Shoes - Men's Bates M-9 Desert Assault

Men's Bates M-9 Desert Assault

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Product Description
These assault boots provide standout performance while helping soldiers and cops blend in visually with their environment. These assault boots are made of Wolverine Warrior Leather and nylon uppers, a breathable lining that wicks perspiration away from the foot, ankle support and our exclusive Vibram Mutant soles for superior traction and durability over all terrains.

Review #1
Quite possibly the best boot ever made.
I am a deployed Navy Reservist. I am currently assigned to a tactical expeditionary unit deployed to the middle-east where I serve in a TACCOMM/Tactical Crypto Support role in land and maritime operations. Before deploying, I spent a great deal of time and effort in selecting the 'right boot' in which I knew I would be spending a great deal of time. I tried Oakley, Converse, 5.11 and of course the Bates M-9. I felt that there was no contest. The Bates was by far the most comfortable and seemed to have the most functional sole design and least potentially irritating upper, and so on.

Let me re-wind a little bit. In my civilian life, outside of the Reserve (which at this point seems a distant memory) I am an avid runner, to the tune of about 70 miles per week. While I've run many hundred of miles on roads, my focus over the past couple of years has shifted to off-road 'trail runs' and ultra-marathon courses. I know my feet. I know what works in a shoe that is going to be demanded to perform in horrible conditions. I have had great success over time with literally one pair of shoes from one manufacturer and as such I bought many pairs of that shoe. In June of 2006, I bought my first pair of M-9 Desert Assault boots to take on my July deployment. I decided that in order to break them in, I'd take them on the trail. I figured that they'd tear my feet up a bit, but it wouldn't be the first time a new shoe had done so. The day I first wore them I set off with an 85lb. pack into a tick infested trail in a local state park. It was about 100 degrees outside with humidity nearly to match. After 12 miles on the trail I returned home to find that my feet were all but un-fouled! I was amazed. I would repeat this process a few times and very soon after ordered two additional pairs of M-9s.

Fast forward just a bit. While in pre-deployment training in Coronado, CA, I took to wearing my boots for all of our PT. I also logged about 30 to 50 miles per week of independent running, again, in my M-9s. Most of these runs included a pack with about 50 - 70lbs in it, though now I was running almost entirely on pavement. My M-9's performed without flaw. I left Coronado for the middle east without any doubt that I had the best boots I could have possibly chosen, and they were well broken in to boot. ;)

Fast forward some more. Recently I was able to take a two day MWR trip in order to run the Dubai (UAE) Marathon...in my M-9s. While we (there were five of us from my unit that ran the marathon) have had almost no opportunity to do any training runs while in theater, I knew that if I were to tackle 26.2 miles on pavement (man, I hate running on pavement), there was no way I was going to do so without wearing my 'old faithfuls'. They did not disappoint! While I took a very conservative pace, my M-9s carried me with ease to the finish line. My Chief, also the proud owner of a well beaten pair of M-9's ran the marathon with me, his first ever. He too wore his M-9s, as his running shoes were simply shot. He was nothing short of elated to have finished his first marathon attempt, and others were nothing short of amazed that he did it in 'combat boots'. If they only knew. ;) I must say, I've never had so many people come up to me during a marathon to chat and in every case, the topic was my choice of footwear. In every instance I would simply tell them with a smile, "You don't understand, these are really great boots."

In short, Bates created a nearly perfect boot. Are there things I would change? Certainly. But even if Bates never changes a thing about them, I will keep buying them until I am not longer able to run, which I assure you will not be for a very long time. I have already scheduled additional marathons and ultra-marathons (off road of course) for after I return home, and I'll let you guess what my choice of footwear will be. I have found my new 'running shoe'.