New combat boot considered for Cadet Corps

By John W. Flewellen
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

For Marine reservist Thomas Evans, the Infantry Combat Boot, or ICB, has one very strong characteristic: comfort.

"You can wear them all day. The ICB is a higher quality boot issued now," said Evans, 20, a junior history major from Houston, Tex., adding that the boot will keep a cadet's feet dry throughout the various seasons.

A new boot adoption for the corps is under consideration for cadets at Norwich. With the help of both Army and Marine ROTC units at Norwich, the commandant's office has narrowed their search to just three different styles of the newly developed infantry combat boots for issue in the fall 2001 academic year.

"All the boots that we are looking at are much better than the boot being issued now," said Col. Leonard Doscinski, Commandant of Cadets at Norwich University. "We want to determine the one best boot for a Norwich cadet."

According to Staff Sargent Joseph Simmons, an assistant marine instructor in the NU Navy ROTC program, the infantry combat boot is the boot of choice for a Norwich cadet. "If I had to say what is the best boot, right now, it would have to be the ICB," Simmons said.

Simmons said that of all the various styles of boots currently under review by the commandant's office, the boot of choice for an environment such as Norwich, is the Gore-Tex ICBs.

"They will keep your feet warmer and dryer in the wintertime than any other boot, and they will allow your feet to breathe in the summer time," Simmons said, adding that it was field-tested in the Marine Corps during recruit training at Paris Island and infantry battalions in the field, including desert to jungle, for about one year before it actually went to the standard.

"We found them to be thicker and more durable than the jungle boot," Simmons said. He explained that the ICB is "better than your standard issue all-purpose boot. The all-purpose boot has a hard sole and does not have real good traction."

Simmons said there is only one problem the Marines have found with the ICB: keeping them dry. "Once you get water inside of them, it takes forever to dry out," Simmons said.

Mast. Sgt.Andrew Zybus, a junior-level instructor in the Army ROTC program, went to Fort Lewis, Wash., which has similar weather conditions to Vermont, to talk about boots with the rangers stationed there. He found that the rangers like the 700 series non-insulated ICB made by Belleville Shoe Manufacturing Company.

"They like ICB because it is versatile in any condition," Zybus said. "The boot has the ability to dry quicker. It provides enough protection, I feel, for a cadet."

Chris Palmer, a worker for Natick Labs located in Natick, Mass., who tests combat boots for the armed forces, recommended that Doscinski adopt the updated 700 series non-insulated ICB.

"This ICB is a very light weight and easy to wear," Palmer said. "I think that this boot is the boot of choice for a Norwich cadet."

Like Zybus, Palmer had the boot tested at Fort Lewis. "Eighty percent of the soldiers preferred the ICB over the all leather boot," Palmer said.

According to Palmer, Natick tests have shown the new 700 series to be the most positive, by reducing wear to feet and having more comfort than the all leather boot. "It has reduced injury in basic training by 30 percent."

According to Shaun Neal, 21, a junior criminal justice major from Long Island, N.Y., his one and a half-year-old pair of ICBs are still as comfortable as the day he got them. "They wear just like sneakers; it's amazing," Neal said.

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