Tuck in your boots!

Blousers suck. They pop off, roll out, cut off circulation, take time and skill to configure each morning (neither of which I have for blousers) and when they do work, they ride up the leg exposing your socks. Tucking in or tying the pant leg lanyards (for lack of a better word) is another option for keeping your pant legs looking up to standard, but inevitably the pant legs pop loose and you have "snakes" spring forth from your boots. Fortunately, early on in my career I read those old Ranger Rick digest books and found a cool little trick that has kept me from screwing around with my pant legs every 5 minutes.


The guy who created boot blousers (and the guy who enforced their use on utility uniforms initially) aught to be shot for treason, especially when a better solution is just too easy. All you need to do is take the pant leg lanyards, remove the knot in each one, and sewing the two ends together to create a stirrup. Strap it under your ankle before putting your foot in the boot and once it's tied off, it doesn't matter if your crawling around the subfloor plenum all day or bounding through the woods; your pants will no longer pop out of your boots. Bugs will no longer make unwelcome visits to your groin via the pant leg and you'll no longer face the embarrassment of a SGM pointing out "snakes in your boots".

It's important that you take the knots out before sewing. I use to tie the ends under my feet (because I was too lazy to sew), but then I was stuck with an uncomfortable knot digging in the arch of my foot all day. I ended up sewing a couple of my DCUs while deployed, didn't take long. When I got issued ACUs, I had Commando's at FBGA sew up each pant leg for about $3 a pair. The biggest draw back to this pant leg configuration is Heat CAT V configuration. You have to take your boots off to unblouse them.

As an added bonus in this posting, I'll add another small but related trick: Tie an over hand knot on each end of a laced boot string. This will keep the strings from slipping back through the eyelets and save you a couple seconds when putting on your boots. Sure, it's only a couple seconds, but in most situations in the military, those seconds can be vital.

Tie off your boots!