Experimental BDU Trials Boots

[MajorFox1776]

I have acquired boots from the BDU trials of the late 70s and early 80s. I have two sets and at one point also had a set up the brown jungle ski boots. I wanted to share some pictures of these rare boots and was also curious to hear any information anyone might have on the test boots from this era. Enjoy the pictures! I'll be happy to answer any questions or hear any information you have. 

[The Rooster]

Those are cool ! The one pair looks like the standard issue back in the day only in Brown .

Cool !

[patches]

" Brown boots " where the new rough out boots, they had a sole that was not like the standard GI boot in that they had a Vibram sole, these boots where the ones showcased all the time in Army periodicals in the late 70s as "the boot" that was going to be used with the new BDU uniforms. I too remember them when I was in the Army, they where being worn by members of the 4/9 Inf at Fort Wainwright, in July 1981 when I got up there from my last duty station at Hood ( 1st Cav Div ) the some guys in my company (Alpha) and in other companies where wearing them, I do remember them going to our company class room on at least 3 occasions to fill out those QM questionnaires, I happened to look at one, they had an array of questions in regard to comfort, ease of cleaning etc,etc. Around early August they turned them in to supply for I guess shipment back to Fort Devens ? or whats the R& D installation, Natick ? and I never seen this type again, I thought I would after we had to purchase our BDUs in early May 1982 buy them as well( we got them late in Alaska) but no new boots where a part of this new ensemble.

 

[Dave T]

One of the military oriented magazines of the day, i believe it was "Gung Ho" magazine did an article on these about the time they were being tested and considered.

Thanks for posting your examples!

[Sapsan]

Excellent find and contribution man, I've never seen solid pictures of these.

[MajorFox1776]

8 hours ago, The Rooster said:

Those are cool ! The one pair looks like the standard issue back in the day only in Brown .

Cool !

The only real difference is that they have a loop on the back for pulling the boots on. I actually really like these ones and would wear them if they were in my size. 

[MajorFox1776]

6 hours ago, Dave T said:

One of the military oriented magazines of the day, i believe it was "Gung Ho" magazine did an article on these about the time they were being tested and considered.

Thanks for posting your examples!

Of course! For some reason I've always been extremely interested in these types of trials boots but noticed that pictures of them aren't easy or possible to come by. I would be very interested to see that magazine article one day. 

[MajorFox1776]

4 hours ago, Sapsan said:

Excellent find and contribution man, I've never seen solid pictures of these.

Thank you! And any time. I've always been very interested in these test boots but pictures don't really exist on the internet. I do a search around for these every few weeks and the suede ones came up on poshmark as women's fashion boots. If I find more of these test boots I will happily post them in the future. 

[MajorFox1776]

7 hours ago, patches said:

" Brown boots " where the new rough out boots, they had a sole that was not like the standard GI boot in that they had a Vibram sole, these boots where the ones showcased all the time in Army periodicals in the late 70s as "the boot" that was going to be used with the new BDU uniforms. I too remember them when I was in the Army, they where being worn by members of the 4/9 Inf at Fort Wainwright, in July 1981 when I got up there from my last duty station at Hood ( 1st Cav Div ) the some guys in my company (Alpha) and in other companies where wearing them, I do remember them going to our company class room on at least 3 occasions to fill out those QM questionnaires, I happened to look at one, they had an array of questions in regard to comfort, ease of cleaning etc,etc. Around early August they turned them in to supply for I guess shipment back to Fort Devens ? or whats the R& D installation, Natick ? and I never seen this type again, I thought I would after we had to purchase our BDUs in early May 1982 buy them as well( we got them late in Alaska) but no new boots where a part of this new ensemble.

 

Thank you for the info. It's wild that they went through all those trials just to pick black boots anyway. I think the brown would have looked way better with the BDUs and maybe even have been better as camouflage but someone must not have felt the same. 

[Martinjmpr]

Interesting, I remember seeing the "rough out" boots being tested/demonstrated at Fort Benning in 1980 - 81 but the polished brown "speed lace" boots are something I've never seen before.  

 

I still have a couple of pairs of black speed lace boots I was issued in 1999 when I joined the CO National Guard.  They're my winter motorcycle riding boots.  Still fit great, still in great shape 22 years later! 

 

Funny thing about the "rough out" boots was that they were never adopted in the 1980s when they were first tested.  I don't even remember hearing about them. 

 

Then,  20 years later after we had multiple desert deployments, the tan rough-out boot finally came out as the standard.  In fact, I remember being told in 2003 after returning from Afghanistan that we were now authorized to wear the brown desert boots even with our green BDUs.  I don't think I ever wore black boots again after that, the brown desert boots were more comfortable and of course, didn't need to be shined! 

[rd12]

44 minutes ago, Martinjmpr said:

....... didn't need to be shined! 

Best thing about desert boots !!

 

Very cool boots MajorFox1776, I learn something new here everyday

[bummer]

I remember seeing the suede boot when I was in OSUT at Ft Benning (harmony Church) summer of 81 . One of the sister companys in the 2nd ITB had them for testing, we unfortunately were issued the crappy ones. I noticed the smooth brown one has the same sole as the mid-late 80's black boot

[gwb123]

I remember hearing a story about a hard core, old school NCO who took his rough out boots, shaved them smooth, and applied polish to them.

 

That goes along with the troops who ignored the mandate that BDU's should not be starched. 

 

Every time the Army tried to introduce some level of comfort, someone would find a way around it in the name of tradition.