Boots In The Air

10 Replies to “Boots In The Air”

1. Boots and laces were the stuff in trade for the Gurkhas in WWII, as they could feel the laces of the boots to determine whether the soldier was Axis or Allied. If ladder laced, you were fine. If diagonal laced, you were dead. Nice running shoes in a culture where they are not the norm would indicate a subclass of people who perhaps, needed to run, or had better economic circumstances than the norm. Criminals or terrorists!
   Paying attention to footwear works in Latin America too.

2. I always look for goose down feathers and wool toques around the body’s in these photo’s cause Justin Turdeau said that is what they needed in them thar parts of the world.

3. “If ladder laced, you were fine. If diagonal laced, you were dead”
   First I’ve heard of that. I was under the impression that fighting forces in nearly every region of the world and down through history have used some variation of the ladder in order to ease cutting of the boot off the soldier’s foot if required.

4. I thought so to. This is what I was told as a recruit.
   This post of Yon’s is excellent for educating an old grunt as are the comments as to the reality of today’s battlefield. Burkas and T & A, (toes and ankles), hummm, yes, men and women have different looking toes and ankles. I guess that this is stuff one needs to learn real fast today in order to stay alive.

5. Now that the Americans have used it everyone’s gonna wanna have one. Including the bad guys.

6. The Ghurkas were night combat specialists. They felt the laces, because it was low to zero light conditions. My father told me about those guys. Tibetan warriors.

7. That is impressive, in the dark no less, and what was the man standing opposite doing with his time while the Ghurka was feeling those laces to determine friend or foe.

8. I’m not saying the Ghurkas didn’t do those things but in a complete 29 day lunar cycle there is just one night entirely free of any moon light and a few nights where the moon goes down early so the Ghurkas would certainly need to know their moon phases when they were out and about feeling for enemy laces.

9. My dad served with 5th Cdn Armd Div in Italy in the British 8th Army. He was told that at night if you felt a hand feeling your collar, not to be alarmed, that it was a Ghurka determining your identity. It had to do with the stiffness or texture of the Allies collars versus the German collars.

10. Kevin: I believe the Ghurkas are from Nepal.