Recommended boot socks and anything else to avoid blisters

[Lawman]

Man.... here we all are talking about spending a nice dinners worth of money on a pair of socks and our forefathers were dealing with the harsh elements of Valley Forge for six months most without socks (or boots for that matter)yet they still managed to march to beat the best trained fighting force in the world at the time.....

Man we suck.

 

[Slammer2]

...I found out this weekend that physically I can hack it and using my mind, I could overcome the urge to quit and actually still be fine. Pushing past the limit I thought I should stop was something that just surprised the hell out of me...

Just keep in mind that 2-3 days of it is different from 10 weeks of it. Its also different when injuries happen (lets hope they dont) and you are sleep deprived for a lot longer than just a few days. Great attitude to have though and keep it up. Just dont think that "it wasnt that bad" and slack off. Based on your attitude, I dont think that you would, but I just wanted to put that out there.

...Have any of you heard of using Brine Salt or something? One of the candidates was saying you soak your feet in that stuff w/ warm water every day for a couple of weeks and your feet will be like cement... Fact or fiction? If it is in fact true I am going to hop on that immediately...

I never tried this. A guy in my platoon used it and said that it worked out well for him. He ended up getting dropped but he talked about how it helped for the time that he was there.

 

[invertedflyer]

Try to keep your feet as dry as possible... lots of powder. Don't ever wear thorlos... great for cold weather, but in the summer humidity your feet will be swimming in a pool of sweat. Outside of that, I'll second slammer on keeping a positive attitude and good luck.

 

[narfmasta]

Just keep in mind that 2-3 days of it is different from 10 weeks of it. Its also different when injuries happen (lets hope they dont) and you are sleep deprived for a lot longer than just a few days. Great attitude to have though and keep it up. Just dont think that "it wasnt that bad" and slack off. Based on your attitude, I dont think that you would, but I just wanted to put that out there.




I never tried this. A guy in my platoon used it and said that it worked out well for him. He ended up getting dropped but he talked about how it helped for the time that he was there.

no way am I thinking that it wasn't that bad. those 2 days sucked for sure just like I'm sure the 10 weeks will. the gunnery sergeant told us that there will be candidates there that did not do what we did and after a couple of days will say "hey this isn't that bad" and we'll either be able to tell them that they have no clue what is going to happen, or we can keep it to ourselves and laugh silently in our heads. haha. I will always keep a positive attitude and I will not be quitting by saying "I quit." Only way I'm going home is from injuries and I am obviously going to avoid getting those like the plague...

So I'm getting two sets of opinions though as far as socks go. Should I do the liner and the outer wool? Or do you think just wool. I talked to a staff sergeant who was a Sergeant Instructor at Marine Corps enlisted boot camp and he said he thought I was nuts for wearing two pairs of socks.

 

[HueyCobra8151]

Do you own a pair of boots?

If so - try out different things until you find what works.

E.G., I wear cotton socks underneath my black socks, which everyone says is a big no-no, but I never get blisters either. I tried the liner thing and it destroyed my feet.

See what works for you, you have a bunch of ideas now.

 

[Pags]

Man.... here we all are talking about spending a nice dinners worth of money on a pair of socks and our forefathers were dealing with the harsh elements of Valley Forge for six months most without socks (or boots for that matter)yet they still managed to march to beat the best trained fighting force in the world at the time.....

Man we suck.

I'm sure our forefathers would have given a lot for some socks. If you have the resources available, take care of your feet. Don't scrimp on taking care of yourself.

 

[Marine4life]

Have any of you heard of using Brine Salt or something? One of the candidates was saying you soak your feet in that stuff w/ warm water every day for a couple of weeks and your feet will be like cement... Fact or fiction? If it is in fact true I am going to hop on that immediately.

I remember using a powder of some sort, and warm water to soak my feet at night. I believe the stuff is called demerol. I might be wrong there. You can get it from your corpsman and it works well at drying out your feet and blisters.

 

[Slammer2]

...So I'm getting two sets of opinions though as far as socks go. Should I do the liner and the outer wool? Or do you think just wool. I talked to a staff sergeant who was a Sergeant Instructor at Marine Corps enlisted boot camp and he said he thought I was nuts for wearing two pairs of socks.

The two pairs would bunch up for me as someone mentioned above. I really noticed it while running down hill. Best thing I could say for you is if you have some method that is currently working, keep it up and dont change anything. Its really different for everyone. Keep in mind that you'll be able to go out during libo and buy things. If your method isnt working, you can always go to a store there. But, if you do end up getting blisters, take care of them. Keep everything clean or else they will get worse. I had countless blisters but they all went away. One of the guys in my platoon got these nasty horrible looking things on the back of his heels somewhere around the second week. His feet were completely ripped up but he soaked them everynight and took care of them. He made it all the way through. Dont skimp out on taking care of blisters (or any injury for that matter) because it might screw you in the end.

 

[narfmasta]

Just got back from the University Medical Center and the doc said one of them is infected... That sucks. Another two he cut open w/ a razor to drain out all the fluid, there was so much fluid! haha it was pretty gross looking

 

[badger16]

For what its worth I work at an outdoor store and I've heard all the BS from all the companies. Smartwool is by far the best brand out there that I've seen. Yeah they cost a bit more, but I think its worth it to keep your feet nice. just my 2 cents.

 

[MasterHaynes86]

Believe it or not, body glide on the feet works wonders. Never had any problems afterwards. Excellent stuff...

Well, here is my personal experience. I just used what they gave me... cotton white socks underneath brown boot socks. I didn't use anything that was new... I made sure I had washed them and broken them in first and I had relatively no problems except for severely painful things under the skin... it felt like i had a rock underneath about .5cm of my skin... i just cut them open with toenail clippers and drained them and they turned into beautiful callouses
We all know (that have been) that one pair of boots will not feel right and one pair will feel decent. Well, I've been running in my pair that give me horrible blisters (regardless) with bodyglide on my feet (same setup with socks as above) and I must confess, I do not blister... I dont even have a hotspot after 3-4 miles of running in the dirt up and down my "hill" out here... Also, it works for areas that rub raw (inner thigh, outer thigh, ect) from wet cammies...
I plan on testing the synthetic sock thing too... but I'm not gonna go spend money on socks if I can buy a stick of bodyglide that will work for my feet and other areas that rub raw on the hikes...
Also, u get libo to look for and try new things... and u get ample opportunity during your sleep time to tend to them lol

 

[Slammer2]

For those who havent seen the stuff before, it comes in a little stick that looks like deodorant. I had a little tiny one and it lasted the whole time. I used the trash every day too. Theres probably enough to last 2-3 times over OCS too. So if you go out and get some, ones enough. (just in case anyone was wondering....)

 

[narfmasta]

For what its worth I work at an outdoor store and I've heard all the BS from all the companies. Smartwool is by far the best brand out there that I've seen. Yeah they cost a bit more, but I think its worth it to keep your feet nice. just my 2 cents.

Just went to an outdoor store out here and I was sold when I saw this guy's eyes light up when I mentioned Smartwool. He went on for about 15 minutes and swore up and down that they are the greatest socks ever invented. He was one of those scruffy looking dudes that you could picture living in Colorado or Oregon and spend all of their free time w/ nature. He said they are the first thing that he takes out of the wash and all sorts of other weird things he does w/ them haha. That was more than enough for me to shell out the money.

IMO there is no price too high to keep my feet in great shape for OCS. Thanks for advice guys!

I've never been so excited to try out a pair of socks hahaha! Just have to wait for my feet to heal.

 

[invertedflyer]

just run and thrash around in the jungle of Quantico until your feet are bloody stumps.

 

[snow85]

Just got back from a pre-OCS weekend. 2 gunnery sergeants were in attendance and it was great to have them get in all of our faces and mess our stuff up. only problem I had this weekend was blisters. I got them BAD. My 2 layers of socks were bloody on each foot and I have 2 blood blisters on my second toe, both underneath the toenail. Apparently the Corpsman who was in charge of medical for this weekend told me to heat up a needle and it'll go right through?

Anyways, what type of socks do all of you recommend? Which for boots, which for my running shoes? Once I get that all squared away with that I'm good to go in June!

thorlo's = also excellent socks.

the needle is to bore a hole through your toenail to relieve the pressure. you heat it, then stick the end on your toenail above the blister, and swizzle it back and forth like you're making a tiiiiiiiiny fire. the heat will cause the hole, the blood will spew forth, and the pain will go away. when you smash your thumb with a hammer, this trick works wonders.

the absolute best way to treat blisters:

punture near the bottom edge, drain it. take a syringe and fill it with desitin (or plain zinc oxide if you can find it), and inject it into the drainage hole until it completely fills the skin sac. this isn't pastry class-- do not overfill. apply moleskin to entire area, overlapping blister on all sides by about 1/4". to keep moleskin on, apply adhesive called tough skin to area around blister PRIOR to application of moleskin. then, leave moleskin on until it falls off, usually about three days. you may have to repeat this one more time, but that's doubtful.