The boots pictured above are a pair of Danner Crater Rims, an insanely expensive set of boots that I received gratis via a sightseeing tour in the Hindu Kush. There’s a lot of miles on those clodhoppers.

Why am I talking about boots today.

Well, I guess first off, it’s my site and I can.

Second, everyone needs a good pair of boots. Period.

Finally, boots are really on my mind. It’s a borderline obsession right now.

Why?

OK, many of you readers may know my daughter just graduated from US Army Basic Training. Well, an important element of Basic is moving just about everywhere on foot. So boots take on an outsize importance while going through the Army training process; usually the free boots you get from Uncle Sam aren’t the best. OK, let’s be honest. They are low-bidder, “meets standard” crap.

I had the opportunity to look at my daughter’s feet at her graduation, they were torn up pretty bad. It was time to get new, high quality boots, and then expedite shipping them to my daughter at the site of her technical training. She’s going through 68W, combat medic, school. There WILL be ruck-marching, this is where the Army trains the people who provide immediate battlefield care. Good boots ASAP are a must.

It didn’t take long for me to ship good boots in her direction. I fired off a set of Danner Tanicus boots to her, these should serve her well. And I really trust Danners, I have never had a bad experience with them. But they are spendy, I admit.

In this process of shopping for boots for my oldest, I came across a lot of different options that didn’t exist or were different while I was in. And I came across some excellent deals that I decided to share with all of my readers.

Because you should all have good boots. All of you.

And right now, readers, you are in luck because the USAF is switching from their horrible ABU uniform to the sensible Army OCP, or Multicam, uniform. Why is this relevant to all of you for buying boots?

Easy. The old AF uniform boots are in a weird shade of green that is completely incompatible with any other US Military uniform, so 160 dollar boots are being sold for 60 bucks, a full 100 USD off. This is a deal; world class boots by some kickass manufacturers, including my fave, Danner, are being sold brand new for pennies on the dollar.

With deals like this, who cares about the weird green/gray color? Of course, the USAF close-outs don’t help my daughter (who must buy the Army approved shade of Coyote Brown), but they do help the civilian who is looking for a deal on awesome boots.

OK, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Quality boots are a must if you are going to walk any distance at all, whether it be for recreation, exercise and conditioning, or infiltration/exfil. If you buy junk, you’ll regret it. The links I’ve put up here all lead to good footwear. And for sixty USD… a lousy pair at War-Mart costs at least forty.

Do yourself a favor and spend the extra twenty bucks.

You won’t regret it. Promise.