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{{Short description|Jungle-warfare specialized boots}}{{More sources|date=June 2025}}[[File:PDN Levels In210 5 OutDefault, Subject crop - Boot Color Film Negative NSSC Photo Collection (1981) 004244a image primary(.png).jpg|thumb|340x340px|US jungle boots with Panama sole, pictured in 1981]]
{{Use American English|date=June 2025}}

'''Jungle boots''' are a type of [[combat boot]] designed for use in [[jungle warfare]] or in hot, wet, and humid environments where a standard [[Combat boot#United States 2|leather combat boot]] would be uncomfortable or unsuitable to wear. Jungle boots have vent holes in the [[Arches of the foot#Medial_arch|arches]] and sometimes a [[canvas]] upper to aid in ventilation and drainage of moisture.

==Development and use==
The use of "jungle" or "hot weather" boots predates World War II, when small units of US soldiers in Panama were issued rubber-soled, canvas-upper boots for testing.<ref name="KEA">Kearny, Cresson H. (Maj.) ''Jungle Snafus...And Remedies'', Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, {{ISBN|1884067107}} (1996), pp. 172–183</ref> Developed in conjunction with the [[U.S. Rubber Company]], a pair of jungle boots weighed approximately three pounds. Adopted in 1942, the design of the jungle boot was based on the idea that no boot could possibly keep out water and still provide sufficient ventilation to the feet in a jungle or swamp environment.<ref name="KEA" /> Instead, the jungle boot was designed to permit water and perspiration to drain, drying the feet while preventing the entry of insects, mud, or sand.<ref name="KEA" />

In 1942, fused layers of original-specification [[Saran (plastic)|Saran]] or PVDC were used to make woven mesh ventilating insoles for newly developed jungle boots made of rubber and canvas.<ref name="KEA" /><ref name="RIS">Risch, Erna, ''The Quartermaster Corps'', Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, Dept. of the Army (1953), pp. 108–109</ref><ref name="REP">''Report on Orinoco-Casiquiare-Negro Waterway: Venezuela-Colombia-Brazil, Volume 4, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Office of Inter-American Affairs (July 1943)''</ref> The Saran ventilating insoles trapped air which was circulated throughout the interior of the boot during the act of walking; moist interior air was exchanged for outside air via the boot's water drain eyelets.<ref name="KEA" /> In cold weather, the trapped air in Saran insoles kept feet from freezing by insulating them from the frozen ground; when walking, the insoles circulated moist air that would otherwise condense and freeze, causing [[trench foot]] or [[frostbite]].<ref name="KEA" />

The new M-1942 canvas-and-rubber jungle boots with Saran mesh insoles were tested by experimental Army units in jungle exercises in Panama, Venezuela, and other countries, where they were found to increase the flow of dry outside air to the insole and base of the foot, reducing blisters and tropical ulcers.<ref name="KEA" /><ref name="REP" /> The Saran ventilating mesh insole was also used in the M-1945 tropical combat boot.<ref name="KEA" /><ref name="RIS" />

===World War II===
Positive reports from users in the Panama Experimental Platoon on the new lightweight footwear led to M-1942 jungle boots used by US military personnel in tropical/jungle environments, including [[US Army]] personnel in New Guinea and the Philippines, and in Burma with [[Merrill's Marauders]],<ref name="George, John B. pp. 490-491">George, John B. (Lt. Col), ''Shots Fired In Anger'', NRA Press, pp. 490–491</ref> the [[1st Air Commando Group]], and the Mars Task Force (5332nd Brigade, Provisional).<ref>Mars Task Force: A Short History'' http://www.cbi-theater.com/mars/marstaskforce.html''</ref> This style of footwear wore faster than the standard Army Type II field shoes, so they were often carried as a back-up footwear for use in soft mud.<ref name="George, John B. pp. 490-491" />{{Clarify|date=June 2025}}

In 1944, the '''Panama sole''' developed by Raymond Dobie used angled square-shaped lugs to push soft mud from the soles, providing better grip in greasy clay or mud.<ref name="KEA" /> However, M-1942 (Jungle) and M-1945 (Combat Boot, Tropical) boots used Vibram soles.<ref>Kearny, Cresson H. (Maj), ''Jungle Snafus...And Remedies'', Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine (1996), pp. 178–179</ref><ref name="ROT">Rottman, Gordon L., ''Green Beret in Vietnam: 1957–73'', Osprey Publishing, {{ISBN|1-85532-568-3}} (2002), p. 58</ref> After the conclusion of World War II, American interest in jungle equipment lay dormant until their next tropical engagement in 1965, so did the concept of an improved jungle boot using Dobie's Panama sole.<ref name="KEA" /><ref name="ROT" />

Although taller, British military forces used a variant of the American jungle boot. [[Special Operations Executive]] [[Force 136]] personnel were issued these boots during operations in Burma 1944–45. They were later used in the [[Malayan Emergency]].<ref>p.47 Brayley, Martin & Chappell, Mike ''The Brit Army, 1939–45: The Far East''  Osprey Publishing</ref>

=== The First Indochina War===
The French rubber/canvas jungle boots were manufactured by [[Palladium (company)|Palladium]] during the [[First Indochina War]]. Variants were available during the [[Algerian War]]. A high top version with buckles was used till the early 2000s. They are locally{{where?|date=October 2024}} known as Pataugas, "splashers".{{Citation needed|date=June 2025}}

=== Vietnam War ===
[[File:PDN Levels In215 0 OutDefault x2, Framecrop - IPL, hot weather boot (green canvas) covering B&W Film Negative NSSC Photo Collection (7 May 1985) 005706 image primary(.png).jpg|thumb|300x300px|US jungle boots with Vibram sole]]
In the early years of the American involvement in the [[Vietnam War]], some US Army soldiers were issued the 'M-1945 tropical combat boot'.<ref name="ROT" /> In 1965, a newer version of the boot was made using materials developed after the end of the war{{Which|date=April 2025}}, and it was adopted by the US military as the 'M-1966 jungle boot'.<ref name="KEA" /><ref name="ROT" /> It was co-developed by [[Natick Laboratories]] and the shoe industry.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b655548;view=1up;seq=901 Hearings on military posture and H.R. 13456], p. 8177.</ref> In the newly developed improved footwear, the upper was cotton, leather comprised the toe and heel, with improved [[nylon]] reinforcements around the throat.<ref name="KEA" /><ref name="ROT" /> That improved footwear used a [[Vibram]]-type lugged sole co-joined to the leather toe and heel.<ref name="KEA" /><ref name="Wood, Clyde E. 2006 p. 106">Wood, Clyde E., ''Mud: A Military History'', Washington, D.C.: Potomac Books, Inc., {{ISBN|1574889842}} (2006) p. 106</ref> Water drains in the form of screened eyelets in the canvas top near the bottom were intended to drain moist mud from the inside of the boot using a hastily-modified version of the [[Bernoulli principle]].<ref name="KEA" /> To use up old stock, the 1942 version of the removable ventilating insoles of fused layers of [[Saran (plastic)|Saran]] plastic screen were issued with the improved jungle boot.<ref name="KEA" /><ref name="RIS" /> US Army contracts went to shoe manufacturers such as Genesco, [[Bata Corporation|Bata]] (in [[Belcamp, Maryland]]), and Belleville Shoe Mfg. Co. to produce the M-1966 jungle boot.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025}}

To help prevent American foot injuries from [[punji stake]] traps, the 1966 jungle boots used a [[stainless steel]] plate inside the boot's sole to protect the wearer from enemy [[Punji stick|punji stake traps]] and nails.<ref name="ROT" /><ref>Kearny, Cresson H. (Maj), ''Jungle SNAFU...And Remedies'', Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine (1996), p. 179</ref><ref>''Interview with General Colin L. Powell'', [http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/pow0int-3] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509144948/http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/pow0int-3|date=2008-05-09}}: [[Colin Powell]], later to become Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. Armed Forces, was injured by sharp objects, but was poorly served by the plates in his footwear; he stepped on them at an angle, penetrating his instep.</ref> Later jungle boots used [[nylon]]/[[canvas]] uppers instead of [[cotton duck]]. The footwear received improvements, including Dobie's mud-clearing outsole and nylon webbing reinforcement on the uppers.<ref name="ROT" /> Vibram-soled jungle boots continued to be issued to troops in 1969 until the introduction of jungle boots with the Panama sole tread.<ref name="ROT" />
[[File:Terra Australian Combat Boot.jpg|thumb|Australian replacement Terra combat boots]]
The US military jungle boot's popularity extended beyond Americans. During the Vietnam War, poorly-equipped [[Australian Army]] and [[New Zealand Army]] soldiers traded for a pair of jungle boots from American troops to use alongside their standard-issue black leather [[general purpose boots]] (GP boots). After the [[1 RAR|1st Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment]] (1 RAR) co-joined the Americans in the [[South Vietnam|Republic Of South Vietnam]] alongside the US Army's [[173rd Airborne Brigade]] in 1965, many Australian troopers were willingly traded their worthless Army-issue "[[slouch hat]]s" for a pair of jungle boots from the Americans since the boots Australian troopers were issued were World War II vintage tropical-studded ankle boots and their footwear were poorly suited to the conditions in the country. Special Air Service troopers of [[Special Air Service Regiment|Australia]] and [[New Zealand Special Air Service|New Zealand]] used American jungle boots during their involvement against the [[North Vietnamese Army]] and the [[Viet Cong]], and they were very popular with SAS troopers. Until the replacement of the GP boots for the Terra boots in 2000, Australians wore American footwear with their uniforms; the boots remained popular with Australian soldiers post-Vietnam.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025}}

===Post-Vietnam jungle boot designs===
[[File:PDN Curves+ CMYK Y145 126, AKVIS HC-N, Shrpns100 HC-N, PDN Framecrop - IPD, dessart & tropical boot Color Film Negative NSSC Photo Collection (1 July 1991) 002801 image primary(.png).jpg|thumb|300x300px|US black hot-weather boot and [[desert combat boot]], 1991]]
The Vietnam-era jungle boots were quite successful. They went through minor improvements since 1962 and used in large numbers by troops in the [[Republic of Vietnam]]. Jungle boots were the standard combat footwear for mild weather for decades following Vietnam. The last nomenclature for jungle boots was 'Boot, Hot Weather, Type I, Black, Hot-Wet', and uses either OG107 green or black for the nylon sections of the upper. In addition, the 'Mod 2' boot is identical except with tan color for the leather and the nylon, eliminating the protective steel plate because of its reliability as a conductor of heat in hot sand and vent eyelets because they allow sand in. The US military jungle boot helped influence the design of the desert combat footwear of the Americans' next series of wars, [[Operation Desert Storm]] in 1991, [[Operation Enduring Freedom]] in Afghanistan in 2001, and [[2003 invasion of Iraq|Operation Iraqi Freedom]] in 2003. Despite the introduction of the desert boot by the time of Operation Desert Storm, supplies were limited and many troops still wore jungle boots and black leather combat boots during the conflict. Even during Operation Enduring Freedom over a decade later, many American troops used black jungle boots and black leather speed-lace combat footwear alongside the newer desert footwear in Afghanistan during the early 2000s.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025}}

During the 1980s, some improvements incorporated over the years in American footwear were modified or discarded for cost and convenience to the contractors.<ref name="Kearny, Cresson H. pp. 183, 365">Kearny, Cresson H. (Maj.), pp. 183, 365–368</ref> This included changes in rubber sole composition (reducing the janitorial load by reducing the tell-tale 'marking' on [[Linoleum|linoleum floors]]), and use of waterproof Poron linings instead of the left-overs from 1942 Saran ventilating in-soles.<ref name="Kearny, Cresson H. pp. 183, 365" /> The improved version of the footwear retain their two-way water drain eyelets, so water is sucked into the boot, soaking the open-cell Poron in-soles in constant contact with the bottom of the foot.<ref>Kearny, Cresson H. (Maj.), pp. 365–368</ref> British forces use Saran insoles in their footwear because they like its insulating properties.<ref>Westwood, E., Smith, N., and Dyson, R., ''Comparison of the Influence of Three Types of Military Boot Insoles Upon the Force and Loading Rates Experienced In Drop Jump Landings'', Biomechanics Symposia 2001, University of San Francisco (2001), p. 30</ref>

Increasing use of the jungle boot as a general-purpose combat boot wrought further improvements. To use up left-over stock, the issue boot's Dobie sole reverted to a [[Vibram]] sole in the 1980s.<ref name="Kearny, Cresson H. pp. 183, 365" /> However, the Vibram sole, while suitable for rocks, sand, or other hard terrain, lacked the mud-clearing qualities of Dobie's sole, and was inferior in jungles or swamps.<ref name="Wood, Clyde E. 2006 p. 106" /><ref>Kearny, Cresson H. (Maj.), pp. 366–368</ref> Other improvements were made to lower the costs to tax-payers. By the late 1980s, thousands of incidents of field destruction were reported by troopers, including heel blowouts and loss of water drains (screened eyelets) from poor materials/poor quality control.<ref>Kearny, Cresson H. (Maj), pp. 366–368</ref>

Today, Altama Footwear and Wellco Footwear are two American manufacturers of American military jungle footwear.<ref>{{cite news|date=2009-12-14|url=http://www.militaryboots.com/blog/jungle-boots/ |title=Jungle Boots|publisher=Military Boots Blog}}</ref> Altama began manufacturing boots for the military near the end of American involvement in Vietnam, in 1969, supplying the military with footwear. Wellco gained the first tax-payers contract for boots in 1965. These companies manufacture footwear with waterproof insoles and Vibram or Dobie outsoles with green cotton/nylon uppers and conventional eyelets, and manufacture an improved version with a black [[Cordura]] upper and a Speedlace-and-eyelet lacing system. Atalaia manufactures jungle footwear for the Brazilian Army.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.coturnoatalaia.com.br/exercito.html |title=Atlas Atalaia ::: |website=www.coturnoatalaia.com.br |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110307035259/http://www.coturnoatalaia.com.br/exercito.html |archive-date=2011-03-07}} </ref> McRae boots of North Carolina produces the original green cotton boot and the black nylon boot in the US.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

== Replacements ==
In 2005, the [[Marine Corps (United States)|Marine Corps]] retired the black jungle boots from front-line military service, and replaced them with two versions of a new tan rough-out leather combat boot. One version, called the Temperate or Infantry combat boot, has an inner waterproof [[Gore-Tex]] lining. The Temperate boot is an effort to keep moisture out of the boot because, after the interior is wet, moisture tends to remain there. The lining limits air exchange, limiting its use to environments with temperatures of {{convert|98|F|C|abbr=}} or less. Another version, the hot weather boot, eliminates the lining while retaining the vents.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025}}

In the 2000s, the [[United States Army|US Army]] and [[United States Air Force|US Air Force]] removed the black jungle boot from frontline service, swapping them for suede desert-style boots after the Army adopted the [[Army Combat Uniform]] and the Air Force adopted the [[Airman Battle Uniform]]. Some foreign government agencies still issue US-made jungle boots to their forces. One example is in [[Afghanistan]], with soldiers of the former [[Afghan National Army]] wearing black jungle boots with American-made [[combat uniforms]].{{Citation needed|date=June 2025}}

==See also==
* [[Desert combat boot]]
* [[List of boots]]
* [[List of shoe styles]]
* [[United States Army uniforms in World War II]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.arroyo.com.br/ Arroyo boots]
* [http://www.altama.com/ Altama Footwear]
* [http://www.wellco.com/ Wellco boots]
* [http://www.magnumboots.com/uk/ Magnum Military boots] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524132220/http://www.magnumboots.com/uk/ |date=2011-05-24 }}/[http://www.ascot-int.com/ Ascot International]
* [https://ozapato.com/ Jungle boots]
* [https://mcraefootwear.com/about McRae Footwear]

{{US Army uniforms}}
{{footwear}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:jungle boot}}
[[Category:Military uniforms]]
[[Category:Military boots]]
[[Category:Military equipment of the Vietnam War]]
[[Category:Jungle warfare]]