Jungle boots are a type of combat boot that is designed for use in jungle warfare or hot, wet and humid enviroments where a standard leather combat boot would be uncomfortable or unsuitable to wear due to these conditions. Jungle boots have two vent holes on the leather located on the inner side of the boot near the middle of the boot to aid in ventilation.

The most well-known type of jungle boot are the ones that the US Armed Forces issued to their personnel during the Vietnam War in which the boot's upper was a mixture of leather for the toe, heel and eyelets and cotton/nylon for the neck of the boot.

The jungle boots that were made for the US armed forces during the Vietnam War sported a direct molded rubber sole (in either a Vibram style tread or a Panama-style tread) which also has a stainless steel plate installed inside the boot's sole to protect the wearer from punji stake traps.

The US military jungle boot helped design the famed desert combat boot which many American soldiers wore during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan in 2001 and Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. Despite the introduction of the desert boot at the time of Operation Desert Storm, many American military personnel were still issued jungle boots because there were not enough desert boots to issue to all the personnel in the Middle East at the time.

There are two American combat boot companies who manufacture the US military jungle boot in both its original Vietnam War configuration with the green cotton/nylon upper and conventional eyelets and in an updated version with a black cotton/nylon/Cordura upper and a hook and eyelet lacing system as well as the desert boot of Desert Storm, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom fame.

External links

• Altama Footwear
• Wellco Footwear