I walked the overland track in Tasmania when I was 16. I was invited for a "bushwalk' by someone older than me. I wore my elastic sided riding boots because they were the only boots I had. Xmas 64 was when we went, snow, blizzards, sleet, hail for the whole distance. The walk was wet and muddy and not bush walking because we walked on a track made by other people. Not a track with walkways, but a track through the mud and snow that could be clearly seen. In my mind it wasn't a bushwalk but a track walk. Any way, on the first night after cramming into the first hut with the other survivors, I dried my boots in front of the fire. By morning the elastic had cracked and I had no option but to press on the next 40 or 50 km with boots that slopped around my feet. The good thing was they kept my feet warmer and protected from tree roots and snakes than if I didn't wear them. By the end of the walk I had worn holes into my heels as big as two fifty cent pieces. The pain was manageable after the first half hour of walking, but became worse after the walk had finished and the healing process set in. Only one pair of heavy woollen socks the whole time. That was what we did in those days if we were from the bush. My brother and I enlisted with 1 Commando about 1965 and I spent the next 6 years running 8 km a day, 20 to 50 km weekends, and once or twice 130 km in 36 hours in leather gps. When we were issued our boots, they didn't fit and I never met anyone in those days who had been issued with any equipment that fitted. We soaked the boots in water for two days, then wore them for a week to shape them to our feet. For the 8 km runs I just wore one pair of socks, for the 20 to 30 km runs two pairs of socks, and for hard stuff like 50 to 130 km or weeks in the bush I wore three pairs of socks. After my earlier experience with sloppy boots in Tasmania, my boots were always laced tight. Laced with a square pattern so there was only one lace across the boot, the other end was knotted at the bottom of the boot. To tie off, the lace was passed around behind the top of the boot to be double wrapped around and then twisted together in tight roll to secure. After the 130 km effort I was still effective, could still run and fight with no foot damage. 4 of the other people could also do this, but the other 30 or so had feet trouble. I wore my gps for many years after leaving the CMF, and on one occasion dropped a 200 kg motorcycle on top of my right foot, causing some pain and apparently breaking some of the bones. I was working remotely at the time and couldn't afford time off, so I left the boot on as a splint for 6 weeks. It got really tight and shiny but it worked quite well and everything healed up ok. I hobbled a little bit while the repairs were happening but there was no major impediment to my work. The pain was bearable and I was thankful for the solid workmanship of the boots that enabled me to use them as splints. Cheers Bruce C4L

I'll ask some other diggers what works for them, but take notes of this advice to not be embarrassed to use body glide and moisturiser, and wash feet after long marches.

One way to get less blisters is to do more stomping.

Good article. I think wearing newly issued boots as much as possible to break them in before a strenuous event is good advice.

One of the great strengths of this platform for learning is the range and depth of topics. Foot care for the infantry is as basic as it gets.