Don’t overlook any footwear requirements made in the risk assessments for foot drill (ref parade shoes) and fieldcraft (ref combat boots).
Ohh! That’s controversial!! But very practical and understandable!
What have the clothing rules protectors said?
Im one of those pace stick wielding lunatics however i struggle to challenge (and i dont) cadets on not having the right kit (boots,shoes,greens etc) I know a regional commandant is on this same wave length and is pushing conversation around it in the ivory towers.
I do feel Squadrons could do a better job educating cadets on what to go for though. I give my cadets links as an ideal but encourage conversation with parents around what to buy.
Define either of those!
Should all Parade shoes be leather or rubber soled? Officers are (or were) issued leather soled shoes, do should all parade shoes be checked to see if they are rubber soled?
I challenge you to give us the definition of a combat boot! Not even the MoD can do that.
Writing such things in Risk Assessments mean that the author hasn’t thought about the risks
Parade footwear for the QCS and the Guards are ammo boots, extremely treacherous on icy or other smooth surfaces. But I challenge anyone to tell Garrison Sgt Major Vern Stokes that he can’t go on parade because his boots are dangerous!!
1 Like
It’s not that easy though, particularly with female shoes, they appear to be made of Unicorn pooh these days!
Yeah…ive looked at getting a set of oxfords…would need to remortgage the house!
You’ve been doing it wrong…
Do you stand in them and pee in the bath then?
No, you pee in the boots, then stand in the bath.
1 Like
I get the point completely - especially for less fortunate cadets. But there’s a lot of cheap brands of toecap oxford shoes out there that look like parade shoes - and a lot of surplus shops do proper issue DMS for under £20.
I’ve found mine (proper ex issue in G1 or better) on eBay for £10…
That’s exactly what I mean. And let’s say said unfortunate cadet can only afford one pair of smart black shoes - they could fine wear their DMS/oxfords/etc to school and cadets
Surely the civcom is there to help if they genuinely cannot afford proper parade shoes?
4 Likes
Problem is that proper shoes are very expensive for a civ comm to buy. I am certainly noticing more and more cadets coming through the door where the parents have very little money.
We keep a stock of used but serviceable shoes in the squadron, we ask all our cadets when they replace there shoes if they are still ok to hand them in for other cadets to use. It works pretty well and i even allow cadets who have grown out of there current shoes to swap them with a pair rather than buying them, it means the squadron always has smaller shoes for our newer cadets.
3 Likes
What, £12?
Depending on the area £12 a cadet could be a lot of money for a poor squadron
In that case I’d suggest that they look into some easy fundraising options.
@MattB, Where are you finding these £12 shoes? I have never found them for that price and always had to pay around the £25-£30 mark for them. We are replacing some of ours currently and if i could half my costs i can buy more. The only ones i ever find at those costs seem to be weird sizes that no one wears.
We’ve got two surplus shops reasonably local. They are the biggest con artists I’ve come across, they make Del Boy look like a trustworthy upright citizen… I wanted a pair of DMS for kicking around the squadron; phoned them up yes we’ve got several pairs of 12 wide G1, get there no G1, but plenty of new at £38 or £34. I walked out and have removed them from our advice lists as while they do have surplus clothing, most footwear is new and not priced to be parent friendly.
I enquired with a place that sold boxes of PW shoes and said I was after these sizes and they essentially said it was pot luck in terms of size and quality.
So the upshot is cadets wear what their parents can afford or get for them.
We have an area WO who gets overly anal about shoes and has been told to wind his neck in and I’ve told cadets to ignore him and similarly parents not to act if their kids come home saying this or that.
I wouldn’t ever advise buying footwear online as you need to ensure they fit otherwise you easily get into a two and fro with the postal system, and especially anything PW as they may not have the right size for ages.