When a member of the general public hears the term “military grade” or “mil-spec,” they for some reason believe that means the product it is referring to is durable and high-quality.
We all know this is complete bullshit.
In stark contrast, anyone who has spent more than 5 minutes in the military dealing with actual “military grade” items, understands that this term generally embodies a steaming pile-of-shit product that is painted OD green and sold to the military by the lowest bidder.
Now, we certainly don’t advocate for being a ‘geardo’ or ‘gear queer’ or any variation of that classification. Anybody that buys ALL their own military gear is a fuckin’ weirdo that is probably unpopular with the ladies.
With that said, there are a few select items that we believe will make your time in the service more comfortable and enjoyable and are definitely worth the splurge.
Here are 5 pieces of gear that you should consider buying:
- Boots
To put it bluntly, the issued boots are complete fuckin’ garbage and belong in the dumpster. Anyone that actually likes the issued boots is a psychotic freak, belongs in a mental institution, and has most likely never tried an actual nice pair of boots.
Your feet take you where you need to go, so it would (I can’t believe I’m using this word) BEHOOVE you to take care of them.
There are a million different pairs of boots to choose from, and different boots are good for different MOSs. I’d encourage you to try on a bunch of different pairs and see which ones work best for you. Take a few laps around the store to make sure they jive with your nasty feet.
My personal favorite is the Tactical Research Mini-mils. These boots are zero drop and fit more like slippers than boots.
Another quite popular boot is the Rocky S2V. These provide quite a bit more padding and support for less POG-oriented MOSs.
Expect to spend around $200 bucks on a decent pair of boots. It’s a bit steep of a price point for good boots, but it’s definitely worth the investment.
2. Backpack
3. Knife / multi-tool
4. Woobie
5. Water container