OT: Dumb Laws....

[Panther Al]

I guess I'm weird; I've never needed a break-in period for boots. I also know the trick of wearing knee-high stockings under my socks for long road marches, taught to me by SGM Mills -- no blisters that way. I was the only one in Basic who got no blisters on my feet. (Got a nasty one on my hand at the base of my right index finger from the Bayonet Assault Course, from my hand repeatedly slamming against the forward assist of my M16. CIF didn't have glove shells in my size, and I didn't get any until I was back at my Guard unit, so I did the course bare-handed. I still have the scar from that.)

I was a backpacker when I was in school, and while that was more than a few years before I joined, I recalled the tricks: I wore a pair of dress socks under a pair of the high end socks they sold in the PX. Never ever had a problem - on the last one, I planned ahead and placed moleskin on the spots I knew I had trouble with in the day. Every one wondered why I always never had issues while everyone else was bitching and moaning about their feet.

[Legbreaker]

You can always tell an experienced infantryman just by looking at their feet. Those who've been around for a while know how to look after them (feet are perhaps the most important part of the body for an infantryman), while those new to the game, or from one of the other Corps almost always have trouble.