Soviet (80's?) Infantryman loadout

[MiniMcNabb]

Originally Posted by Lerch

I lol'ed

Remeber the scandal with those two british female soldiers who put on a sex show at some mess hall in Iraq? Imagine the possibilities...

[Vince]

Female + DPM + sex show = Happy Lerch

[beastor]

Cheers for the info Igor01, you certainly know your kit!

Can you elaborate on the Jack boots? I must admit there ia quite a lot of room in the boot and was wondering what you mean by cloth wrappings. Is this to fill the boot out more for less slack?

[JTF27]

Originally Posted by mattmayhem

Remeber the scandal with those two british female soldiers who put on a sex show at some mess hall in Iraq? Imagine the possibilities...

1.Skanky British Female Soldiers
2. ?
3. Profit

[Disco_Dante]

Oo that fur hat is tres sexy. Where'd you pick it up?

[beastor]

I got most of the gear from one site actually:

http://sovietarmystuff.com/index.php

A good site, takes a week or 2 to get to house (it is the Ukraine) and good communication with the owners.

They also have a ebay store.

[Igor01]

Originally Posted by beastor

Can you elaborate on the Jack boots? I must admit there ia quite a lot of room in the boot and was wondering what you mean by cloth wrappings. Is this to fill the boot out more for less slack?

In Soviet and until recently, the Russian army the Jack boots were supposed to be worned with a footcloth (rather thick soft cotton cloth) which is wrapped around the foot and ancle providing cushioning, moisture absorbtion and insulation. These were recently retired as regular laced boots became the standard issue.

The skill of wrapping the footcloth properly was one of the first things they tought you in the Soviet army, a soldier who coudln't do it right can not walk or run.

Here's an old Red army poster showing how to do it:



Some of the last Russian soldiers to learn the skill:

[Capt. Tyco]

Originally Posted by beastor

I got most of the gear from one site actually:

http://sovietarmystuff.com/index.php

A good site, takes a week or 2 to get to house (it is the Ukraine) and good communication with the owners.

They also have a ebay store.

I have ordered from them as well. Great service. The owner responds to emails within 24 hours. Do find with the jacket that once you take the liner out it becomes huge?

[scheer]

Ah bugger, now with all this chat you're actually making me want to do a Russian kit! Oh well another one for the drawing board.

1. Skanky British female soldier
2. ?
3. Trip to the clinic

[beastor]

Excellent! cheers for that Igor!

Any cloth will do?

I think I may have buggered up though, I have got Soviet stuff to send me another pair of boots when it could have just been that I had to wrap my feet up! There was a good inch of clearence on my toes.

Yes indeed Capt. Tycho, the jacket does indeed seem rather largish with the liner out! still quite warm too, not sure weather i will be able to use it the summer. cant find any summer ruski BDU's to fit me (i do have Ukrainian though).

Scheer: finish your Falkland Para loadout first! that is your main priority! I notice STAR are releasing a SLR too...very tempting.

[Igor01]

Originally Posted by beastor

Any cloth will do?

I think I may have buggered up though, I have got Soviet stuff to send me another pair of boots when it could have just been that I had to wrap my feet up! There was a good inch of clearence on my toes.

You are probably right, a footcloth would most likely fixed the fit issue. The Jack boots are not meant to be worn with socks.

As for the material - soft flanel would probably be the best although many like woolen fabric similar to that used for dress suits, but softer. The standard army issue is the soft flanel ones, 40x70 centimeters. I personally prefer them slightly longer, say 40x80.

I know the whole consept of a footcloth may sound like something antiquated, something from the era of Napoleonic wars, but they have a number of advantages over socks and laced boots combination, especially for the type of wars Russian sourders had to fight over the centuries. They are inexpensive and easily cared for, can be worn for a few days before they need to be washed or replaced, dry up very quickly near a fire, provide much better insulation than socks (not a bad thing in Russia's climate). Dirt and swampy terrain is much easier to deal with in jack boots and footcloth, if you step into water or dirt deeper than your jack boots and even if your foot remains submerged for a few seconds, once you take it out, your foot remains dry as the footcloth at the top of your ancle absorbs the water and doesn't allow it to penetrate deeper inside the jack boots. Russian soldiers often didn't have the luxury of being close to a resupply base, so footcloth was a lot more practical than socks.

There are of course disadvantages too, and the jury is still out on whether the decision of the Russian army to retire the footcloth and go exclusively with socks+boots combination was a wise one.

If you decide to actually try wearing your Jack boots with a footcloth to a game I'd strongly suggest that you practice wrapping it at home and walking around for a few hours to make sure you got it right. An incorrectly wrapped footcloth will put your feet ouf of commission in a very short order. The trick is to get the top part wrapped around your ancle stay wrapped tightly, if it starts unwrapping and sliding down to your foot the whole thing becomes unraveled.

Couple more pics if you feel adventurous enough to try it:

[beastor]

I will most certainly try it bud. Excellent tips and diagrams, thanks for the info!

[scheer]

Crap does this mean you're not going to have Jackboots going spare

+Don't worry the Falklands Para kit is slowly coming on, although I think the FAL is enough trouble without getting a full on SLR too, although if I did have the cash... Besides I only said on the drawing boards & there's a lot of stuff on the drawing boards!

[beastor]

Dont worry bud, I bough the new pair of boots at a massive discount already, before the cloth wrap post, so dont worry, I still have a pair of boots going!

I tried the cloth wrap, quite easy when you get the hang (and suprisingly comfortable) and wore the boots for a few hours: comfortable, and a better fit than the socks but there is still a lot of toe room, so probably still need the new pair anyway.