cold feet for the military

COLD WEATHER BOOT

One more time the military has put out a solicitation for a cold weather boot, only this time it is being confined to two companies; Belleville Boot Company and Danner Boot Company.

The justification for confining it to two companies reads as follows; I quote; “The Justification and Statutory Authority for this procurement is FAR 13.501. (I HAVE NOT IDEA WHAT IT SAYS NOR DO I CARE.) Both Belleville and Danner possess the materials and manufacturing skill-set readily available to make the necessary ICWB”.

There is no description of the temperature capability the boots are supposed to perform in. There is no description of what materials are to be used. There is no information given about the boots.

While I am sure these companies can make boots, I am very sure they cannot or will not make a cold weather boot. For the sake of good order I am thinking the boots will be for temperature of zero degrees F and possibly colder. I am also projecting that the boots will contain Gore-Tex and Thinsulate, two materials that have very successfully not performed in any cold weather boots regardless if they are worn by soldiers or civilians.

The people who have been charged with giving out this solicitation have no knowledge of the product and the components required to make a product of this nature. If they were to learn from past experiences acquired by the military in my opinion they should have just gone into the open market to see what other companies have that would/could solve the problem. Again my opinion, the powers to be in the government office that put out this confined solicitation do not have any interest in actually solving the problem, typical government activity.

I did write to them asking for particulars even though I know I cannot actually offer anything, will see if they respond.

What these people do not yet comprehend is the simple fact that the first step in having warm feet in a cold environment is having dry feet. That can only be accomplished if you are wearing socks that do not absorb sweat, such as Lamilite socks. The real purpose of the socks is to allow sweat from the feet to move away from the skin surface of the feet. Today soldiers are issued either wool or cotton socks. For cold weather probably wool which has a very high absorbency capacity and therefore once chilled will cause initially toes to get cold; remember Gore’s 15 million dollar laboratory discovered that fact. Then the rest of the foot gets cold because all of the veins that run through the foot constrict very quickly since there are no muscles in feet which is where heat is created. Another problem that one experiences in cold conditions is painful bottoms of feet. The following is a clear explanation of what occurs when feet are exposed to cold.

“Peripheral Vascular Disease

Peripheral vascular disease causes the blood vessels of the periphery (the feet in this case) to narrow and harden. The narrowing of the vessels leads to decreased blood flow and can cause cold feet. The vessels become narrowed by the buildup of plaque in the vessels, mainly the arteries.”

Once again the use of the internet to find correct information is very abundant. However, those charged in the military to find solutions do not do any research to learn what is necessary to present to manufacturers so the manufacturer can also do the necessary research to accomplish the mission.

The boot itself must be made with insulating materials that do not restrict the flow of moisture out of the boot and that means the complete elimination of products such as Gore-Tex as well as Thinsulate because Thinsulate is the equal of Gore-Tex when it comes to keeping moisture within the boot. Keeping all of the moisture in the boot is the best invitation you can give cold to settle with in the boot which causes the cold toes to begin with and then the rest of the foot being cold follows.

Aside from wearing socks that do not retain moisture the soldiers operating in a cold weather environment SHOULD be issued over boots that have a proven track record of performance as cold as -35 degrees F. Do not hold your breath.

The problem as I see it with these two companies as well as the rest of the boot industry regardless if they supply the military is a simple fact of life “they do not have any employees who have any knowledge of insulation” the main ingredient of a cold weather boot. In the event they do have someone that person is shut down very quickly. Why is this so, nobody wants to upset the apple cart.

The end result of this confined solicitation will be the military will receive 1000 pair of boots from each company made as each company believes that they should be made and they will be issued to 2000 soldiers all of whom will experience cold feet!!!  However, the real end result will be the soldiers not being able to accomplish their mission because they have cold feet. what I would like to see which will never happen is for the manufacturer to actually field test whatever boots they make with nothing less than 100 individuals in the same climatic conditions they expect the soldiers to experience. Then the government employees who have commissioned these companies to make these boots also try them in those conditions. To date I have yet to see any boot made for the military that will actually do what they want it to do.  

One more time our tax dollars are wasted!