British Army Combat Boots

A Brief History of the British Army Military Boots

There are so many different styles of British army combat boots that have been used.  In recent years things have been considered and thought about on a new level than they had been in the past.  The British army has been using combat boots for a number of years.  They were actually one of the first armies to use combat boots in the past.  They used these boots for a number of reasons.  One of these has been that they were concerned with their soldiers having feet problems and not being able to properly care for their feet.  Therefore with the creation of these boots they were actually able to maintain that the soldiers had better quality boots and their feet were well taken care of.  The boots were well structured and had a specific amount of cushioning while also having a lot of structure. 

British army combat boots were very popular to soldiers in the beginning.  This is due to a number of reasons.  One of these specifically is that the soldiers were happy to be able to have a boot that was both comfortable and supportive.  Prior to the modern British army combat boot the boots were uncomfortable but still functioned well at protecting the feet.  The addition of comfort to the boots made them a much better choice and soldiers were much happier with them.  There were many different types of boots that came prior to the origination of the modern boot.  Some of these were the boots that typically were seen as covering the entire calf.  The problems with this boot were that they did not promote ankle flexibility and they were hard to maneuver in.  British soldiers faced the same conditions as the soldiers from the United States during the Vietnam war.  The conditions included that the terrain was very wet and that they had to wade through swamp waters while in the battlefield.  These conditions made it essential for the boots to be waterproof and highly protective of the feet.

The military combat boots were then developed to be completely waterproof and during this time there were new linings that were inserted to make the boots keep sweat away from the feet as well.  This was important as the area was also hot and humid which made it more essential to be able to keep the feet dry overall.  There was also additional padding added to the boots at this time to make them more comfortable and to make it easier on the feet when walking through the terrain that was so unstable all day long.  It was hard for soldiers to know what they were walking over or walking into. 

The modern British army combat boot was introduced in 2006 and is a general dessert boot rather than being the former combat assault boots that were worn for many years.  Therefore these are the boots that are now issued for all combat operations.  These boots were first tested out in 2007 with soldiers who were stationed in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Cyprus.  Since they were readily accepted by the soldiers they went into production.  The boots are manufactured by Meindal and Lowa.  There are even special boots for women which take into consideration their feet and the differences between them and men’s.  There are some British soldiers who still use the previous combat assault boot however the majority of them are now wearing these new British army combat boots that are made with the conditions of the dessert in mind.