Best boots for ranger school
Today we’re gonna be talking about the best boots to wear at Ranger School. Getting ready for Ranger School is all about preparing yourself mentally, physically, and also getting your gear squared away before you show up at Rogers. As far as physical preparations, I highly recommend focusing on the RAP week events and making sure that you’re able to pass each one very easily before you go to Ranger School. As far as mental preparations, one of the things I highly recommend is that you learn some of the material that you’re gonna be taught at Ranger School before you go. I highly recommend you guys download an app. It’s called Ranger School Professional. It’ll help you mentally prepare by learning some of the ranger tactical tasks, knots, and 20 board material before you go to Ranger School so that you’re not trying to learn it when you’re tired and hungry at Darby.
As far as preparing your gear, it’s very important that you select the right gear for your needs. It’s important that you select the right gear for your body type and size. It’s important that you know what gear you’re gonna need at each phase of Ranger School as you go through the course.
Back to boots. Best boots for Ranger School are very important. I will tell you, boots are probably your most important piece of equipment that you’re gonna take to Ranger School. They’re gonna be what you live and work in your entire time that you’re in Ranger School. Your feet are what’s gonna carry you through the course. If your feet aren’t in good shape, you’re not gonna make it. Even the toughest guys can be brought down by the worst blisters and cellulitis you can get on your feet if you don’t have good boots. Each pair of boots that we discuss we’re gonna talk about based on six talking points, or criteria, that I’m gonna use to evaluate the boots. Those six points are weight, support, traction, durability, drying time, and cost.
Which one of those characteristics is the most important? Well, a lot of that is gonna depend on what phase of Ranger School you’re in. I would say that during Darby, weight and traction are the two that matter most because you need lightweight boots for running your 12 mile ruck march and other physical events during RAP week. You want traction in the hills of Georgia at Ft. Benning because the dirt is kinda loose and the traction’s gonna help you on the FTXs to have a good foothold and to not injure yourself while you’re on patrol. In mountain phase, I would say that the two characteristics that are the most important are support and traction. I think that support is the most important in mountains. You have to have ankle support. The mountains of Dahlonega, Georgia are so steep and so rocky that the rate of injury is very high. To reduce that injury risk, you gotta have ankle support. A good pair of boots that supports your ankles and keeps them from rolling when you trip, it’s gonna help you to prevent injury and to pass mountain phase.
In Florida, I think the choice is obvious. The most important characteristic of a boot in Florida is its ability to dry quickly. Also in Florida, you’re gonna want boots that are very lightweight. I think the heaviest pack I carried in Ranger School was in Florida phase. Every bit counts. Having light boots is gonna help you out. Most importantly, look for boots that dry quickly. Okay. I’m just gonna go down a list of several of the different boots that I brought to Ranger School and that my friends brought to Ranger School. I have them sitting here next to me, and I’m gonna hold each one up, discuss its merits and discuss which phase I recommend wearing that boot in.
To start off with, we’ll discuss basic issue boots. Now, this is an obvious choice because many of you are coming from the Ranger pipeline and maybe you came from Basic Training to RASP and these are the only boots you’ve ever had. Some of you have just never purchased a civilian pair of boots or a non-issue pair of boots. If that’s you and you’ve been wearing these for all of your soldiering tasks so far, they will work. You can get through Ranger School. I have seen people make it through Ranger School wearing the basic issue boots, but I definitely don’t recommend it. They’re very heavy. The offer very little ankle support because the ankle is just cloth. There’s no reinforcing leather or anything like that. They don’t dry out very well. They’re just overall not as good of a quality as some of the different commercial boots that you can buy out there to replace these.
These are the Rocky S2V boots. These are a very, very heavy pair of boots. Now, that’s not always a bad thing because they offer great traction and great stability. Also, they’re very durable. They get their durability mostly from the sewing that you see around the edge of the sole. This is because the sole is not just glued to the leather that the boot is made out of. It’s actually sewn into it so it won’t fall apart. Also, the ankle is very stiff and provides lots of ankle support. Overall, I think this is a good boot, but only really for mountain phase. I would highly recommend wearing these in mountains because they give you that stability and that traction and the durability that you need. They’re too heavy and they definitely do not dry out quickly. I would not wear these in the swamps and I recommend against doing so.
The next pair of boots is by Bates Boots. This is model number EO8680. I don’t know what their name is, but that’s the model number for this boot. My roommate wore these during Florida phase, and this is the actual pair he wore. What he had to say was that the durability was not very good because the glue that holds the boots soles to the rest of the boot came undone. As you can see, the toes started to peel off of the boot. However, he said they were good because they were lightweight and also they dried very well. The material that the boot is made out of is very thin and breathable. It’s easy to dry out. These drainage holes that are on both sides of the boot work a little bit better than the drainage holes on standard issue boots because there’s so many of them and they’re on both sides. He said maybe an hour after getting out of the swamps they were already starting to dry.
The other thing he said was that they’re very flat-footed on the inside. If you’re the kind of guy who needs arch support, I highly recommend getting a pair of insoles to put in the boots to give you that support you need, to help your feet be more comfortable during Ranger School. I would not wear these during mountain phase because the cloth that makes up the upper is so loose and bendy that it doesn’t offer any ankle support. I don’t think the traction is there either to give you what you need in mountain phase. Overall, I think these are a good Florida boot and maybe Darby, too, but I wouldn’t wear them in the mountains.
Our next boot is from Tactical Research. This is also my roommates. He wore these in mountains and Darby. I would say this is a good mid-weight boot. It’s got enough traction and enough stability. It’s got kind of an ankle pad here that helps keep you a little bit of ankle support without making the boot too heavy. Also, it dries out quickly with these drainage holes and light cloth material. It’s kind of a good mid-range boot. If you were looking for one boot that would just kinda help you get through all the phases, maybe you didn’t have the money for several pair of boots, this would be a good option. He said they did really well for him in Ranger School. He wore them pretty much the whole time except for in the swamps. They held up pretty well.
As you can see, also with this one, the toes are starting to come separated because it is just glue. It’s not sewn. Also, the rubber that makes up the bottom of the soles started to kinda get chewed up in these soft rubber areas. I wouldn’t count on these boots lasting much longer than a couple phases of Ranger School, but they did pretty well for him and he recommends them pretty well. If you’re looking for a good mid-weight boot, this might be the ticket. Again, this is Tactical Research.
Our next boot is an offering from Garmont. This is the Garmont T8 NFS model. It’s their lightweight model. I think it’s a very good boot. I wore these all through Darby and all through Florida. I can say that they’re very, very light. They feel like tennis shoes when you’re wearing them. They’re great for running your 12 mile and also doing the obstacle courses. They are good boots. They dried out very quickly in the Florida swamps. They only thing I can say is I didn’t like the insoles and the way they felt. Again, you can swap out the insoles and give you a little bit of more arch support. Overall, they’re pretty good. I wouldn’t, again, wear them in mountains too much because the traction just isn’t there. These small lugs just don’t grip very well. Also, again, no stability support in the ankles. Overall, pretty good boots for Darby and also for Florida. I wouldn’t wear them in mountains.
I think both the newer and the older models of SFB boots from Nike are good offerings. They dry quickly. They’re lightweight. I don’t necessarily think they’re rough enough or rugged enough for mountain phase. Also, the newer model seems to rub people’s heels a little more than the old model. The old model felt tennis shoes, as people described it, and the new one doesn’t seem to feel that way as much. Overall, the boot that worked the best for me in all three phases of Ranger School was the Garmont T8. I think these were the perfect boot. They’re rugged. They’re very stiff. They offer a lot of good ankle support. The durability is great. They didn’t fall apart at all. I also really like they have this place right here where the laces kind of change zones. It allows you to keep the zone on your foot looser than the zone on your ankle. I liked that. It breathes well. It drains very well. It dries out quickly. It’s lightweight. Overall, I think it’s the best general purpose boot for Ranger School.
Overall, get boots that are right for the phase, that fit you well. Take the time to break them in and don’t quit. Rangers lead the way.
