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My old man when first in country was issued " Jungle Boots" and was told by his 1st Sgt , " Take these boots and take the black shine off with sandpaper, nothing shines in the jungle."
Yeah, the black exterior comes off rather quickly in the mud anyway unless you've treated them with some kind of waterproofing like beeswax. They kinda look more badass without the black on them.
This is somewhat related to this topic, also a story I just want to pass on. In 1979 I was in middle school and one of the teachers was a Stars and Stripes photographer for 3 wars - WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. Every year he did a presentation to the 7th grade class where he showed some of his photos and told a few stories. One of the stories was how he gave the Army a remedy for 'Jungle Rot' but it was in the early 70s and pretty late in the war. He was ordered to photograph kids in the hospital with bad cases of it, probably for doctors that were 'Stateside' to research it. He grew up on a dairy farm and recognized the sores these kids had on their feet and ankles from the farm. It came from working in rubber boots in a soggy and unsanitary environment and the local pharmacist had a salve that he said 'stopped it in it's tracks' (I'm paraphrasing here, I heard the story 4 decades ago). He casually mentioned having seen this before and the salve that cured it the doctors in the hospital looked at him like he just cured Polio. Within 24 hours he made an overseas call to his home town pharmacist and found out the exact ingredients. He said from that point it still took the military over a year to get the formula produced for widespread use (we're talking about the Army after all, getting anything done in just one year is like moving at light speed) so the pharmacist actually air mailed tubs of the stuff to the Naval Hospital somewhere in Vietnam. Sorry this is so long and only slightly 'on-topic', I just wanted to toss it out there because I found it pretty interesting even at the age of 12.
Well, with your stereotypical dipshit "quote" comment, you'd be happy to know 14 was the biggest size they made. So fuck your /k/ style shit, and fuck your boot/shoe size.
@@MikeB128 I'm just making a joke, and I'm not on /k. I did however manage to find a pair of jungle boots made by Altama, who from what I can find actually made jungle boots during Vietnam, in size 17, which fit me.
Thanks for the great video, Mike. I was initially assigned to a tank unit in Vietnam, 2/34 Armor, 25th Infantry. We wore black leather boots in the tanks, supposedly for protection and we were issued hard soled soft fabric ankle boots we called “Peter Pans” for wear in the evenings to let our feet dry out and “breath.” I was a medic and we saw many, many tankers with foot infections. When I transferred to an infantry battalion, 1/27, we wore the jungle boots but by that time the damage had already been done - skin still breaks down on my feet once or twice a year and the doc’s can’t quite figure it out. Oh, well. We did cut the ties off our pants, both thigh and ankle tapes; just rolled the suckers up above the ankle to let the air circulate a little better. I still really hate leeches.
Thanks for sharing! Feet are definitely one of the most common casualties of war. Mine went from being normal and great with arches, to completely flat with hammer-toes and random numbness. War is hell.
My dad was in the Army in Vietnam and I remember as a kid he still had his shadow box with his medals and his unit patch and he also had some sort of plaque that had a map of Vietnam on it and on the bottom it had his name and his rank
A tip for anyone looking to buy a pair of these boots who isn't quite sure how the sizes work. Narrow versions: 8N is a foot width of 2.5 or 3 inches, 9N is a foot width of 3 or 3.5 inches, 10N is a foot width of 3.5 or 4 inches, 11N is a foot width of 4 or 4.5 inches, so on and so forth. Regular versions: 8R is a foot width of 3 or 3.5 inches, 9R is a foot width of 3.5 or 4 inches, 10R is a foot width of 4 or 4.5 inches, 11R is a foot width of 4.5 or 5 inches, so on and so forth. Wide versions: 8W is a foot width of 3.5 or 4 inches, 9W is a foot width of 4 or 4.5 inches, 10W is a foot width of 4.5 or 5 inches, 11W is a foot width of 5 or 5.5 inches, so on and so forth. Narrow versions can tend to be fairly tight on your feet and they are a bitch to break in. Therefore, I recommend regulars for most people because that extra space around your feet gives more ventilation and they are far less painful to break in. I can wear a size 9N, so I have experience with this. I own a pair of both size 9N and size 9R, and the regulars are my favorite. That being said, the narrow boots do suit narrow feet quite well, and if you don't care TOO much about ventilation or painful breaking, the narrow version of these boots will wrap around your feet like a glove and you will never have to deal with your foot moving around inside the boot. So if you do a lot of climbing, running, or hiking, after a fairly long break in process they are an amazing version to wear. In fact, I like my narrows more than my regulars simply because of how well they fit, but the regulars are more comfortable and that's why they are my overall favorite. If you have wide feet, I don't have much experience in that field, so I have no advice, but I imagine it's the same with regulars vs wide.
I bought a pair of WP Vietnam style jungle boots with the Panama sole. They have the size printed inside the tongue of the boot. It also has the drain holes. It has number printed inside the tongue. I wore these while doing a 10 mile hike in Meremec National Forest. I think these are Wellco brand. They are awesome. I crossed numerous streams and they were dry in no time!!
I’m from tropical country and i’m in the armed force. I still wear these jungle boots sometimes and i love it very much, i have both vibram sole and panama sole, though panama sole works a lot better but i love the vibram one, very solid, very cool.
When I first arrived in Vietnam my unit, the Pacific Fleet Combat Camera group had scrounged up the uniforms it issued to us. Our greens were some sort of lightweight poly fabric which didn't let our bodies breath a bit (we usually cut off the sleeves since they were almost impossible to roll up.) The shirts were like dress shirts only a green poly fabric. I was told that these had been procured for the Seabees but were discarded because they were inappropriate. I don't know if they had been Seabee issued uniforms but, I damn well know that they were inappropriate, The boots were original horsehide issue. I suspect that they were old style Marine Corps boots that had been phased out. That's how I was dressed when I made my first landing in 1966, with the first battalion of the 26th Marines (Deckhouse Three - Phase Two in IV Corps area inland from Vung Tau.) The clothing could not have been more inappropriate! The fabric of the uniform held in the body heat - even when it was wet. It also took a very long time to dry. My cutting off the shirt sleeves had been a very bad mistake. The area we were working in was full canopy jungle. My arms were cut up from sharp vegetation and they were covered with damn leeches. And since I slept (or tried to sleep) in about six inches of wet mud and water; I was actually cold. However, worst of all, the wet vegetation on the trails was slippery and I ended up on my ass more than once due to the fact that my boot soles had no traction, additionally the leather kept the water in, and my feet almost rotted away. Luckily, my command realized the error of its ways and arranged to have COMNAVFORV (Commander Naval Forces Vietnam) issue us proper jungle greens and jungle boots. These were great. I really appreciated them after those horsehide monsters. During my second or third time in Vietnam, I got camouflage jungle greens. In a combat situation - I really liked looking like the rest of the grunts around me. It was bad enough being six feet - two inches tall without making myself a target by wearing different clothing than those around me. Later-on during my second assignment to the Combat Camera Group 1980-1984, I became Assistant Operations Officer. I used my Vietnam experience to ensure that all of our combat cameramen were supplied with appropriate uniforms and boots and other equipment. I also ensured that they trained in amphibious operations with the Marines.
I was in the Persian Gulf War with the 504th PIR, 82nd ABN, and we were there, of course, very early and wearing everything Woodland Camo BDUs. When they issued us 2 uniforms in Chocolate Chip once in Saudi, we had no brown or tan patches, badges, name tapes, or rank, so we had to take all those off our BDUs and hand sew the green stuff on to our Chocos. We also had the green jungies, which we wore the entire time. They were great in the sand. We also painted all our OD vehicles tan before we left Champion Main's back gate into the desert for the duration of the two operations. As more and more build up occurred during the Desert Shield phase, we saw units with much neater uniforms with matching sewn on patches and rank. Some even had desert boonie hats. We had to wear Kevlars all the time (and sometimes snuck our black sock hats or maroon berets on at night) Near the end we were issued one more desert uniform and some desert boots (with what looked like Panama soles). We were instructed to keep them in their packages and bury them at the bottom of our rucksacks so we had something nice to wear on the way back home. All of us had at least one uniform practically rot off our backs and asses during the war. LOL.
Great video Mike, very interesting. I had a pair of these for years, they took a right battering from me, they were the Panama issue if I remember correctly. Used them for gardening/building etc...lasted for years I fact I wore them until the treads wore off,I have worn hundreds of standard work boots but those baby’s were the most comfortable boots I have ever worn....in fact after watching this I may have to indulge in a new pair after 6 odd years. Loving the series and keep up the good work mate, respect from the 🇬🇧 Si
Another great and informative video, I never knew that there were 3 patterns of jungle boots or that the Panama sole was a later sole design. On the topic of continued usage of the jungle boot, when I went to boot camp back in the mid '90s, the Corps was issuing 2 pairs of boots, one full leather and one jungle boot but in all black. The jungle boots were great for wearing around while in "garrison" and were much easier to shine since you only had to polish the heel and the toe, but when running up and down the hills of Pendelton I much preferred the full leather boots, our "Cadillacs".
Got two pairs of reproduction Vietnam war boots from my friends for my 21th birthday. I live in Holland and the terrain is mostly in the north countryside all mud. So the Panama sole works really well with these Great cool boots!
Great video mate. I have three sets on 1968 Panama sole boots with tags and with a panel from the original box that they came in from the factory with the DSA number. The first Panama sole boots and the seam in the heel.
Thanks Mike, I'm enjoying the informative Vietnam content. To expand on your history of the boot beyond Desert Storm: I wore green jungle boots in the Army Reserve from 1997 until I was forced to against my better judgment to transition to the UCP ACU in 2007 (there was a trip to Iraq in there with the suede jungles). I don't think they were an issue item in that era, at least not for uncool guys, but you could personal-purchase them and wear them. A rumor circulated in the late 90s that only the black jungle was authorized and as a result I dyed my green ones, only to find out a month later that green was still authorized. Promptly bought another pair of greens.
Really interesting and informative video. I was a Marine rifleman (grunt) in Vietnam (4/67-5/68) and still have my jungle boots that I rescued from a trash pile at Con Thien (the Marines were always short of everything especially jungle boots and jungle utilities). The boots are still in reasonable shape after many miles in the boonies and 53 years (although I stopped wearing them after I returned from the war).
Love what you do man! Kinda stopped watching a while back because the comments were always locked, I see they are enabled now so whoo hoo! Thanks for the awesome stuff man 🤙🏼
Comments were disabled due to absolute abuse that was taking place not only towards me but my viewers as well. I got sick of constantly moderating the bullshit so I stopped allowing them until the idiots stopped following my vids in an attempt to troll. So far recently it's been better, but there was a reason they were disabled on a bunch of videos.
I ended up finding 13XW Unissued Vibram Sole Jungle Boots (Pattern 3s with the card and insoles) a few months back on a random site for like $40 before I knew anything about what I was doing. They're great, and I've been using them quite a lot not knowing that these are more rare than the 'Panama' soles.
My first pair of boots I bought after basic/ait in 1997 were the all black variant of jungle boot. I wore them for years. Then before I deployed to Kuwait in 2001 we were issued the desert variant. I wore the soles of those.
The seam on the heel goes both ways. I have a pair 9/83 that have the seam in the back of the heel by ro-search. And have seen a pair 6/67 bata with out the seam
1988-92 and 94-2000, wore jungle boots while on field problems as regular Army and as a TX Army National Guardsman. All MP units required us to apply M NU on the brass grommets once they became shiny. Pain in the buttocks while in the field.
Hey Mike B, Im Vietnamese living in Saigon. Found a pair of 2nd pattern boots with no ankle protection in a market here. It was very informative watching this video
@@MikeB128 already have. Not sure about the authenticity though. Could be a chinese ripoff. You know their low quality repros are everywhere these days and I have no knowledge to actually make sure if it's a real deal or not
Hello from Texas!!!😎.I love jungle boots.Born in 1968 i did not serve in the military but my father served in WW2 in the Phillipines from 1944 to 1945.I just recived a pair of Rothco boots today you can order at Walmart.com for $32 bucks and they look great.I will use them as work boots at Best Maid Pickles .Rothco started making boots in New York city in 1953 so i will test them out.So glad i found your channel.God bless you and America!!!!🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸✌👍🍻
Rothco jungle boots will wear out in a month in my experience, just a heads up. Most of their equipment is okay but I've had horrible luck with their boots
I’m going to have to make a video reply to this, I’ve got a few of the boots you mentioned, also I wear a 14 so I feel your pain on finding surplus boots, I bought a pair of wwii dress shoes once just because they were 14’s lol Also nam is my favorite historical period so I’m loving this series.
I was issued green and black jungle boots in 96 on Paris Island, not sure ehy but the DI's collected everyones jungle boots and had them resoled with vibrams with the blue label on the sole.
Hi , about the vertical stitching on the back : one of the first contractor to remove it was Endicott Johnson. I have a pair made by this company made in 68 without vertical stitching. All the order EJ jungle boot I have seen does not have the vertical stitching. Their boots also come with white insole instead of orange.
I remember hearing from and I've seen several vets in videos talking about keeping socks under their helmet. The craziest I've heard only once, might be B.S. but, is guys in the monsoon season keeping socks rapped around muzzles of rifles and especially machine guns. Cool idea but might be some boomer folklore.
Always wanted a pair of these. I got a pair of Cochran #2's (the black leather WW2 combat boots mentioned) for work. I'll tell you this much -- very very uncomfortable. Try running in them & you feel like you're gonna take a digger. Also Blisters the size of quarters until they actually break in so you either pad your ankles or put blister band-aids
If I remember right the current issue is actually 2 pairs. One Goretex for cold weather and one pair of Desert boots (just tan jungle boots with suede vs hard leather.)
I found a pair of 1st pattern jungle boots at the Ft Dix post thrift store. They weren't new but they were in really good shape. Definitely the boots of a POG lifer. I would wear them when I wasn't in the field. I ended up selling them to a collector for $500. I think I paid $15 for them.
I’ve got a pair of the 2nd pattern boots I wear of rennactment. Within an hour they cut my feet to ribbons & the hard rubber sole caused a really bad ache to my ankles & even hips! It’s not accurate but you have to look hard, I got a German pair of jungle boots. Man, their like slippers. No aches or pains
I'm surprised that they shose ventilation above critters getting in their trousers. I herp in south Thailand and had a couple of unpleasant incidents already. After experiencing, specially in dense leech places I would always tuck my pands in the shoes.
I wear size 14W so I know how hard it is to find boots in that size. I’m in the dfw area and my go to army navy store is a place called Omahas. Without fail they always have boots in my size. I picked up a pair of the 3rd pattern with the vibrim soles there. Their website doesn’t have near all the stuff they have actually in the store and the owner is super helpful if you’re looking for specific stuff
I had a brand new pair of 3rd pattern Vibram sole jungle boots from a cache of Vietnam War equipment left in my dad's house by my ex-brother-in-law. I wore them for hunting and work purposes in the 1970s until the soles broke apart where they flex behind the toe. I was surprised how soon they failed under ordinary use and have always wondered if that was a common problem. These were authentic period U.S. made, not later reproductions.
Had a pair of vintageJ-B with original soles, but the spike plate had an upturned piece outside the arch I couldn't pound out,& lost in storage Everything I see in stores are the affordable Korean mfg. W/ Panama soles.
Do the current pattern of Altama jungle boots still contain the steel shank for spike protection, or do they forgo the steel for the Lenzi anti-penetration board (or have both in the boot)?
out of all the boots i wore, i hated jungle boots. yea they drain pretty well and keep your foot cooler. but you know what they dont do? keep your feet dry. during hot rainy summers in new england my socks were always soaked, i am prone to athletes foot and i got infected more with wearing boots like this than sweaty hot boots. and for some reason the leather lace bits would dig into the top of my foot and rub me into blisters. oh, and dont wear these things indoors. they will scuff black streaks all over the floor lol.
Love the video and I love my jungle boots . I have a hard time trying to find them do you have any contacts for finding then made in the USA and also would be interested in the tan ones new or used surplus keep up the good work
Are the PX or WX jungle boots from Altama good? I want a good jungle boot because I bought some Fox out door one and they sucked so pls someone respond
I have been wanting to ask you this questions but I can’t seem to to figure out how to send you a direct message. I have some really cool and hard to find original Vietnam gear which I wear regularly. The historian/collector in me says I shouldn’t wear this stuff because If I wear it out it’s gone forever. Then part of me says I love these originals much more than I ever would a repros, so wear it and honor it by using it and don’t let it waste away in a closet. What are your thoughts on this predicament? For example, I have NOS second pattern jungle boots which I want to wear badly, I also have 1962 OG107s which I already wear and can’t find replacements for in anything close to the same condition. Should I use them or get repros? Do you use your more hard to find items? I would really love to hear your thoughts. I wish I were able to contact directly, but if this becomes a video answer that would be awesome too. Thank you Sir
As someone that wears a size 16-17 (depending on manufacturer) 3X wide shoe, I'm kinda pissed that I can't get a couple pairs of jungle boots that I can beat the shit out of. My current shit-kickers are actually Reebok work boots with composite shanks and toe caps (same protection as steel inserts but a massive weight savings). Plenty of support, breathes better than I expected, and between the sole material & inserts are comfortable to wear all day. Only problem is they don't come cheap.
how do you stop the shank from squeaking, I have an early 90's pair of desert pattern jungles, dark brown pamama soles. the squeak is right under the ball of the foot. is there a fix out there in history? thanks
If I remeber correctly, it was mostly ww2 gear because the 2 wars were so close, but there are some pieces of specifically Korean war gear, like the mittens.
@@MikeB128 yeah, also alot of people see early vietnam war (1965-1966) as utility uniform and leather boots... my grandfather arrived in vietnam april of 1966 (C 2/12 of the 1st cav) and he mentions all the time how the boots had spike protection
Hey few questions if I were to buy some off of eBay and I'm a size nine should I buy the size nine or get a half a size or a size bigger ? and are these boots I can wear on a daily basis like going to school and back home ?
i'm wondering why the goverment didnt used coyote brown boots just for example altama have brown jungle boots and they fit really well with green olive color also a lot of people said brown coyote boots work well to camoflauge in the jungle. dont give me wrong love these color too green canvas and black but i think the brown color goes well with the green olive color they wore at vietnam
I'd always find about a thousand pairs of these for sale at any given milsurp store in the '90s. They have to be the most uncomfortable, painful footwear I've ever worn. Especially the leather around the back of the ankle. It'd cut into your heel so badly.
@@MikeB128 Then clearly there's a difference between the ones I used to buy and the ones you have. I was serious when I said that each store would have entire shelves spanning the entire length of the store with these things. Some were used, but most were new. They never did cost a lot, so maybe they were some sort of Chinese knockoff.
Do you know about post-war reproductions they're like 1970s or 1980s they have Vibram soles but they are made by a different company that's called Trek and I'm not sure are they Korean made. If you do know what I'm talking about are they any good or are they really bad quality like rothco.
you forgot to mention the 6 lines of stitching in the reinforcements on the 3rd pattern compared to the 4th patterns 3 lines of stitching which is another key identifier
@@MikeB128 there must be a company making really good reproduction? Not the rothco stuff. But something? I had a pair of real ones when I was a teen in civil air patrol 😆 back in the 90s. Really liked them
