I'm goin' back to my combat slippers, yeah baby!!!
This is a post that many won't understand, it is different, but it is something near and dear to my heart. This is possibly one of the single most important parts of army life outside of pointing guns at people and that whole minor protecting the freedom of the nation thing. It's about my boots.
Boots are contraversial in the army. Basic issue? Jump boots? Tanker boots? Corframs? Desert? Cold weather, intermediate cold weather? Deserts? Jungle boots? If jungle boots, green or black? I say green, my platoon sergeant says black. What he says goes, so stand at parade rest and say yes sergeant, hallelujah, world without end, amen. No problem, whether green boots are allowed changes from unit to unit, and is at the discretion of those in command.
What kind of soles on them? What kind of wax for your shine? Kiwi? Kangaroo? Lincoln? Heat guns or no heat guns? Cotton balls or panty hose? Hot water or cold water? You think it's crazy, but I've seen soldiers damned near come to blows over these issues. And why not? You're in them all day, you wear them for years, and you end up walking miles and miles and miles. All this outside of the mind numbing, nit picking inspections. Furthermore, in the army, regardless of logic, your boots are a direct and immediate reflection of you professionally.
My personal favorites are my ancient green jungle boots, picked up at AIT from the housewife of an NCO who'd recieved the real deal (not one of the many, many knockoffs) new from a good friend, only to find they didn't fit. Heh heh.......poor him, lucky me.
They've been with me in California, in Arizona, Korea, and all over Texas. They've been worn in the sun, rain, snow, sleet, hail, and monsoons, garrison and field, summer and winter. To say the least they've got character by now, and they're as comfortable (and almost as thin in places) as an old pair of slippers.
But alas, since the coming of the great leader (and his fearless sidekick the gold bar kid) green jungle boots have been forbidden. (I like our leadership okay..........well.......at the platoon level anyway, I just miss my boots.) So with great lacrimonius sighs of regret, I doffed my old friends and went back to my antiquated foes, the basic issue style boots. In short, they hurt my feet, something I could live with (thanks to Dr. Scholls and his gel insoles), up until my recent marathon training injury. See article below, you know you really want to.
Coming up short of the old filthy lucre, (I have an extra house payment, since my renters left before I was supposed to move back to San Angelo, Tx. I got stoplossed, and I haven't been able to sell the house,wheee!!!!!!!!) my previous experiments in black jungle boots on the cheap resulted in a pair of chinese made knockoffs that looked nice, but started strangely smelling of barbeque all the time and the eyelets began to fall out in in a month.
So now there was only one thing to do. Strip 'em down, repair the cuts and divots in the leather, and dye my boots black. (sniff) I can't afford soles this month, but I'll get there, besides, the worn down/really,really, really broke in soles are a big part of what makes them so much easier on my feet. So I went the store, got some writ color remover, and black dye, did everything like the instructions said.........and presto, I have black boots that look a little bit seasick. Sigh.......one more trip to walmart.
P.S. I will include my favorite shine instructions in the comments as a bonus, but this articles already so damned long most of you won't read this anyway. For those military type people who've spent insane amounts of time shining boots in front of a Tv/dvd player, feel free to share your favorite boots, and or shine techniques.