 If you can't walk, you can't fight. Hello everyone, Dylan Schumacher, Citadel Defense, and we are here to take a look at the Marine Rats boots. Before we get into this real quick, footwear is obviously super important and it's probably a severely underrated piece of gear. You should have comfortable shoes, boots, just in your life in general because you're in your shoes most likely, you know, eight to 10 hours a day, something like that. So you know, wearing comfortable footwear is important and it becomes more important when you're out doing field stuff, right? Because if you don't have good footwear, then of course you break down and all of a sudden you can't walk and as a everyday American who's embracing their martial American heritage to be a minute man type person, if you can't walk, that's probably your main mode of transportation and you're gonna be in big trouble. Bad footwear can make you a casualty either because of blisters and uneven wear or just because your foot breaks either like really break a bone or you know, it's just so beat up and so unfunctional that you can't walk anymore. You then become a liability all because you didn't bother to wear a good pair of boots. These are a good pair of boots and let's talk about some of the reasons why. So as I hope you will be able to read from this tag, these are the Daner United States Marine Corps rat temperate boots. They are Gore-Tex lined and made out of leather. So these are a temperate boot. Let's start with that. I would not suggest these boots where it's gonna be hot all the time, right? Like any kind of desert. A lot of my friends south of the Mason-Dixon line, these might not be the boots for you but if you are in any kind of temperate environment, this is really a three season boot, right? Winter, fall, and spring because they're waterproof, which is a big, big plus, right? They're not like the typical desert combat boots with the little open vent right here, right? So these are 100% waterproof and the waterproof lining goes all the way up to here, up to the top because that's where the tongue is connected at, right? So you can be standing in, I don't know, six, eight inches of water and be just fine without water actually getting into the boot. So that's a super big positive. I've worn these outside, just around the neighborhood. I've worn them out in the field. I've worn them, I don't know, a lot and there's a little bead up here on the toe, you can see, but by and large, they've held up pretty well and I've become a big, big believer in these boots because they have that waterproof Gore-Tex lining and a little bit of temperature control. They're good, I mean, not in like the deep cold, like below zero, you know, you're not gonna do well, but in like the teens and twenties, if you're moving, they're really good. You pair it with a good pair of socks and you're gonna be just fine. So I'm a big fan of these boots for, like I said, about three seasons out of the year because they allow a lot of flexibility and they don't allow your feet to get wet. So in the spring and in the fall when it's that slushy, wet, rainy, whatever, these boots are impervious and I really, really appreciate that. The sole, as I think you can tell here, is a little bit bigger than the actual shoe, right? They give you like, I don't know, a quarter-inch, half-inch, kind of all the way around the boot. So the sole ends up being pretty monster big compared to the actual shoe size and I like that. They're called rugged all-terrain boot, right? A rat's boot, rugged all-terrain. So that's really nice because this does do a good job of giving you grip. I've never had slip issues or anything like that. It's got big, deep treads in here. I'm a big fan of that. When you're wearing these with a pack or under heavy load, it's gonna support that well and it's gonna keep your foot pretty comfortable. There was a break-in period, particularly back here, like on the heel part, right? That kind of wore on my Achilles a little bit. But after a good like 10, 12 hours of break-in, you don't notice it anymore and it's totally fine. So there is some time, if you're gonna buy these, I would suggest just wearing them around your house for a few days, right? Give them some good break-in time, but they do a great job. The other thing that I gotta love hate relationship with here is this speed lace system. So this is just a skinny shoe lace and it's cool because you can unlace this whole thing, put the boot on your foot and pull that and it pretty much tightens the whole thing up. You get a little loose here, maybe you gotta prep that a little bit, but by and large, it's called a speed lace system and it does live up to its name and I appreciate that. The one downside is it does continually fall out of this top eyelet right here. So I continually, when I set them down, the lace just falls out of there and I always have to rethread it through the top eyelet. So that's kind of annoying, but it does overall live up to its name about a speed lace system. Overall, I really like these boots and if you are north of that Mason-Dixon line and you need a good three-season boot to get you through, I would highly recommend this. I'll put an Amazon affiliate link below. If you can find your size, I would tell you to get a pair of these. In Amazon, they're going for like 70-some dollars, which I'm probably gonna buy a second pair at that rate. I think these are being phased out or have been phased out, so you gotta kinda hunt for your size on eBay or wherever and if you can find it for 70 bucks, buy them. You will thank me later. If however you can't find your size, I'm sorry, that's a bummer, but like I said, if you can find them in your size, I would highly recommend the United States Marine Corps rat boot. Wear them all year long, except for one at summertime. Do brave deeds and endure.