Currently, the US Marine Corps issues the Rugged All Terrain (RAT) Combat Boot in both Hot and Temperate Weather variants produced by several manufacturers including Wellco. AFMO currently has a smoking deal on the Hot Weather version of these boots which have become very popular due to their “shark skin” capped toe and heel. They feature a lace to toe upper with nylon sides to help combat the heat paired with a Vibram sole.
Get yours from www.afmo.com.
Cheap, heavy, flat-soled P.O.S. the bane of the 0311’s existence in a world of pressure plates.
Miserable P.O.S. btw I’m a USMC, 4 yr 0317, 2 yr 0321. 1 tour OIF, 2 tours OEF.
Absolutely nothing beats the Danner RAT
I’ve had Danners and Bates USMC boots and I LOVED the Bates. I’ve been out 5 years and they’re still going strong and I still wear em often.
I own a pair of hot weather RAT’s from Danner as my work/gettin dirty boot and I absolutley love it. I have heard that the Wellco and the other manufacture of RAT’s make a poorer quality boot. but I have no experience with them so I really shouldn’t speak
I have a pair of the Danner RAT that I wear here in Afghanistan now. They are heavy, but built to last and I prefer them to my lighter weight boots.
I was with one of the first units to be issued these boots and I can say that I was very disappointed with these boots. I am a huge Danner fan but this particular model was no good. The boots have no ventilation and made my feet a living swamp no matter the outside temperature. They also played hell on the back of my foot where the top of the plastic heel meets with the regular boot which resulted in painful blistering. Avoid these boots and look at the other Danner USMC models.
Danner had Hot RAT boots on sale during Black Friday for $50 a pair in the factory store here in Portland. Having bought nothing else for BF, I took a flyer and bought a pair, figuring they would be great boots for getting dirty and not worrying too much about.
Put them on that morning, bought a second pair that night. I found the fit and comfort to be pretty fantastic compared to any other boot I’ve ever worn. Given the construction quality, I can’t imagine these things falling apart.
An 0311 in Afghanistan might tear through them on those ass crag rocks pretty quickly, and god knows, when you issue 30k of something, not everyone is gonnna agree with the fit. As someone who has been issued and purchased about a dozen different kinds of boots over the years though, these Danners are absolutely mind-blowing.
I wore Danner RATs on my last OEF deployment with good results.
The Danner RATs fit and feel almost as good as regular Danner boots.
This time around, my battalion was issued the Wellco RAT boots and Marines started wearing them in garrison about two weeks before we deployed to break them in. We had a couple dozen fall apart before we got out the door to OEF. They were all recalled and replaced with the Danners (shipped out to us in country about a month later).
Do what you want, but I’m staying away from Wellco boots.
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USMC OEF 10.1, 11.2
Bates had their contract RAT boots recalled, leaving the bulk of the USMC contract to Welco. Having seen a Welco, I can say that there is good reason why the Danner version sells for $300+ in the civilian market (when available) while the Welco version is getting blown out for $175 through numerous retail outlets. The fit and finish of the Danner blows the Welco out of the water.
Also, these AMFO guys need to get a copywriter and some presentation classes…
Er – the bulk of the contract to Welco AND Danner.
This begs the question – how can Welco be moving these onto the civilian market? The guys at Danner said that the company was running at capacity to meet the USMC contract and the only RATs they would be selling for quite some time are the cosmetic blemish ones. How can Welco be moving “first quality” product to the marketplace?
since Danner designed the boot…I’d buy from them.