[yoe]

This trumps amnesty programs and Obamacare.....Our Men and Women in uniform deserve immediate attention....skarou Obamacare! Just not fund it...

[C210N]

In 0's new gay army, I can hardly guess what might be in store for new boots...

[tet68]

Danners are great, got a pair of Ft.Lewis boots
I’ve worn for 20 years.
Just bought a pair of Bates RAT boots, pretty
comfortable, although I had to replace the upper
eyelets with hooks, Did the same with the Danners too,
just like them more.
The Rat boots are good but rather soft sided.
The Ft.Lewis have served me well and are excellent
in mountainous terrain, stiffer.
Both have Vibram soles.

[Iron Munro]

Wish we had something like that back in the day of fifty mile forced marches with full field packs and weapons wearing hard leather boondockers.

[MissMagnolia]

LL Bean Crestas. I have a pair that has over 2,000 miles on them including at least 5 ‘marathon’ hikes in the mountains (31 to 40 miles/day) and many, many days over 20 miles. Not one blister. Ever. Very comfortable boots for hiking/backpacking (and I have the bad habit of carrying way too heavy a load). They’d probably be an improvement over what is being worn now.

[Billthedrill]

A few years ago I had my eyes opened by a Marine Corps Colonel, ex-CO of MCRD (God bless you, Colonel Hatch, wherever you are), who told me he had to deal with an inordinate rate of medical issues because the boots the recruits were issued were the first "hard" shoes they had ever worn in their lives. Think of that. Never mind the the Internet, these kids have never known a world without Nikes and Adidas as primary footwear.

That isn't necessarily a bad thing but training them up to a tour in Iraq or Afghanistan is going to entail a slightly different approach from the one that put farm kids into combat boots in WWII. Or at least a better-planned transition.

Bates and Danner are awfully good and I don't have any data on the other. These days I'm mostly in Browning or Timberland, myself, but I'm carrying a 60-year-old body over terrain a lot less challenging than the Hindu Kush. I get to sit down now and then, mostly now, and there's nobody shooting at me (at least deliberately). A 20-something soldier in prime physical condition carrying a rifle and a 70-lb pack is quite another thing.

But I'll be following this choice carefully, because you never know.

[count-your-change]

I wonder how the Romans became a world power wearing sandals.

[DaxtonBrown]

[CodeToad]

Danner ICH, Improved Combat Hiker. $380. Wears like a cloud. No break in needed.

What the Army can now justify:

[moovova]

I hope the Army does a better job with new boots than it did with the last $5 billion camo uniform debacle.

[Lion Den Dan]

Russell Moccasin Boots. Army boots nearly crippled me during my career. I have wide feet but the Army only had skinny boots. The official remedy was get a size larger. Did not work.

[barefoot_hiker]

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