I enlisted in Dec 83, so very lao jiao. I was issued a very old
fashioned pair of boots with the separate toe cap. They were hard
as wood. My 3 months as a recruit breaking them in were the worst
times of my life. My feet started hurting about 2 month and
continued to hurt terribly until after POP. By then the boots were
quite seasoned.
I continued to wear this pair until sometime into my 4th ICT as a
reservists.
During one ICT where we did amphibious assaults I found out my
boots were still waterproof. But not in the way you want. They
didn't stop water getting in, but they definitely stopped water
flowing OUT! My feet were waterlogged for 3 days and nights and a
lot of skin peeled off. And continued to peel for several months
after.
Another ICT we walked through river and flooded fields at night and
again the water wouldn't come out. What was bad was that even when
later walking on dry ground the water inside my boots went "slosh
slosh slosh" with every step I took. Fcuking annoying. I had no
time to take out my boots and even whe I sat down and raised up my
legs the water wouldn't flow out.
I had enough and decided to get a new pair. I considered all the
options, even the commercial Goretex ones. But then I was afraid
that being waterproof meant that water cannot flow out once they
got in.
Finally, I settled on American-made canvas/leather jungle boots.
They are very light, strong, with steel toe cap and metal plated
sole. Most importantly, they had 2 breathing holes that helped
water flow out after they got in.
They are the best option for our climate, I feel. No matter how
waterproof your boots are, in tropics you always have to wade into
river or swamp so water will still get in no matter goretex or not.
So the jungleboot is still the best option as they have these
breathing holes and they dry out very fast.
Only problem is the CSM kept giving me an earful for wearing
non-SAF footwear. But since I'm a very disciplined and hardworking
fellow he soon left me alone.
