New Socks

Tuesday 17 July 2007
2030

If you looked up “prosaic” in the dictionary it would probably say “A blog entry entitled ‘New Socks’”. Oh well. That’s what’s on my mind right now, so here it is.

Last fall when I was writing in great detail about the process of being mobilized, I mentioned that I had decided to wear the socks the Army issued me. This went against my better judgment at the time, because the socks were nearly 100% cotton, and this contradicted all my years of backpacking experience. Nonetheless I figured the Army knew what they were doing, so I wore the socks.

Wrong answer.

During the hot weather that was just beginning to trail off last year when I got here, my feet were constantly damp inside my boots. As the temperature gets to 130-140 degrees at ground level here, it is not surprising that your feet sweat a lot. The trick is to keep that from negatively affecting the health of your feet. At this, the Army ‘s issue socks failed miserably.

People told me that because they were calf-length, that they would wick the moisture and allow it to evaporate. I wish. It sounded plausible, but it just didn’t happen. I tried them alone, and I tried them with the REI polypro liner socks I had bought to wear inside the standard Army boot socks I’ve worn in civilian life for years. But they didn’t work either way. My feet were always damp, and I had constant blisters on my toes, which was no fun.

The old Army cushion-sole boot socks were a blend of 85% wool / 15% nylon, and I liked them a lot. I have worn them almost exclusively as civilian socks since I was about 14 (I discovered them when I was in Civil Air Patrol). I wear them in single layers with civilian shoes. With combat boots I wore two pair, and each day would put on a clean pair next to the skin and use the previous inner pair as the outer pair. That way I could wear them two at a time but still only use one pair a day. They always kept my feet comfortable. I brought ten or twelve pairs along when I was mobilized, but I left them at Ft. McPherson and brought the newly-issued cotton socks instead. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

I should have known better, since I’m a backpacker. I have taught backpacking and hiking merit badges, and constantly reminded the kids not to wear cotton socks. “Cotton is cold, wool is warm” is the mantra for temperate climates. But the virtues of wool and synthetics extend to hot weather, too. Even when backpacking in hot weather, I wear thick wool outer socks with thin polypro liner socks. The thick outer socks provide cushioning and insulation, while the liner socks wick the moisture away from the skin as well as providing a friction barrier (the socks slide on each other instead of on your skin). This combination works very well to prevent blisters.

So, what did I do to fix it? Easy – new socks. I went to the Military Clothing Sales Store, and they had boot socks from a company called Thorlo made of a synthetic called (surprise!) “Thorlon”. They have several thicknesses, and I bought the middle weight boot socks. They are also calf length, so they extend well over the boot tops under the uniform pants. I wear the REI polypro liner socks underneath. The liner socks still do a good job of wicking the moisture away from the skin, even though they do not have any exposed fabric like they do when I hike in shorts with ankle-length boots and the outer socks turned down. I suspect that some of the moisture gets wicked to the part of the boot socks that are over the boot tops, and some evaporates right through the boots.

A healthy dose of foot powder, the polypro liner sock, and then the outer Thorlon boot sock has been my standard footwear underneath my desert combat boots for several months now. I am happy to report that I have had zero blisters, and my feet are in much better shape than they were last fall. This despite much higher temperatures than I experienced when I first got here.

So my advice to those reading this for mobilization information is: lose the issued cotton boot socks – they are useless! Even though they cost $10 a pair, the Thorlon socks are a much better choice. And if you are lucky enough to have some of the old wool/nylon blend Army issue cushion-sole boot socks, I’d give them a try. If I could wave my magic wand and have mine here, I bet they would continue to serve me well, as they have for the past 35 years.

One of my nephews commented awhile back that he never knew that someone could write so much about a holster. I wonder what he’ll think when he sees me writing whole pages about socks? ;-)


Mood: Pent up and restless from not enough PT
Music: Run Lola Run (Soundtrack)