Every soldiers knows that traveling for long distances on foot can really wreak havoc with your feet.
When it comes to traveling on foot while bugging out in your “leather personnel carriers (LPC’s)”, there are certain problems you should anticipate.
If your car blew out even just one tire, you’re now in “parked” position on your buyout route – just as a blistered, infected foot can keep you from reaching your secondary survival location and place you in harm’s way.
We spoke with “Collapse Medicine” experts, Dr. Bones & Nurse Amy about steps our fellow survivalists can take to protect their feet while bugging out and they had some very practical tips…
Beware of New Bug-Out Boots
A lot of people try on a pair of boots for only a few minutes to see if they fit.
Whenever you’re looking at a good pair of boots, walk around in those shoes for long enough that you start to get funny looks from the sales people.
You should be spending enough time to evaluate how those shoes are going to serve you when they’re actually put to the test, and that takes more than a walk of six feet or so.
Create Realistic Test Conditions For Shoes and Boots
Of course walking around for 10 minutes in the store isn’t even going to fully give you the feel of the rigorous conditions you may be bugging out in, but here’s what you need to keep in mind…
…if walking around on the sales floor for ten or fifteen minutes makes your feet hurt, just imagine how bad those boots are going to be for you over a long hike to your secondary survival retreat.
Remember also that some shoes vary with the types of socks or liners you use.
When you try out a pair of shoes or boots, always try them out using the same socks or liners you will be wearing when you actually use that footwear for real.
(Discover the best bug-out clothing from head to toe here…)
Don’t wear your ankle-high running socks to the shoe store and expect your boots to feel the same way when you strap them on to high-tail it away from a disaster.
Try Shoes and Boots On At The End of the Day
Your feet swell during the day.
Likewise, with extended walking while bugging out, your hard-working feet are going to heat up… expand… swell with inflammation… and in other words, “get bigger”.
Those boots that “fit like a glove” in the store may now be “too tight” and start causing blisters.
To avoid this, you want to try on boots or shoes as late in the day as possible to get a more realistic fit to what you’ll experience should you have to bug-out from a disaster.
Prepping For The Dreaded “Bug-Out Blisters”
Even under the best conditions, if you’re traveling by foot for long periods of time, you run the risk of developing blisters.
No self-respecting soldier would be caught dead without a sheet of moleskin, Second Skin, or anything else that will present a barrier between your shoe and a blister (even duct tape will do in a pinch)!
Likewise, you need to pack some in your bug-out bag survival kit.
Dab a little triple antibiotic cream (even honey can help!) as a barrier to irritated hot spots and then put the tape or moleskin over it to keep everything in place.
The idea is that you are reducing friction between your shoe or boot and the irritated area (which is why we call such areas “hot spots”).
If you already have a blister started, cut one piece of moleskin to go around it with a cut out hole in the center (so the moleskin isn’t touching it) and then another full piece of moleskin the same size right on top of it.
What Other “Bug-Out First Aid Tips”
Do People Need To Prepare For?
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