Army Dentistry

Here it is. The much anticipated “downrange review” of the Danner Combat Hiker. The overall consensus is in: These boots suck. I will caveat this by saying that Im no Tora Bora mountain climbing SF dude who is wearing these things in the middle of winter. But unlike many reading this, Ive actually worn these boots for several weeks- both in garrison and in Afghanistan.

So a little background…We were all required to wear them post RFI for several weeks back in garrison. That means I wore them every day in the new multicam duds. I wore them on a short 6 mile ruck march and I wore them on the flights over here and I wore them in Kyrgyzstan. I gave them all the benefits of the doubt. My initial thoughts when putting them on were that they were stiff and heavy, but relatively comfortable and not too hot.  Then on the trip over here people started complaining. It seemed like EVERYONE was complaining about them. Peoples feet were aching. The lacing system became a nightmare – they wouldnt get tight, they came undone, the laces wouldnt stay tucked in. As soon as our flights took off – off came everyones boots. Mine included. Originally I thought these boots might just turn out awesome. I was wrong.

So once we got here to Afghanistan the CSM authorized us to wear our old tan boots. Why? I have no idea. But as soon as that was put out the combat hikers disappeared. A few people are still wearing them but the one individual I talked to said the only reason she is still wearing them is because she didnt bring her tan ones. So the army spent $310 per pair and bought two pair per soldier in my brigade. Thats $310 x 2= $620 per soldier. $620 x 3,500 soldiers = $2,170,000 of boots just for my brigade!!!