IMHO, your time would be better spent searching and reading boot comments and doing PT, rather than looking for a magic carpet.

You might even take a few moments to fill in your profile.

TR

Reaper,

Yep, I've combed through all threads pertaining to feet and boots and have yet to have my specific question answered. As I said in my initial post, I may just be splitting hairs but I'm trying to 'train as I'll fight'. Your initial advice as well as the advce in 'Get Selected' and 'Fixing Your Feet' have been invaluable, so thank you for that. Not looking for a magic carpet at all, but trying to be as accurate as possible. If my question has been answered, please point me in the right direction!

Let's try again.

The boots they issue you at the CIF?

Those will be the issue boots that you should be wearing at SFAS.

Best of luck.

TR

Just an old hard ass here...
 

I find all this talk about feet and boots a bit weak. I the importance for maintaining healthy feet and bad fitting boots will not help in that realm.

I have never, other than a blister or two, had any problems with issued boots. I was taught at an early time in my career by some really hard troops, to wet the boots daily for about a week and wear them until they adjusted to your feet. This may sound primitive but has always worked well. You break them in or they break you in....
Just saying all this sounds too much to do about nothing. Good foot hygiene and clean dry socks work wonders.

Blitzzz

After reading every thread on boots, footcare and rucking I could search, and cover to cover of "Get Selected" I have one thing still unclear to me and it's rather nitpicky.

I'm currently in the 'toughening phase' of my ruck training, so I'm currently going sockless and rucking until I get hotspots, stopping treating and then carrying on. I follow the foot routine outlined in Get Selected as well and also purchased some Superfeet insoles which are amazing to say the least. I never would have known about these techniques without this forum and appreciate it all.

on to my question:

Would it be stupid to even attempt going sockless at SFAS? I know from thread searching the STAR course WILL send you through swamps/draws fairly regularly and your feet WILL get wet. I swear I saw a few different posts from QPs on here that mentioned their SFAS/QCs sockless and it was fine for them but I have also been told going sockless actually speeds up trenchfoot in wet conditions. That seems very counter productive.

I guess my main question is when I switch from the toughening to the distance/time training would it be prudent to use the wool socks again, or continue going sockless if it is of no hindrance to my time/distance?

Thank you gentlemen in advance for any input.

*ducks and covers in case I missed anything during my searches*

very.;)
Come on. If you want tough feet you can always go the Zulu Warrior route and dance all night barefoot in a briar patch. Me? No thanks. Tough and comfortable do not have to be mutually exclusive.
I'm a FOG* so my idea of comfortable is issue socks. Two pair. Turn the pair closest to my feet inside out so the smooth side is against my skin. Wear the second pair outside-out cuz I like to think that gives me more cushion on the sole of my feet. (That is probably just in my head but, I believe in it, so. . . ) * I'm also cheap.

Roger that, appreciate the tip too.

Okay, so after calling around I got the answer to my above questions. For fear of suffering Reaper's wrath, PM me if you want the details.

On another note, an interesting article here about ultra-runners and how they deal with their toenails - they just remove them. I first read about this in Born to Run which is a great read for anyone interested in endurance and the limits of the human body.

Yeah, God couldn't have known what he was doing when he issued us all toenails! :D

Infantry soldiers for eons have had toenails, I think...

Ultra-marathoners are "sick puppies"! (Sorry to any U-M's here I may have offended, but if you are... you know you are!)

LMAO.
 

Brown boots with the buckles. Weren't those about three straps a side? My old man had them from WWII. Add the old Ike jacket, and browen shoes. Hell, I thought Curly Trabue was the oldest man in C-5/CCS?

I have used this product for total of 4 weeks rucking 3x/week 5-9 miles. For me, it speeds healing of my feet after a ruck. It also has assisted in healing the raw spots across my kidneys and arm pits.

If there is interest, I will report back in 3-4 weeks when I have increased mileage significantly.

Also a warning, if you have raw skin it burns when applied but goes away fast, just be ready.

GTR

I came across this book titled "SELECTED," and they were suggesting that one should get rid of calluses by filing them and applying lotion to one's feet for "soft and supple skin." I was hoping for some feedback about this. It is BS, or would having baby-soft feet actually be beneficial for rucking?

Just follow the advice TR has laid out for us on the first page of this post.

Epsom
 

Reading through and through all the advice has been extremely potent. On the topic of feet I would just like to add something I attempted that seemed to work well. I'm sure most are aware but to post information for others who may not know, as I had not recently, figured appropriate. After two weeks of two-a-day training I tried the epsom salt/alcohol bath for my feet and ankles (body as well) soaked for 15 minutes. The next morning my feet had a renewed strength and most soreness had dissipated. I'm by no means an expert with this but would like to see if others too had the same results? Any help is thanked much, charlie mic.

Yup, old grandma Sara would say the same thing.