On my never ending quest to gather up real USGI jungle boots before they become impossible to find,or at least find at a decent price, I have managed to find a NOS pair of RO-search (Wellco) boots in my size.

This pair was made in 1984. For some reason the camera did not want to let the ink stamp show up. This is the 3rd pattern with panama sole and the spike plate molded inside the rubber sole being they are the real thing.

Being mint is great. breaking them in is not so great. Seems like I have to relearn every time how long it takes. Plenty of mink oil helps, but you just can’t do much but wear them in. I know many of you can attest to that.

If you want some jungle boots that will actually last decades, track down a real pair on ebay. The modern remakes are fine but you get about a year out of them if you use them a lot. The price of a real pair from the 80s is usually 20-40 bucks lower than a modern made pair shit out of China anyway and last a helluva long time.