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New Army Jungle Boots

WASHINGTON (Army News Service) — The standard issue combat boot most
Soldiers wear today, the one most commonly worn in Iraq and Afghanistan, is
great for sandy dunes, hot dry weather, and asphalt. But it’s proven not so good
in hot and wet environments. So the Army has developed a new jungle boot that
some Soldiers will see this year.

Last September, Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Mark A. Milley directed the
Army to come up with a plan to outfit two full brigade combat teams in Hawaii,
part of the 25th Infantry Division there, with a jungle boot. The Army had already
been testing commercial jungle boots at the time — with mixed results — but
didn’t have a specialized jungle boot, so Program Executive Officer Soldier,
headquartered at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, had to get a plan together to make it
happen.

By October of last year, the Army had made a request to industry to find out
what was possible, and by December, contracts were awarded to two boot
manufacturers in the United States to build a little more than 36,700 jungle
ready combat boots — enough to outfit both full IBCTs in Hawaii.

AUTHORIZED FOR ALL
Sometime between April and June of 2018, a final purchase description for the
JCB will be developed — based on feedback from Soldiers that wore it. He said
he expects that in fiscal year 2019, an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity
contract will be signed with multiple vendors to produce the final version of the
JCB for the Army.

Bryan said the JCB, when it becomes widely available, will be wearable by all
Soldiers who want to wear it — even if they don’t work in a jungle.

“From the get-go we have worked with the G-1 … to make sure we all understood
the Army wear standards for boots,” he said. “One of the pieces of feedback we
have gotten from Soldiers before they wear them, is they look a lot like our current
boots. That’s by design. These will be authorized to wear.”

While the JCB will be authorized for wear by any Solider, Bryan made it clear
that there will only be some Soldiers in some units who have the JCB issued to
them. And right now, those decisions have not been made. For Soldiers who
are not issued the JCB, if they want to wear it they will need to find it and
purchase it on their own.

“We are not directing commercial industry to sell them,” Bryan said. “But if they
build to the specification we’ve given them for our contract, they can sell them
commercially and Soldiers are authorized to wear them.”

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