Thank you bigEMarDet77.

To add a little more information. I am going to be attempting the Radio Recon Platoon Selection soon and am looking for a better boot. Like I said I have two pairs of your standard issue bates and need new boots. I have heard great things about Danners and would like a little more input if anyone would offer any.

I bought a pair of Danners in 1987,I still have them and wear them. Have went thru a few soles but other than that they are great.

Danners are expensive but worth their weight in gold. I bought a pair of Danners last year and I refuse to ever wear another brand of boots ever again. They are honestly THE most comfortable thing I've ever worn on my feet. They've got to be worn to be believed. Buy some danners and you wont be dissapointed I promise.

In 1989 I had jungle boots and danners and the danners were great in ankle deep water due to their waterproofing but anything deeper and you got immersion foot.

Did they finally come out with a boot that would drain water instead of hold it?

Also did they lighten the weight of them ?

If they fixed them two issues I would recommend them to anyone.

Danner's certainly look good, and I've heard some good things....but coughing up 200 bones on a pair of boots just doesn't sit well with me.

Belleville makes a pretty good set of boots. Got a pair in Iraq and they are pretty nie.

Other than that...I recommend the lightweight Bates for those nonstop boots-and-utes lieutenant pt sessions.

True they do cost 200 bucks but that money is well worth it. You can't put a cost on comfort especially in the field.

Just bought a pair of Danners for $188.

And get this.. I got my wife the same pair for $45. (She is also a Marine.) There were overstocked. A $200 pair of boots for $45. It is my lucky day.

Thank you all for the help.

$45 bucks that is a steal man. That's pretty awsome. I guarantee you wont be disapointed. Like I said before you can't put a price on comfort especially in the field. Good choice bro.

Any of you cats try out the Oakley assault boots?

I've heard nothing but spectacular things about them. People constantly say they are the best boots that they have ever worn. And those peeps have been around the block a time or two.

I dunno whether or not you guys are "authorized" to wear 'em, but I found it odd that no one has mentioned them.

They are considerably cheaper too if you use this website that gives MAD discounts to us military dudes on alot of oakley products.

Cheap Sh*t

thats right it used to be that in garrison u could only have the USMC stamped boots and in Iraq u could have whatever u wanted and nobody would say boo. Thats all changed. Now if it doesn't have a USMC stamp on it u aint useing it. Danners are very nice and don't be dishing out the money just yet cus if your unit is deploying any time soon you just might get them issued to you. I did ! Hell ya free danners!

I'll back up what Apollo says. My buddy in school who was a Ranger swears by the Oakley boots. They look super light as well. I'm prejudiced and stuck in my ways and will never cheat on my Danners.

blanchette that's awsome you got issued Danners. My little bro got issued those as well. Lucky little shite

I always thought it was chicken shite when they said you couldn't wear any boots that didn't have the USMC stamp on it. I said f'ck it and wore my Danners over there anyways. They were a hell of alot better than the stuff they issued us. What were they gonna do send me to Iraq?

My buddy got chewed out in the Horno PX for wearing boots he was issued in Iraq....they lacked the EGA stamp.

I've heard great things about Oakley boots too, but my battalion is having an internal war right now concerning Oakley gear. Our BC is trying to ban all Oakley eyepro, even though we were issued it in Iraq and apparently Oakley has bought out ESS.

Lame.

quote:

My buddy got chewed out in the Horno PX for wearing boots he was issued in Iraq....they lacked the EGA stamp.

Yeah chicken shite DI stuff. Like lacking an EGA on your boots makes you a turd.

Guess I will add to the chorus of people swearing by Danners. Just bought a pair myself.

Agreed that the EGA stamp rule is pretty retarded. It's not like you have the boots on while wearing clothing head to toe with a distinctively recognizable Marine Corps pattern covered with little EGA's, oh wait.

I have tried the belleville boots, and I don't like them. I am a size 10.5 W, and I call them my "clown boots", because the toe area is flat and long. After three months the plastic toe cap had crushed on both boots and was rubbing the top of my toes. They functioned and looked very bad.

I have had four pair of bates. Two were what I call the "old design" which were they had the old vibram sole. These were both good boots, and I wore these throughout my deployment in 2006, on countless patrols, and had few if any blisters, etc. These boots were very absorbant, though, I mean walking through a dew covered grass lot would have them wet on the inside. I tried coating them with some water repellant, and it clogged them and made my feet sweat. So, end story, I would say they are great for Iraq where it's hot and sandy, not so much for wet areas.

My newest pairs of boot are the "new" bates. They have two sole designs, a garrison sole and a combat sole. The garrison is a softer, less traction rubber design, it looks lighter, but I don't buy boots to look pretty, so I went with the combat soles. These boots are great, I have had them for a while, and the best feature is the grip of the sole, which seems to bite into anything. The toe is steep, has lots of room, and a pretty flat front to it which helps in o-courses, climbing walls, playing combat soccer (lol). One pair is goretex and they did well on a recent field op, although I did get a couple blisters, that's to be expected in wet conditions when you hump over 15 miles. They did well.

I did have one pair of danners that I bought, but I bought them right before Iraq, and was an idiot! I never broke them in! I wore them on my first patrol, got a buttload of blisters and put them back into my seabag. So, I cannot review them, sorry. All I can say, is that they were super comfortable, of strong construction, and REQUIRE A BREAK IN! I think if I had broken them in and done a couple boots and utes runs in them they would have been my boot of choice. I ended up giving them to a friend who was deploying back there, to help him out.

Hope this helps.

BTW: on the oakley issue, we were allowed to wear oakley M frames and half jackets or ESS but that was it.

Best boots i had ( besides green jungles) ROCKY Prohunters. Not exactly authorized but worked wonders across afghanistan.

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I ended up giving them to a friend who was deploying back there, to help him out.

Damn Ruger I wish I had friends like you. Danners aint cheap. You can be my friend anytime.

I remember before we deployed for Desert Shield/Storm we went to Siagon Sams outside of C.G and spent about 20.00 bucks for Israeli combat boots which were comfortable(nothing more than a black pair of Chuck Connors with a little traction).

I had Danners and JB's loved em both. What the hell is this EGA stamp anyway? never heard of it when I was in when did they start that?

There were authorized boots but nothin with a stamp on it that I ever heard of.