The problem with the load bearing equipment is it counts as armor for the stacking armor rules and thus combining it with real armor makes Infantry automatically Encumbered.
Hmm, that's pretty sill, though I guess that is the rules, since Load-Bearing equipment does have an armor value (even for things like a Packframe).
I did stumble across something rather interesting, and I figured I'd run it by you.
Page 170 states under Encumbering Items "A character
already encumbered by weight limit issues who in turn carries encumbering equipment raises his encumbrance factor by one level."
If they don't define "Encumbering" anywhere else, that seems to indicate that you're not automatically encumbered by an Encumbering weapon, you only take a penalty if you're encumbered already. So you can have Encumbering-rated equipment and not be considered encumbering (which is something I thought was the other way around).
All things considered though it probably would be easier to House Rule that Load Bearing Gear is designed with the idea of being layered with Armor and thus not Encumbering in that way and Pack/Unpack is a one time a turn only Incidental Action and not bash players over the head with something that I consider likely to happen anyway without having to formalize it.
I had a thought about simply allowing Load-bearing equipment to negate Encumbrance to a certain degree, rather than mock adding to the character's basic strength. What about a Vest giving a 1-2 degree discount? So if you had an Encumbering Load you'd be alright, but if you were very encumbered you'd only count as Encumbered?