When we went to Georgia to watch my son graduate from Basic Training, he had three days of leave. We spent a lot of that leave time running around Columbus, Georgia, getting him the things he’d need for the next phase of his Army training. The first stop was the combat boot store. I didn’t realize there were so many choices, but I supposed it shouldn’t have surprised me. There are probably thousands of different boots you can get for hunting, so why should the military be any different?
Granted, all the boots they get for the military have to look exactly the same. But it turns out UnderArmour, Nike, Danner, Garmont, and probably 12 other companies make boots that fit those uniform requirements. Colby tried on a bunch of different brands, and he ended up with a pair of Danners and a pair of Garmonts. He immediately switched out the pair he was issued for one of his new ones, and he handed the original ones to me. He told me he never wanted to see those boots again, unless it was to fill them with Tannerite and blow them up.
So when I got home, I put those boots on. We wear the same size, so I though maybe I’d give them a try and see what he was whining about. I only had to wear them for about 20 minutes to figure out exactly why he hated them. When we were at the graduation, about half the platoon was hobbling around, and now I know why. If they were all wearing these horrid boots, it’s a miracle any of them could still walk at all.
I hope his new boots are better than the original ones. He still has a heck of a lot of walking to do over the next 12 weeks, and I can’t imagine going on a single elk hunt in those things, let alone three months in them.
Make sure you have good boots, whether you’re going to Basic or going hunting. Take care of your feet.
