Saturday, July 12, 2008

Tactical Combat Boots

When you're in a tactical environment, there's no arguing that your feet come first -- before food, before sleep, before almost everything. While not to the same extent, when you're hunting, hiking, or participating in many other outdoor activities, your feet are one of the things that will put you out of the fun quickly if not taken care of. While there's all kinds of fancy, expensive tactical boots out there, I'm going to try to convince you that sometimes old-school is the best school.

A Case for Old-Fashioned Combat Boots
Well, they're not really old fashioned. As a matter of fact, they're cutting edge, and the latest versions for the Army were released in 2005. They've moved away from the "a toe shine is a no shine" mentality to a more tactical friendly boot - a tan, rough-out combat boots referred to as Army Combat Boots. There are two versions: a temperate weather boot and a desert (hot weather) boot. The desert combat boots weigh in at 2.0lbs, with the temperate weather combat boots weighing just 25% more. An incredible amount of testing, research, money, and effort has been put into these boots.

Tactical Testing
What better was to develop a boot than with a million person test group? Seriously, can you think of one? I can't. The U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center had access to just that - an entire army full of people with opinions about the footwear they use every day, in every environment from below zero freezing to scalding deserts to mountains, jungles, cities, and more. This combat boot design has been tested in every tactical environment you can imagine.

Comfortable Combat Boots
Once broken in, they feel like running shoes. Sure, they're not as light, and you shouldn't use them as actual running shoes, but the bottom line is they're very easy to wear. And they were actually designed using the same principles that many high end running shoes are designed with. Think of it as a tactical running shoe, designed to keep your feet from fatiguing.

A Tactical Force Multiplier
All the high tech equipment and training in the world is only as good as the people that use it, and if they're feet are in poor shape, none of it is much good for anything. If you doubt that the army put that much effort into developing their LPCs (leather personnel carriers), think about it from a cost-benefit standpoint. This is one of a few pieces of tactical gear that every soldier uses every day. If they're flawed, or poor design, or badly constructed, it's going to dilute the effectiveness of their entire resource base (that being the soldiers). It only makes sense that they design and manufacture a world-class tactical combat boot.

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