The other day when we mentioned the reproduction, 1st pattern Jungle Boots, several readers were disappointed that their sizes weren’t available. As many of you agree with me that the green USGI Jungle Boot was the greatest issue footwear ever, I thought I’d share these babies, offered by O P Tactical. Granted, they have the padded collar, added in the early 80s, but this is still a great boot. One thing I really like about them is they’ve Replaced the old anti-punji stake metal plate with a LENZI non-metallic L-Protection anti-penetration board which uses pre-treated ceramic and high tenacity fibers.
Yep, that’s a genuine Panama Tread Direct Molded Sole. That’s becuase these are made on original Ro-Search machinery. Ro-Search was a business unit of Wellco Boots and Original Footwear owns both Altama and Wellco.
Tags: Altama, OP Tactical
I haven’t worn a pair of these since late 80s/early 90s. Would you go down a 1/2 size or whole size for this version?
I have no idea, 9W has always worked for me since 1996. But I have worn other variants of boots at everything from 8-10.5. I would use your old size if you wore Wellcos.
I just want this boot in coyote brown.
Since they would never be authorized anyway, why not take a rattlecan to one of these? 😉
e – e You can’t just rattlecan your way out of a situation.
Not exactly germane but the awesome thing about the desert tans was that the sole was brown not black. You can rattle can the tan ones to be camouflaged. Spray painting the black soles didn’t work very well and when on a recon the black soles stuck out like a sore thumb and compromised many a LRS member in my days.
Love me some jungle boots
Why the padded collar? I never had an Issue with the original non-padded one. It it never felt too tight to justify padding. That padding just holds the moisture.
The padding was originally added in 1990 to the newly designed Desert Boot and then added to the Improved Jungle Boot in the Black color to offer uniformity with the Black leather combat boot. They thought it was improvement but I guess by 1991 we had lost our institutional memory from Vietnam.
I like the padded collar simply because it makes tucking in laces more comfortable. We can get both types.
I bought an unpadded black pair to lessen the shine time compared to my Corcorans, but for whatever reason tucking the laces was very uncomfortable so I DXed them into my trash can. Desert Tan (not sand) were also less comfortable for tucking, but not as bad as Jungles. I love the classic look, and the updated stab protection, but are there any internal comfort improvements from the outdoor industry?
None really, every pair of jungles I wore for about 16 years I would throw on and wear with no upgrades. I never got into the whole trying different boots on duty until about 2013. I disliked the nylon collars, after numerous ruck events you begin to notice that straight collar acts as a serious tourniquet, just my experience from not just wearing them, but from extensive practical application. We will get the straight nylon top as well, the tribe has spoken.
If you want upgrades, we sell insoles, but it’s a jungle boot, it’s supposed to be a minimal design, insoles and 550 laces are about it for most people, unless they are cutting out the spike protection and swapping soles. I never did any of that, or used either upgrade aside from in my very junior enlisted years (used Dr. Scholl’s), but we sell both insoles and 550.
This is the original Wellco design, as the article states, from the same facility.
The very first production runs of the desert boot did not have the padding, it was added shortly thereafter. I find it actually makes them less comfortable and adds unnecessary bulk.
What makes these boots so desirable?
People on here have discussed them, that is all, it’s a jungle boot.
Their classics and they were one heck of a boot. That’s why! Capeesch?