Keep your toes together soldier: Army bans Vibram FiveFingers
A posting this month in the Wisconsin National Guard newsletter reminds soldiers that the Vibram FiveFingers shoes have been banned from the Army's official physical fitness uniform.
Meg Jones, the Journal Sentinel's war correspondent, shared the story after reading about my recent experiment with minimalist shoes.
The @easeExpress quotes an All Army Activities message sent June 11 by
Sgt. Maj. James McGruder: “Those shoes that feature five separate, individual compartments for the toes
detract from a professional military image and are prohibited for wear with the IPFU or when conducting physical training in military formation.”
In plain language, soldiers have to keep their toes in one place. The decision has not been well-received.
That non-comformist, Barefoot Ted, probably wouldn't have been much of a soldier anyway.
4 Comments for "Keep your toes together soldier: Army bans Vibram FiveFingers"
letstrytobepolite Aug 25, 2011 8:24 AM
Kyle Roberts, C.Ped.
Revolution Natural Running - www.revolutionnaturalrunning.com
eyerunfar Aug 25, 2011 1:29 PM
From the message: THIS NAVADMIN AUTHORIZES THE WEARING OF MINIMALIST FOOTWEAR WITH THE NAVY PHYSICAL TRAINING UNIFORM (PTU) DURING COMMAND/UNIT DIRECTED PHYSICAL
TRAINING (PT), INDIVIDUAL PT, AND ACTIVITIES TO INCLUDE THE SEMI-ANNUAL PHYSICAL READINESS TEST (PRT).
Odd that these two branches went in two completely different directions on this.
clowns2leftjokers2rt Aug 25, 2011 2:46 PM
letstrytobepolite Aug 25, 2011 5:49 PM