. how the reactive shielding works with that, i have no idea. logistically, powered armor sounds great, but the major issues would be power sourcing- sad to say, but several science fiction books cover different issues with power armor- Armor by John Steakley has a few ideas, as well as the Starship Troopers book(s?) bring up a few concerns. im sure theres plenty more, but i cant think of any right now.

I don't know why I didn't remember the magnetic attachments. I think most of those armor rely on some sort of fission for power, which I guess would work in theory if you could make it small and self maintaining enough. But if it got breached...

*SPOILER ALERT* well yeah the Mark 3, 4, and 5 suits used progressively smaller fission backpacks. the shielding is kept at 100% on the back, fission packs are never mentioned being damaged in any way through canon. non-canon, i dont know. i do recall when spartan Grace was killed aboard The Unyielding Heirophant, John 117 triggered her backpack to self destruct as a distraction and to destroy all evidence of spartans existence. dont quite me, but if i recall, it was a 20-30 meter fireball, consuming everything, but not anything biblical. obviously it would kill the user, but not destroy an entire firebase. In John Stakleys novel, a soldier does self destruct, using the fusion backpack to kill himself and several other soldiers. the explosion was larger than the "Halo" explosion, butt the power source isnt specified in that particular novel.

I may have to read that Armor book. I loved Starship Troopers to bits, and that sounds right up my alley.

do it... its old, and a deeply psychological read. but its a good'un. Enders Game by orson scott card is another sci-fi military book from a uniquely different perspective. i recommend both.

well if you read the novels the suits are pretty amazing before they get the shields.

The Spartan II's were pretty badass before they even got the armor. John 117 was able to kick the asses of two ODSTs bare handed at age 14, and he wasn't even the strong one.

well if you forget the whole trained since childhood medically enchance spartans in the suits and just put a suit on a normal soldier you would get a powerful soldier

No, you'd get a pile of broken bones and pain. The motion amplifiers were too powerful for normal human bones. That's what all the augmentations were for. The MJOLNIR program ran parallel to the SPARTAN program.

yeah i know about that but i mean if a normal human being could use one

Haters Gonna Hate!

It's time for an upgrade

Relevant: www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/05/combat-exoskeleton-afghanistan/

it's cool, but it's got an eight hour battery.

hey its a start though?

It's a start, but it's kinda silly how some of the added lifting capacity will probably have to go towards carrying its own battery.