running

[saberknight]

Do ankle weights help give a dirt or uphill feel effectively? I used em a few years ago and was just wondering if they were actually good for you. Also, when rucking, is it a jog stlye trot or a fast walk, Ive read different things, but dont wanna injure myself. It should also be known that I havent rucked ever and my running sucks right now, but im working on that. Thanks for the help

[UberCree]

This should be moved to the PT thread.

Ankle weights will only help you run better with weight on your ankles. They won't help you run any faster without em and you will be placing more pressure on your feet up through your legs. I'd avoid using em for reasons of possibly getting stress fractures, especially if you are running on a hard surface.

[Lurch]

Don’t put that crap on your ankles it’s hard enough on you body to run don’t make it any harder, don’t listen to all the shit about lighting your ass on fire and running, just run and get in shape like everyone else, there is no “Great Ranger Secret” for running just run, as for road marching no matter how many times you do it, it still sucks (in my opinion it’s mostly a mind game)

[RsovRanger]

Just run normal and push yourself.. find someone that runs better than you and try to run at their pace.

Roadmarching isn't anything special, fancy, or anything. It's just carrying heavy shit on your back for long distances. Just takes time to get your feet used to it, otherwise it's pretty easy. just walk.

Little roadmarch tricks I've learned... all dependant on the scenerio...

undo one or even 2 buttons on your bdu fly. it'll circulate more air
blouse your boots outside, more comfort factor

change up how you wear your ruck.. positioning and shit.. that way it slightly changes how it rubs/hangs off your body.

Just little things... drink water. lol

[Reaper375]

Just do what Ranger Nate does to stay in shape...

Throw a 40lb ruck on yer back filled wif sex toys...

Enlist the help of a Big Bull Queer, and get him to chase you...

An drop the sex toys whilst ya run, thus lightening the load and giving him some things to play with when he does catch ya.

[Reaper375]

Originally posted by saberknight
Do ankle weights help give a dirt or uphill feel effectively? I used em a few years ago and was just wondering if they were actually good for you. Also, when rucking, is it a jog stlye trot or a fast walk, Ive read different things, but dont wanna injure myself. It should also be known that I havent rucked ever and my running sucks right now, but im working on that. Thanks for the help

Get ready for yer feet to turn into hamburger. If you do it properly and wear boots (which ya will when you ruck with a Ranger unit) also be ready to have fucked up feet the rest of your life. I don't know a Battboy alive who doesn't have the world's worst ingrown toenails that they let get deep and fester, and then YANKS 'em out to watch the blood an pus flow. Fun thing to do by yerself with a beer an a movie on.

[Lurch]

Dam Reaper you’d make a great Recruiter.
You make it sound so SEXY

[magician]

You nimrod.

There are ways to fix your goddamned toenails so they don't do that, you know.

It's called fucking foot hygiene. Any good Ranger doc or SF medic can educate you.

Failure to handle that shit can result in a debilitating infection in the jungle. Pus in the extremities....great thinking shithead.

It's for shit like this that Ranger medics need to get Bonehead Beaters issued along with their goddamned aid bags.

[Reaper375]

Originally posted by magician
You nimrod.

There are ways to fix your goddamned toenails so they don't do that, you know.

It's called fucking foot hygiene. Any good Ranger doc or SF medic can educate you.

Failure to handle that shit can result in a debilitating infection in the jungle. Pus in the extremities....great thinking shithead.

It's for shit like this that Ranger medics need to get Bonehead Beaters issued along with their goddamned aid bags.

Fuck you ya Cuban Bongo-player.

I keep my tootsies powdered, dry, and ALWAYS... ALWAYS keep extra socks with me on a ruck march or wherever. I change 'em when applicable, and take care of 'em.

When walking long distances with a heavy ruck on your back... you're GOING to have fucked up toenails. Stuffed into boots is a sure way to have your toenails go south on you. I take care of my shit, ya unassuming leg bastard. Next time I pull one of those nice tender slivers of joy, I'm mailing it straight to you.

[Dave the Impaler]

Originally posted by Reaper375
Fuck you ya Cuban Bongo-player.

HAHA, ROFLMAO!!! :D


I take care of my shit, ya unassuming leg bastard.

Uh oh... :D , pullin out the heavy guns.

[Reaper375]

Originally posted by Dave the Impaler
HAHA, ROFLMAO!!! :D




Uh oh... :D , pullin out the heavy guns.

Eh... might not want to antagonize, lest the man turn on you. Just friendly advice. My teasing Magician was friendly Ranger-to-Ranger shit-stirring. 'Sides, I bet he can dance a mean Merengue... you know...the FORBIDDEN dance...

[rgrnate]

Originally posted by Reaper375
Fuck you ya Cuban Bongo-player.

I keep my tootsies powdered, dry, and ALWAYS... ALWAYS keep extra socks with me on a ruck march or wherever. I change 'em when applicable, and take care of 'em.

When walking long distances with a heavy ruck on your back... you're GOING to have fucked up toenails. Stuffed into boots is a sure way to have your toenails go south on you. I take care of my shit, ya unassuming leg bastard. Next time I pull one of those nice tender slivers of joy, I'm mailing it straight to you.


lisa must have been in the room. explains the lowering of the bass in his voice. fuck. tony, ya used to be so damn much fun until SHE walked into the room. now yer gonna take everything personal 'n shit. you gonna be this way when we go to fondle yer toys?

next thing you know, you and mike will be having "how to suck a tit to get the most out of it" sleepovers. sheeeesh. think i'm gonna unsubscribe if it keeps going this way.


combat patch
honorary combat pudd puller ass. pres.

[Reaper375]

Originally posted by Ranger Nate
lisa must have been in the room. explains the lowering of the bass in his voice. fuck. tony, ya used to be so damn much fun until SHE walked into the room. now yer gonna take everything personal 'n shit. you gonna be this way when we go to fondle yer toys?

next thing you know, you and mike will be having "how to suck a tit to get the most out of it" sleepovers. sheeeesh. think i'm gonna unsubscribe if it keeps going this way.



honorary combat pudd puller ass. pres.

I have no idea what you're talking about.

[Dave the Impaler]

Originally posted by Reaper375
... lest the man turn on you...

:eek: *silence*

[magician]

Back at at Ranger Batt (1st PLT "Bad 'Muthers," Co A, 2/75), we had this kid named Ernie Hall, AKA "The Rat."

The Rat was injury-prone. You know the type. Anytime you went to the fucking field, The Rat was the one guy who would stumble into the goddamned old fighting positions the Legs left unfilled and camouflaged for Rangers to fall into, busting his ass, big time. He was always good for a twisted ankle, or slicing his hand open while sharpening his Gerber, or breaking a finger while practicing fire and maneuver. He didn't fake this shit, didn't fake injury.....anyone else would have gotten bored and given up. The Rat was for real, and he was a medic's worst nightmare. One time, he punched a stick RIGHT into his fucking eyeball on a night movement, and I will never forget it, as I was the goddamned medic who got to stabliize the fuckwad and wrap every goddamned piece of bandage and kerlex and cravat and ace wrap I could find around his head so the stick wouldn't move. Everytime someone would blow on it, The Rat would scream, which was pretty funny, but he was about THIS CLOSE to losing the eye.

Anyway, I ended up graduating from Ranger School (14-81) with The Rat, which really sucked, as he was from my platoon back at Batt and I couldn't just tell him to fuck off and leave me alone in my own little private hell. I had to actually take care of the fuckstick's itchies and owies, regardless of the fact that there is no time for bullshit in Ranger School, as anyone who has been there knows. Those West Pointers who stuck together and implemented slickydick plans to artificially manipulate peer reports, on the other hand, and with whom I had several fist fights in the patrol base over the course of several patrols, those guys I could tell to eat my ass and often did, with the exception of a couple who were pretty cool. There was also the fact that Ranger students who were medics were forbidden to take care of other students, as the cadre wanted to see all injuries, pronto, so they could screen and refer injured students to their own medics. So I had to help out The Rat, regardless, with scavenged medical supplies, no time, hiding everything from the RI's.

The major problem with ending up in the same class as The Rat is this: I was recycled twice, and I was a walking deadman. I think The Rat was recycled at least once or twice. I was never recycled for injury. I was recycled for a boatload of major minuses (fighting with officers) garnered on one infamous patrol gone wrong, wrong, wrong, and for failing the goddamned land nav test (one stake right or left? I chose wrong). The Rat....you guessed it. He busted his ass, broke his ankle, separated his fucking shoulder....you name it, he did it. He was injured, and got to eat peanut butter and chocolate in the rear. I got to go from one class right back to another one, with no break, and Ranger School for me was truly 120-days of nut-squeezing.

Well. By the time we're in Florida Phase, and most of us are all tabbed out, it turns out The Rat is still sweating it because his fucking feet are destroyed and he can barely walk. Why are they destroyed? Because the dickface failed to practice good foot hygiene. His goddamned toenails are all ingrown and curled and his toes are infected and shit, and he had the beginnings of pitting edema in his shins, which any medic will tell you is an omen of cellulitis. It can be really bad news, and it often requires antibiotics, and at minimum, it requires constant and careful monitoring.

So, who does the goddamned Rat come to? He won't go on sick call. Oh, no. He doesn't want to get recycled again. He won't consider it it, even if it means risking serious infection, or dying due to sepsis. He comes to HIS doc. Fucker. His fucking feet stank. His toes were nasty as shit. His toenails were CURLING and yellow and long and all grown into the sides of his toes, which were swollen all to hell and oozing pus that stank so hard it gave me whip-lash. The Rat claimed total ignorance. "I don't know what happened, doc." With that moronic vacant Rat-look on his face. I saw that look so many times I could have busted tree trunks with my head.

Well, you can imagine what I had to do. I had to get what I could weasel out of the RI's and the RTB medics without raising eyebrows...so I scared up some hydrogen peroxide, some rubbing alcohol, and sharpened up my Swiss Army knife. Then I stuffed a drive-on rag in The Rat's cakehole and proceeded to yank all those nasty toenails and debride all those stinky pus pockets....A bunch of guys were holding The Rat down....he was thrashing and bellowing behind the gag and sweating and arching his pelvis like he was trying to fuck the air.....and I used diluted hydrogen peroxide and Q-tips to get inside the pus pockets and really scrape the shit out of them. Then I packed them with clean gauze and wrapped him up the best I could, and then I got to change the goddamned bandages everytime we had a chance, like every night in the PB, and every day we were holed up for planning or whatever. Instead of eating chow, or cleaning my weapon, or taking care of my own goddamned feet, I got to take care of The Rat, and look at his nasty feet, which stank like FEET, but worse, by the way.

Yes, that is what being a medic is all about. But you know what? There is always some motherfucker like The Rat for a medic. You always run into these asswipes in schools where it is hard enough just to keep your own shit wired tight. And of course, you have to take care of them. It's your job, and yup, the motherfucker is from your platoon. Happens everytime.

Wah, wah, wah.

I think my happiest day in BN was the day Ernie Hall ETS'd.

So I'm a little impatient with little bitch grunts who think they know what they are doing. Sue me.

:)

[saberknight]

lol, the rat, thats funny,

Thanks guys for the help, another question, is a ALICE pack necessary to ruck, am I just fucking myself by using a cheap 2 year old school backpack? I would figure so, but if not, no need to spend the hundred bucks or so.

[Reaper375]

Originally posted by magician
So I'm a little impatient with little bitch grunts who think they know what they are doing. Sue me.

:)

I ain't faulting ya one bit. Just don't place The Rat's problems on me. My shit is kept nice an clean, washed like a mufugger, and all that. Just years of grinding on'em has destroyed any chance of growing 'em out normally. I've gone to the doc and had 'em removed and whatnot.

My feet an shit work well for me. They brought me through 6+ years of life in Batt, which ain't an easy feat. I lived. And They're still my main method of transportation next to a car.


Bitch :)

[CPTAUSRET]

Magician:

Great story:

Just curuious, you have any contact w/"the Rat"?

Terry

[tex80]

Magician


Sir,

Would you write a post on how to take care of one's feet properly? What should BUDS wannabes do differently since their feet will be wet most/all of the time? Thank you for your time.

[magician]

Tony:

Bite me, snatch. :)

Terry:

No.

If I ever saw Ernie Hall somewhere, I would turn and haul ass most 'tick. I kid you not. I doubt the motherfucker even remains among the living. If there was just one way to fall off a cliff, The Rat found it and did it. If there was a disease that no one else had ever contracted in the history of medical science, The Rat became the test-case documenting it in the Encyclopedia of Tropical Medicine. While everyone else in the platoon would get a little black palm on their hands, The goddamned Rat would fall onto a log of it and get spiny needles all up his ass and backside.

I remember staying up all night one precious friday night pulling black splinters out of the Rat's pasty ass while everyone else was down at La Fleur in Colon getting laid by the ugliest hookers in Central America.

Which reminds me of this one time (in bandcamp). I was still young, like a PFC or something, so I was keeping a pretty low profile. We were in Colon, Panama, in the canal zone, across Gatun Bay from Ft. Sherman. We were there for JRTC, I think. The Bad 'Muthers squad leaders were playing Spin The Bottle or some other fucked up drinking game in La Fleur....I'm pretty sure it was La Fleur because that's the only whorehouse in Colon that I really remember through the brain-damage of years and alcohol. Anyway, one of the squad leaders was this guy named Chuck Conway. He was a funny guy, a prankster. Always goofing off, but pretty cool to his newbies. I dimly remember him, as I was pretty young when he was still with the Bad 'Muthers, and everything that happened to me in Life Before Ranger School (LBRS) remains hazy.

Anyway, the other squad leaders distracted Chuck with some whore, she was bending over, showing him her stinky brown-eye or something like that, and then they grabbed this old fag, I am not shitting you, he must have been 80-years old....he was wearing this blue goddamned dress with frilly sleeves and collar....he was an old queer....he HAD NO TEETH, my hand to God, he had NO HAIR....just grey STUBBLE because he was used to wearing WIGS....and he had these rheumy blue eyes that made him look....ill....just ill....and they put this sad old homo under the table, handed him a ten spot, and then everyone grabbed Chuck Conway and held him down.

Everyone near Chuck grabbed his arms...they grabbed his shoulders....they held his head and got down on the ground behind his chair and held him down by his waist....they grabbed his legs....they would not let that poor fucker up, would not let him move....and someone, I don't remember who it was except it might have been this guy named SGT Lindberg...unzipped Chuck's fly and took his dick out of his pants and told the old fag under the table to suck Chuck's dick.

Chuck was bellowing like a speared whale, just yelling in rage, not even speaking English, just inarticulately screaming and swearing. He couldn't move an inch, and that old fag sucked his dick.

This has to be the funniest fucking thing I have ever seen in my entire life. I laughed so hard I literally fell down on the ground, and could not get back up. My stomach was killing me, it ached so hard. I was in tears, and I was not the only one.

I'll never forget how we laughed at that poor son SOB. I seem to remember that this prank was payback, too....for something Conway had done to someone else. We should get Birch on here. I'm pretty sure he was there, and will remember the whole thing with more accuracy.

Phew. Ok. Moving on....

tex....

well, I would be pleased to write something up for groundpounders.....not so sure how useful it would be for SEALs, because I'm not one. I have spent a lot of time wet, but....squids live in the fucking water, and I am definitely not a squid (better them than me, and good luck to them).

;)

If this is something that might be useful, just let me know. It is friday night now, and momma's out at an arts and crafts class with her girlfriend (yeah, right), my son is killing aliens on his computer, and I've got Billie Holiday--uh, Black Sabbath--on the stereo.

I could use something constructive to do besides surf the net and drink beer.

:)

[CPTAUSRET]

Magician:

Damn, that was funny, funny sick, funny Ha Ha, funny, gut wrenching fucking funny:

Nancy just returned from Rome, and we are flying back there Mon, at 0dark30, 3-4 days there, then New York for an evening at the Waldorf Astoria marking tje 50th anniversary of the discovery of the double Helix. James Watson who won a Nobel for the discovery, Henry kissinger, and a whole bunch of people will be in attendance, should be quite an event. Would have been an opportunity to get together with you, but I have to fly back to NM the next am, too bad:

Terry

[tex80]

Magician

Sir,

The basic do's and dont's of foot care would be a great help. I run with other motivated wannabe's and a couple are always having foot problems. I trim my nails and wash well, so I haven't had problems. We plan to start running in boots and doing some road marches in two weeks. I'm going Navy, but a bunch of them are going Army, option 40... so I told them I would hang on the rucking... and beat them!

;)

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.

Very respectfully,
tex80

[magician]

Ok, tex.

No need to suck my dick, though I appreciate the respect, and please don't call me "sir." I'm retired now. Thanks, again.

Here you go.

1. when you clip your toenails, you want to ensure that you use a nail clipper with STRAIGHT EDGES.

If you look at your standard nail clipper, the edges are almost always shaped in a half-moon configuration, like an arc. Those are fingernail clippers, and should be used only on fingernails.

Toenail clippers are always straight. If they are not straight, they are not for toenails. You can use scissors, or whatever, but it is best to use straight toenail clippers because using scissors requires expertise and know-how and a deft hand and if you use a real sharp pair (as you must for them to work correctly) you can stab the shit out of yourself if your buddies bitchslap you while you are taking care of your shit or if you flinch or shake because you're drunk or whatever.

Straight nail clippers work best on feet, and you just need to do whatever is necessary to find a couple of pair.

2. Straight toenail clippers are LARGER than standard clippers. You have to look hard at the stuff sold at the PX or wherever you are buying your foot care gear. Make sure they are sharp as hell, and that they have a good wide set of handles. Spend more for good quality, and don't be afraid to really bust out the green and buy a good pair of GERMAN clippers. Those fuckers make shit like that better than anyone else.

3. Toenails should ALWAYS be cut STRAIGHT ACROSS, NEVER IN AN ARC. Look at your fingernails. Typically, for most people who are not genetically one step descended from apes, fingernails are curved. Toenails can be curved, if you are an idiot and have not TRAINED them to grow straight, but having curved toenails is like begging to be fucked up the ass. You will get ingrown toenails, and those motherfuckers hurt real, real bad.

4. When I say that toenails need to be cut straight across, I mean just that. You will see that the nail itself will probably end up being longer at the ends where they protrude from the toe bed, and that is fine. They can be shorter at the center, as long as they are straight across. Cutting them in this way, training them to grow this way, is intended to help prevent them from growing into the SIDES of your toe beds.

5. You may need to get under the toenails at the edges, and work under them to ensure that they do not dig into the sides of your toes. Just work with them on a daily basis to help guide them where you want them to go. If your shit is too fucked up, go to a podiatrist, explain what you are doing and why, and ask him for his advice. He may be able to just yank the fuckers so you can start over and train them from the beginning. Regardless, you need to get all the toe-jam out from under and beside your toenails, and you should do this weekly in garrison, and daily in the bush, at minimum.

6. You don't want your toenails to be so long that they are bumping into the toe of your boot from the inside. They need to be long enough to protect the top of the toe, but not so long that they are the first part of your foot to contact the toe of the boot from the inside when you move your foot forward. If they fall out, don't sweat it. If you need to remove them, don't sweat it. Just work with them and train them so they grow back right, if they grow back at all.

7. You need to keep your toenails fucking trimmed, and that means you may need to clip them more than once a week. When you are in the bush, and your dogs are literally your life, then you will inspect them and maintain them and do whatever is necessary to keep them right every day, sometimes several times a day, conditions permitting. I'll talk about tolnaftate or other anti-fungals, foot powder, etc., down below.

8. Boot sizing is critical. You especially need to pay attention to boot width. Go to a shoe store, an actual shoe store, and have a competent person size your foot, while you are standing. If you can, "liberate" an "oppressed" foot sizer device, one of those things they use in shoe stores, so you can size your foot while actually wearing a 60 to 80lb ruck on your back. Your foot WILL spread. Know your boot size, and when you get sized in the army, speak up and stand up for yourself, as you will be given boots, but your life will suck far worse if they are the wrong goddamned size. Remember that S4 Civilians are often shitheads sucking on the tit of government service, and they will often try to treat you like a louse and simply throw shit at you. Demand respect, politely, but demand it, and get it, and get your correct goddamned boot size. You will probably want between one half to one inch room in the toe. You want your heel to be secure, and not slip out of the heel cup of the boot. This is important. You will need to snug down the ankle part of the boot to a point where you are not inhibiting blood flow to the foot, but adequately to ensure that your heel does not slip. You do not want your feet sliding around inside your boot.

9. Depending on the type of boot you get, you may or may not need to shape them to your feet to accelerate or facilitate the "break-in" process. There are a million methods of accomplishing this. Some folks wear their boots in the shower, and then walk around with them wet until they dry on their feet. Some folks just wear their boots for a month until they are broken in the hard way.

I used to literally soak my boots in a BUCKET of Neet's Foot Oil, which can be a very expensive proposition if you go to the store and see how much an entire bucket's worth will cost you. The thing is, Neet's Foot Oil breaks down the leather, whether you are using old-style authentic green jungle boots, newer-style black jungle boots, full-leather standard Army-issue boots, or whatever. I have no idea what kind of boots are issued these days, or permitted. But Neet's Foot Oil can make your boots softer than slippers, meaning the uppers will be nice and soft, and waterproof as HELL. When you are a grunt, and you live and die on your feet, no money is too much for the right shit, and Neet's Foot Oil IS the shit. No, I don't own stock or Neet's Foot Oil futures.

10. The Neet's Foot Oil treatment is only appropriate for boots worn in the field. It will ruin all chance for boots to look "normal" or pretty for garrison purposes, but for field boots, you will thank me every day you wear them in the bush if you prepare your field boots in this way. I used to soak my boots, completely immersing them, (at least just the leather part, or completely, if they were all leather boots), for about two weeks. No kidding. Periodically, I would pull the boots out, and rough up the outer surface with a steel brush, carefully. This was so the Neet's Foot Oil could soak in deeper into the leather, completely saturating it. When I came back from the bush, I would clean my boots, then reinsert them into a bucket, or just liberally coat them repeatedly with more layers, to maintain the water repellency and softness.

11. Boots prepared in this way are completely waterproof. They will leak Neet's Foot Oil onto your socks for awhile after you prepare them (this is ugly, but harmless), but they will last a long time, remain totally waterproof, and require very rare applications of black shoe polish, which means you can skip packing a can of polish and a rag in your ruck. Your boots will stay black, no matter what, and you will not have to polish them. Your boots will get softer than hell, and very comfortable, and you will like them more than tennis shoes. Your boots will be as waterproof or more so than a set of gore tex boots, but they will be a hell of a lot cheaper, even considering the cost of the Neet's Foot Oil (it might cost around $20-30 for enough to immerse your boots, with a bucket large enough to fit both boots in it).

12. The ultimate combo is a pair of SEAL Skins gore tex booties (or your alternative preferred gore tex bootie, which also must be carefully sized to ensure it does not SLIP inside the boot) and a properly broken in and prepared Neet's Footed pair of jungle boots. You can stay amazingly dry, and that means you can stay surprisingly warm. Getting your feet wet can be a serious, serious problem in the bush. Any way you can find to minimize it, particuarly when you are carrying your house on your back and you are moving dozens of klicks a day for days at a time, will save you time, pain, and grief. It will keep you mission-effective, and you will be able to ruck harder, and farther, and you will remember me and this guidance in strange places and on many lonely nights and you will be very grateful that you heeded me.

13. Now, let's talk about socks. In the bad, bad bush, where you are in fucking rain forest like Panama or parts of Colombia, Central America, Peru, the Amazon Basin, that sort of thing.....if you are walking through streams, in streams (sometimes jungle is just too thick, and you have to walk IN the streams, as dangerous as it can be), I never wore socks. My feet were like rocks, anyway, and wearing socks just kept them wetter. You have to dry your feet out under these conditions, and that means sometimes you have to stop, hang your ruck from a tree (carefully, being aware of snakes and ants and spiders and millipedes and shit) put up your goddamned jungle hammock, and get into it to pull foot maintenance, clean your weapon, eat chow, etc. The major part of foot maintenance under extreme conditions can be merely drying your feet out.

14. Once you do what you can to keep your feet dry, you check your nails, make sure they are cool, then you clip them if necessary. If you are not in the jungle, but are just in forests, your sock selection will be based primarily on the weather and the temperature. In warmer weather, particularly if I was moving long distances and my feet were going to be swelling a bit after rucking for many hours, I would skip socks entirely and wear ONLY sock liners, typically polypro or something along those lines. These extract sweat away from your feet, trasmitting it into the surrounding leather or goretex bootie, and help keep your feet DRY. Remember what I said about dry feet? Dry feet are always warmer than wet feet. Dry feet are HAPPY feet. Thin sock liners ALSO have the crucial benefit of helping you avoid blisters, and this is a major, major bonus.

15. Depending on the terrain, environment, etc., I would go sockless in the jungle, and otherwise wear liners, only, under all other conditions except cold, cold weather and mountainous terrain, and then I would carefully consider what would work best under those situations. I got to a point where I really preferred sock liners under the vast majority of situations, and would just put them on under SEAL Skins gore tex booties in properly prepared and broken-in Neet's Footed jungle boots or standard Army issue leather boots. Standard boots, properly prepared, can be pretty nice in colder weather, as they lack that stupid steel shank that used to be included in jungle boots. That shank would make your feet colder than hell, sometimes. Anyway, wearing just liners, my dogs would stay dry, and since they were dry, they were WARM. Nothing better than warm dogs. I shit you not. Nothing worse than cold feet.

16. Ok. If it is pretty cold out, and you need more insulation, then you have to look at your boot choice versus your sock choice. If you go with a warmer sock, test out and strongly consider Smart Wool socks. You can get them at LL Bean, REI (yes, you should be a member), joints like that. You have to make sure that you get them in a tall enough height, like ankle height, or boot height, whatever, so they don't scrunch down into your boot and fuck up your feet by cramping your toes, and you have to carefully look at the weave, thickness, etc., but generally, a Smart Wool sock will have properties of moisture management and warmth that are unmatched by virtually anything else.

Be careful with your sizing. You want to ensure that your socks fit right inside your boots, and that your feet fit correctly inside your boots wearing socks of different sizes. You need to be careful: if your feet slide when wearing just liners, you need to tighten your shit up, or maybe use a half-size smaller. If your boots are too tight when wearing Smart Wool thicker socks (like during the wintertime), then you need to loosen them up, or go a half-size larger. The only difference, generally, between a half-size is like a half-inch in the toe.

17. For colder weather, you can generally assume you will be wearing different boots, so you will want to properly prepare and size your cold weather boots separately and differently from your warm weather boots, and both should be separate from your jungle boots. These are three separate climates. They require three different sets of foot SYSTEMS, including boots, socks, liners, booties, etc.

In colder weather, I like boots with a little thinsulate in them. I personally wear these boots made by Chippewa. I was issued a pair by the Army a long time ago, and I really liked them, even though they were heavy as shit, so I checked out the Chippewa website and ordered a couple of pairs that were like Army boots but better. You have the option of steel toes, etc., but I would recommend avoiding that unless you want to invite frost bite.

My Chippewas are warmer than hell, they took the Neet's Foot Oil treatment like champs, they are soft, and they are very durable. You need to be careful, because if you get the wrong ones, they can be a little too heavy, but you need to draw a distinction between boots worn in garrison for training for rucking, etc., and boots worn in forests or mountains in snow or rain or just plain old cold ass weather. For the latter, these are your boots, though others may have differing guidance.

18. Ok...where are we.....let's talk about what you do to maintain your feet.

You want to powder your feet at least once a day, regardless of where you are, or what you are doing. And that means right now. You want to use any powder with anti-fungal properties, like Desenex, whatever, and yes, cans cost a shitload (like six bucks!) at the grocery store, while they are FREE in the Army. In garrison, powder your feet when you put your boots on in the morning, after your shower. If your feet are sore, or crampy, massage them, and massage them right. If you don't know how to do that, go get a foot massage from a Rolfer masseuse, and ask them to show you what to do. They can put you to sleep with a fucking foot massage, and teach you how to bring a woman to climax with a foot massage. I shit you not.

In the bush, you powder your feet as needed, whenever possible, depending on what your team leader says, or is appropriate. You will learn about this as you proceed through Basic, etc. You do this both to help keep your feet dry, but also to change socks (from wet to dry), to CLEAN your feet, and to stay ahead of fungal infections. Itchy feet fucking suck. That's why you ALWAYS wear shower shoes in the Army rather than bare feet. ALWAYS. Never walk around barefooted. You will get a gnarly fungusamungus and hate life.

If you do get a fungal infection, see your doc and get some stuff for it. There are a variety of drops and creams and stuff that work ok, as long as you use them for a FULL course of treatment, and then continue with good maintenance and prevention using powder.

19. Ok. That's about it. I am probably forgetting something, but I'll let the others jump in here with their opinions and corrections. In sum, you get boots that are the correct size based on what you are doing, where you are doing it, and when; you prepare the boots, breaking them in, waterproofing them; you exercise care in sock selection and sock usage; you practice good foot hygiene, and keep your shit trained and trimmed, and you use both experience and gear to keep your feet dry, whether the weather is hot or warm. If you are in hot weather, you wear appropriate boots and liners to keep your feet as cool as possible. You can use antipersperant to actually inhibit sweating, helping keep your feet dry. No kidding. In cold weather, same thing.

Hope this helps.

And sorry for the length.

[tex80]

Thank you! I copied that to my hard drive and also sent it to everyone I run with. There's a lot more to good feet than I thought. I clip my toenails in a curved shape... so I will need to correct that ASAP.

[mbw]

Wow, thank you.

Mike

[magician]

It is my honor. Good luck to you.

[Sabre07]

oozing pus that stank so hard it gave me whip-lash

That has got to be the most descriptive phrase I have ever read. Well done.

I have seen, and been the bearer of, some nasty ingrowns, but none that ever caused anybody else an injury.

The BJ story killed me too. I plan on printing out a couple of those posts for our SWAT medics. Thanks again.

[magician]

My honor.

I exist to serve.

:)

[saberknight]

>>Go to a shoe store, an actual shoe store<<

Where would this be, Im having trouble finding "jungle boots" at footlocker or footaction. Also, whats a good brand, thats not too much money?

[mbw]

I think he means one of those Mom&Pop type places that will actually take the time (and relish it) in getting you something that will fit you and your needs. Its like when I buy running shoes, I go to a running store - they know the product, they know runners, and they have great knowledge. If your AO is New England I can PM you some suggested places.

It may be harder getting a Jungle boot at such places though. I posted a topic in the 'Boot' forum today asking a similar q, hopefully we'll get some good S-2.

Mike

[magician]

I think a more pertinent question would be whether a US Army-issue jungle boot would be the best boot for training, from the standpoint of whether they are even permitted in RIP and SFAS, etc.

If you have to wear some other sort of issue Army boot, that would probably be the correct one to purchase.

When I say "go to a shoe store," I mean go to a friggin' mall, and get your feet sized using one of those metal things with the sliders, or better, borrow one or something so you can take it home and size your feet with a 65lb ruck on your back, and before and after a road march. It will be very useful information for you to know.

Most of us just got a pair of boots thrown at us when we inprocessed back in the day, and we suffered for a long while until we learned enough to square our own shit away. What I am advising here is that you learn this stuff up front, rather than learning it later, the hard way.

[sensual_lover]

Originally posted by magician
Tony: Which reminds me of this one time (in bandcamp). I was still young, like a PFC or something, so I was keeping a pretty low profile. We were in Colon, Panama, in the canal zone, across Gatun Bay from Ft. Sherman. We were there for JRTC, I think. The Bad 'Muthers squad leaders were playing Spin The Bottle or some other fucked up drinking game in La Fleur....I'm pretty sure it was La Fleur because that's the only whorehouse in Colon that I really remember through the brain-damage of years and alcohol. Anyway, one of the squad leaders was this guy named Chuck Conway. He was a funny guy, a prankster. Always goofing off, but pretty cool to his newbies. I dimly remember him, as I was pretty young when he was still with the Bad 'Muthers, and everything that happened to me in Life Before Ranger School (LBRS) remains hazy.

Anyway, the other squad leaders distracted Chuck with some whore, she was bending over, showing him her stinky brown-eye or something like that, and then they grabbed this old fag, I am not shitting you, he must have been 80-years old....he was wearing this blue goddamned dress with frilly sleeves and collar....he was an old queer....he HAD NO TEETH, my hand to God, he had NO HAIR....just grey STUBBLE because he was used to wearing WIGS....and he had these rheumy blue eyes that made him look....ill....just ill....and they put this sad old homo under the table, handed him a ten spot, and then everyone grabbed Chuck Conway and held him down.

Everyone near Chuck grabbed his arms...they grabbed his shoulders....they held his head and got down on the ground behind his chair and held him down by his waist....they grabbed his legs....they would not let that poor fucker up, would not let him move....and someone, I don't remember who it was except it might have been this guy named SGT Lindberg...unzipped Chuck's fly and took his dick out of his pants and told the old fag under the table to suck Chuck's dick.

Chuck was bellowing like a speared whale, just yelling in rage, not even speaking English, just inarticulately screaming and swearing. He couldn't move an inch, and that old fag sucked his dick.


That really lowered my morale. What did Chuck do when you let him go? The days after?

[sensual_lover]

and thanks for that foot care guide

[j5irons]

Magician:

Sir, if that wasn't the funniest shit I have ever heard!! I was just about on the floor! DAMN! And thanks alot for the foot care guide, need to correct my shit too! ASAP! Thanks!

Justin

[magician]

Chuck was a little fragile, as I remember.

He's still probably messed up from that incident.

:)

[sierraseven]

...one additional advice on toenails.

[magician]

Are you asking me? Go ahead.

[sierraseven]

If you clip a small V notch into the center of the nail - not into the flesh underneath, just the nail - it will help "train" the nail not to grow into the toe on the sides. If you have an early ingrown toenail - not yet infected, just growing in on the sides - this will take off the pressure and may keep it from getting worse.
S7R

[magician]

Excellent tip.

Thanks.

[ludann]

holy shee-at, i dont mean to just jump on the bandwagon, but thank you for that post on foot care. i've been doing some ruck training with a few of the pre-basics at my unit and they are all going to receive a copy of that if you don't mind.

-d

[fister13F]

Thank you for that post. I have humped a ruck up and down NTC, as a lowly Colt Team leg....and not taken care of myself, feet and knees. Back when I was young I didn't think much of being injured, but now its all I think about while I train - in fact it slows my progress.

I plan on sharing that with my nasty guard fellow legs this coming drill -- although a few are tabbed and worthy of this knowledge)

-Dan

[NewportBarGuy]

Best Post Ever.

I know it's under the one year limit, but this is as good as it gets.

[NewportBarGuy]

As far as toenails go, since clipping mine straight across I have not had any of the problems of the toenail ingrowth problem. Simple solution to a damn nasty and painful problem.

[Colt1911fan]

I got a question about toenails, does it matter if your smaller toes, say the 2 or three smallest, are not clipped straight across? They are a bitch to keep straight even with the proper type of clippers. I have never had problems except a few times with the bigger toes, mostly my left big toe. I know this is probably trivial, but it is something I have been wondering about.

[Roguish Lawyer]

What are the best socks for troops in the desert? I'm going to send some to a buddy who asked for them . . .

[Footmobile]

Roguish, I had Smartwools when I was there for the big show and they worked great, no complaints at all. Since I've been back I have been using Dahlgren's. They are less known than Smartwools, but IMHO they are a tad better. It all comes down to the details and material used in construction. Dahlgren separates the natural wool (merino and alpaca wool, the best you can find for socks) in the toe and heel boxes from the synthetic's used in the rest of the sock so that the sock can better take advantage of each materials attributes. Natural wool like Alpaca and Merino are the best at absorbing and insulating while wet. Wickspun synthetics are great at moving the moisture away from your skin. Most companies like Thorlo, Bridgedale, Fox River and Smartwool weave the natural and synthetic material together because it's cheaper and easier. This tends to make the materials properties work against each otherand not to their full potential. Dahlgren has a patend on this type of sock construction so the comp. can't copy it. Go to www.dahlgrenfootwear.com to find dealers in your area. I promise, your bud will thank you.

Oh and Magician, damn good post. Should be required reading for anyone going Infantry, Ranger, SF, Seals, whatever. Wish I had access to this kind of stuff sooner as I would have surely saved my feet from looking like a bucket of fuck on numerous occasions.

[okami1]

Thanks to Magician (gnarled Sgt.) from the fresh Privates out there...

This was in response to my question about the curing and soaking procedure for new boots.

"I immerse the boots up to the point where no oil enters the inside of the boot. You want to avoid that for a variety of reasons, which you will understand when you actually begin the process.

I periodically (like everytime I see them or notice them) pull the boots up out of the tub or bucket, and then use a brush to liberally coat the oil on the upper portions of the boot, paying particular and careful attention to the tongue. You want a soft, pliable tongue. You do not want the oil to penetrate all the way through the tongue, though, so you have to exercise some judgement.

On the uppers, you want the boots to be fairly stiff, to protect your ankles, so your primary purpose in extending the oil up onto the upper portions of the boot is to waterproof them very well.

You also want to use a stiff-bristled steel brush, a smaller one, to rough up the leather a bit, so the oil can better penetrate. Again, use your judgement and caution.

To dry, there are a couple of ways to go. You can just place the boots on a box in the now empty tub, elevated, so you can direct a fan's air wash at them. Keep an eye on the boots, and feel free to put some rubber surgeon's gloves on and manually "work" them with your hands, bending and rubbing and massaging them. They should be very pliable to the touch. At some point, you want to just start wearing them around outside, so you can have them dry while on your feet.

The other way, of course, is to just wear them in the sun, and keep an eye on them. In a way, I like this approach best, as you can sit in the sun with your boots, and just walk around in them, and get them exactly to where you want them, and then start rucking.

Be advised that the oil may bleed through onto your socks at the outset. I never minded the oil on my socks and feet, though, and it quickly passed as the boots dried. "