RESPONSES TO BOOT ARTICLE

RESPONSE TO COLD FEET ARTICLE

The following responses came to me shortly after the last newsletter was sent out.

I sure hope Wiggys wins this big! gortex will kill people and cause dramatic injuries to soldier’s feet over prolonged days. gortex will cause trench foot!! A Marine Corps retired Lt. told me he did get trench foot while serving in the middle east.

Aaron

You are absolutely correct. I spent 20 years in the military including 8 straight months in Bosnia in the winter living in a tent. We deployed with two pairs of Danners with gortex and Thinsulate. In the evening we would go back to the tent and take off our soaking wet on the inside boots and hold them over our stove to try to dry them out. We burned a few boots in the process trying to dry them out. We would rotate our boots to try and keep them dry, but basically we had to wear constantly damp boots for eight months. The best combination that I found was a polypropylene sock liner, a heavy wool sock over that and then just standard GI issued leather boots treated with snow seal (wax) or mink oil to keep the leather waterproof.

Robert N. Bryant

I was with the US Army's 535 Engineer Company. We helped built the pontoon bridge over the Sava River (Bosnia/Croatia) during a 100 year flood. Probably lived in knee deep mud, snow and ice for two consecutive months. We would have to change wool socks 4 times a day because of damp feet. gortex sucks!

Robert N. Bryant

I told Robert had he been with the 10 SFG in Germany while he was in Bosnia he would have been issued a pair of my mukluks. They ordered 500 pair and to this day I get a call now and then from a man who still has his pair. I also told Robert that there was considerable conversation at the SHOT show while we were fighting in Bosnia about the boot problem.

Unfortunately the problem still exists because the powers to be chose not to consider making any changes. In order for them to make a change they must acquire an education about materials and how they perform in footwear.

My question to the powers that control what is made is “aren’t you listening to the men who have been issued these boots that have proven not to perform”? I find it hard to believe some of their disappointment with what they were issued has not been heard by the so called developers of these products. Are these developers so enamored and swayed by the existing materials suppliers that they actually believe they can change their materials to perform better? Or are these developers so unconcerned about the guy in the field that they too do not want to upset the apple cart.

These two fellows who wrote to me are the very tip of the iceberg of men who have experienced cold feet and maybe even sores as a result and now their feet are much more subject to feeling the cold sooner as a direct result of wearing boots made with these materials in cold conditions. I have heard from hundreds of men who were not in the military having the very same experience with boots made with these materials, why should they be different? Humans are humans regardless of the clothing they wear or the job they have, when a boot does not work for a civilian why should it work for a soldier or vise verse.

I find it appalling to know how little the powers to be care about the soldier in the field. They can state all they want about how much they care about giving the soldier the best gear available and to me it falls on deaf ears. Why, because they choose not to get the education about all of the materials available that can be used to make the products they so desperately need for the soldier. When it comes to cold weather footwear it is long overdue for them to seriously question what is being brought to them.

I for one always want to see the maker of the product use it in the various conditions that they are claiming it is good for. Once the maker is satisfied having at least 100 people use the product then the maker will have some credibility to give some product to the military so the military can verify the product works as described.

I want to see a Gore employee wear a boot with the Gore-Tex film in it demonstrating how successfully moisture moves from feet to the outside of the boot. I would like to see a wool sock manufacture demonstrate how successfully the moisture moves through the wool also out of the boot. And finally I would like to see a 3-M employee wearing Thinsulate insulated boots that allow the moisture out and keep feet warm. In all three instances they cannot demonstrate that their product does work.

The reality is you will never see any of that which I am asking about. As for the boot maker he does not care about the performance of the end product any more than the material suppliers care about their products. The end result so long as the powers to be continue to go down this path will be boots that do not perform as desired. It will also mean the potential for more foot problems. So they have gotten on a merry go round and do not know how to get off or do they even want to.

STARTING TODAY IF YOU SPEND $200.00 YOU CAN GET AS A GIFT A PAIR OF SUMMER BOOTIES. IF YOU SPEND $400.00 YOU CAN GET A SECOND PAIR AND THAT MEANS FOR EVERY $200.00 SPENT WITH WIGGY’S YOU CAN GET A PAIR OF SUMMER BOOTIES.