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GideonY

Military jump boots

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Consider that Corcoran jump boots were designed during World War 2, when paratroopers jumped into battle, then walked for the other 99 percent of the battle. High-top leather boots replaced canvas leggings and putters for keeping lower pant legs dry.
OTOH No one seriously expected high-top jump boots to prevent sprained ankles, because boots that are too tight cause tendinitis in the Achilles' tendon.
Guess how I learned to spell "tendinitis?"

During the 1960s, the French introduced huge, stiff, leather boots with thick rubber soles, specifically to protect ankles during precision landing competition. The high stiff leather sides helped reduce the number of sprained ankles. Back then, PA was done with round canopies (Para-Commander, Papillon, etc.) down-wind into a pea gravel bowl. Ouch!

During the 1970s, the US Army recognized that Corcoran boots did not provide enough ankle protection, so soldiers with a history of ankle injuries were issued extra ankle braces. The primary function of ankle braces is preventing an ankle from turning-under when side-loaded.

Come the 1980s more and more sport jumpers converted to square canopies and injuries shifted to wrists as jumpers slid across the ground and stuck their hands out for balance.
For ankle protection the fashion shifted to high-top basketball shoes that clamped the tibia and fibula so closely together that they "splinted" each other.
Nowadays hard-core competitors wear smooth-soled sneakers because they canopies move far faster forward than downwards. Much faster forward speeds have changed the focus of injuries. Fear of sprained ankles has been replaced by fear of fractured femurs, ruptured aortas and closed brain injuries.
You can avoid the latest fashion in skydiving injuries by avoiding heavily-loaded canopies and getting a canopy overhead before impact.
IOW quit doing low turns.

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pchapman

There are arguments that show that heavy boots aren't all bad.

With your experience you wouldn't be on fast canopies yet where it is more awkward to have grippy boots, and where being able to slide part of a landing is a more useful ability. BASE jumpers on big squares have often used supportive boots (including Hanwag paragliding boots) in rougher terrain. One certainly can run in boots.

Nevertheless, they are still generally not a great idea and generally not needed and are a hazard if doing formations with other jumpers. If you need ankle support there may be somewhat less extreme solutions.



I agree with this.

I don't skydive. I did for a very short time it was fun and all. Search further for different shoe options. Look what kind of shoes experienced speedflyers use. That might have more in common with skydiving use. I would look for options in sports like parkour which I have no experience with. Might check out those extra ankle support things and get shoes one size bigger

Paragliders might launch and land on slopes. Sometimes hiking is required and very often the landing areas do not look anything like golf courses. Generally bigger wings with much better flare authority. I even think most skydiving landings look like downwind no flare stuff . Different requirements there.

There are alternatives to the heavy duty boots. Not mountaineering with a backpack required. So look for light weight hiking shoes or trail running type shoes. Some even look very similar to the usual running shoes but offer more support. Seem to be popular among pg pilots too. Pick ones without hooks or look for a shoemaker to fix of them. Not all of them are really grippy either.

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RopeaDope

Those "jump boots" are almost exclusively worn with the Class A dress uniform. As a young grunt I got a pair because they looked cool. After my first 12 mile ruck march with them, I had a stress fracture in my foot because they suck are are made for looks.



Yep, buy an expensive pair of boots to wear just a few times... but they were SHINY. :D

I think it's funny that around the time that we transitioned to ACUs with the tan boots, they stopped (to my knowledge) issuing the ankle braces at the basic airborne school.

I jumped the tan issued boots and never worried about my ankles under a round. I also jumped with them maybe twice in skydiving and decided I didn't like them for running out a landing, and that was under a slow boat of a canopy.
"I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly
DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890
I'm an asshole, and I approve this message

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The tan Corcorans are fairly popular with the guys nowadays, but I never tried them. I completely wrote them off after I tried to ruck in them and ended up on a soft shoe profile for a couple weeks and had to walk around like a prego. That isn't somethings you are allowed to live down when you are in a "carnivorous" type unit. But the tan ones are all canvas like a jungle boot. Nothing to do with jumping or ankle support. Just a fad, like tanker boots.

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Ok, but even if we assume for a second that are better for sport-canopy landings, and people already explained they are not, the bigger question is: what type of skydiving would YOU be doing with them?
Really.
They are certainly not acceptable with RW, because you can kick someone, but also because being able to point your toes in or out is an important control for fine tuning if your jumpsuit has booties.
Good luck freeflying in them.
Wingsuiting is the same as RW, you want to be able to stretch and point your toes.
CRW, those things have written line snags all over them, even without the metal lace hooks.

What's left?
Hop and popping whole day? That sounds like fun... once you get into flying one of those canopies that you really don't want to fly while wearing one of those boots. :P

I'm standing on the edge
With a vision in my head
My body screams release me
My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

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Di0

Ok, but even if we assume for a second that are better for sport-canopy landings, and people already explained they are not, the bigger question is: what type of skydiving would YOU be doing with them?
Really.
They are certainly not acceptable with RW, because you can kick someone, but also because being able to point your toes in or out is an important control for fine tuning if your jumpsuit has booties.
Good luck freeflying in them.
Wingsuiting is the same as RW, you want to be able to stretch and point your toes.
CRW, those things have written line snags all over them, even without the metal lace hooks.

What's left?
Hop and popping whole day? That sounds like fun... once you get into flying one of those canopies that you really don't want to fly while wearing one of those boots. :P



Or he may want the option to jump old rounds from a static line -- like the guys do on Saturdays out at ZHills. No free fall time there, and linking to other jumpers.
See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus

Shut Up & Jump!

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TriGirl


Or he may want the option to jump old rounds from a static line -- like the guys do on Saturdays out at ZHills. No free fall time there, and linking to other jumpers.



Which is super-cool, but also super specific and he should have mentioned that, if this was his intention.
If you post something in "General Skydiving Discussion" and ask without specifying further, one tends to assume that you want to do the things that we nowadays consider "General Skydiving".
I'm standing on the edge
With a vision in my head
My body screams release me
My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

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TriGirl



Or he may want the option to jump old rounds from a static line -- like the guys do on Saturdays out at ZHills. No free fall time there, and linking to other jumpers.



That will do wonders for his repeatedly broken leg that doctors are warning may be a loss if broken again! :ph34r:
"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

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GideonY

Anybody have experience with military jump boots, like these

http://www.batesfootwear.com/US/en/11%22-paratrooper-side-zip-boot/20063M.html?dwvar_20063M_color=E02184#cgid=men-use-view-all&start=1


(the picture attached)

Are they providing significant protection for the leg ?



Stay away from Bates Boots. For all their wrapped up in the US Flag, "Made in America" website; their work boots are the only thing made in USA. The rest are farmed out overseas. I bought an exact pair you you showed and they were Made in Vietnam and the quality of leather is akin to cardboard. Sent them back along with a nastygram.

I was a long time wearer of Magnums - Made in China, ordered a new pair and they had gone from China to Taiwan and the quality was gone. They don't don't use metal eyelets anymore - they're plastic, so 1) you cannot get suspension cord through the eyelets, and 2) the plastic eyelets fail quickly.

Keith
Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

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BIGUN

Stay away from Bates Boots. For all their wrapped up in the US Flag, "Made in America" website; their work boots are the only thing made in USA. The rest are farmed out overseas. I bought an exact pair you you showed and they were Made in Vietnam and the quality of leather is akin to cardboard. Sent them back along with a nastygram.

I was a long time wearer of Magnums - Made in China, ordered a new pair and they had gone from China to Taiwan and the quality was gone. They don't don't use metal eyelets anymore - they're plastic, so 1) you cannot get suspension cord through the eyelets, and 2) the plastic eyelets fail quickly.

Keith



Hi Keith,

Thank you for the comment about Bates.
Anyway I decided to avoid jump boots, as advised by many in this thread.

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JohnMitchell

***if you're jumping a tandem canopy the boots are fine since you don't have to slide out or run the landings

How DO you land a tandem canopy each and every time? :o

Good question. I've slid in lots of tandems. I've never tried to run one out though......
Always remember the brave children who died defending your right to bear arms. Freedom is not free.

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gowlerk

******if you're jumping a tandem canopy the boots are fine since you don't have to slide out or run the landings

How DO you land a tandem canopy each and every time? :o

Good question. I've slid in lots of tandems. I've never tried to run one out though......

I've done both. I can't imagine what Chemist is thinking. :S

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