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military attitude towards footwear

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THE MILITARY AND FOOTWEAR

A few weeks ago a SEAL base put out a solicitation for Salomon Quest 4D GTX hiking boots. When I read the solicitation I found that the boot was lined with Gore-Tex. I further scrutinized the solicitation and could not find that the product had to be made in the USA under the buy America Act or meet Berry Amendment requirements (all components are to be made in America as well as the finished product).

I visited the local Cabela’s store and looked at the boot. The label sewn in them says Made in China.

When I speak with former military people employed by firms with GSA contracts about offering these military bases footwear that does not cause foot ailments since the footwear I am referring too does not contain Gore-Tex as a component which is the root cause of the foot ailments and since the Gore-Tex very successfully traps all of the moisture the feet give off these ex-military people do not care. The fact that the products are made in China also does not matter to the military purchaser so it does not matter to the salesman. All these ex-military people care about is making the sale and not the individual who is issued the product. Therefore, they contribute to the reason that work for American citizens will not be returning to America anytime soon. I also wonder what they would say if when they were on active duty about being issued poor quality equipment.

What I find interesting is the simple fact that the Marines did their study of what is causing the Marine to have foot problems; i.e. waterproof footwear and that is the root cause and the waterproof material put in the boots happens to be Gore-Tex. Doesn’t this happen to Navy personnel as well, you bet it does. It also happens to Army and Air Force personnel as well.

Throughout the outdoor industry the need for materials that are vapor permeable is so significant that even the underwear marketing companies (they don’t make any but have it contract sewn for them off shore) are advertising “breathable” underwear today. All of the companies that market shirts and jackets are stressing their product lets out moisture. Why do you think this is happening; because all of them have learned finally that there is no material on earth that is manmade that has the two characteristics that for 40 years has been advertised as “waterproof and breathable” actually exists. However, there is one and that is when man makes another human being. We just happen to be just that “waterproof and breathable”. When we jump into a lake or the ocean the water does not penetrate into our bodies and we do have lungs so we do breath.

While this is the case with clothing the footwear industry will do nothing to rectify the problem that they know exists and has existed for quite some time. It seems to me that independent thinking has become passé. I am very sure that if an employee of one of these footwear firms stands up and says let’s get rid of Gore-Tex in some models because of the wet feet problem he will be penalized in some manner.

When it comes to the military it is my tax dollars and all other tax paying citizens who are footing all of the bills for boots that just cause problems. When I speak with some of these GSA representatives they violently tell me this is what they want and basically I will not even broach the subject of a better boot. Shut me up! By the way the new hiking boot that I am going to be offering shortly can be worn 12 months a year because the marvel of the continuous filament fiber manages to let the moisture out of the boot 12 months a year so feet stay comfortable 12 months a year from +100 degrees F as I have experienced to about 0 degrees F which I have also experienced. Below that the over boots would be required.

Such is how things are these days! Advertising makes the difference when it comes to people in charge who unfortunately have no knowledge who deal with sales people who are equally without knowledge. Pity the poor soldier.

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