concept: “It is a regular combat boot, made from leather and textile with a CBRN lining in it. It is not just to be worn in a CBRN incident, but as an everyday boot for a CBRN incident. The main purpose is special forces.” Yet, as opposed to normal hazmat boots, which might last years, any boot that has carbon in it has, by definition, a life: the life of the carbon. It is difficult to know when this is: if you have been wearing the boot for a period of time, in expectation of the happy day when you finally get slimed, how can you feel sure that it actually works? Ms Huerten agreed, but stated that they could put some guarantees on it. “We do not intend to have it as an everyday boot for years” she said, “but if you go abroad, maybe a CBRN event for some weeks or months, then maybe you can take this boot. We performed wear-trials within the German army for one year, tested the filter material and the complete boot after that, and the filter material still had 80% of its capability – so no problems after one year of wear. We guarantee a lifetime of three years, but wear-time for half a year to be on the safe side. It could be more but we do not know 100% of the conditions that it will be worn in for that year.” Again, thanks to laminate and membrane manufacturers, like P2i, an effective water impermeable layer can be put on that protects the carbon layer (and foot). Ms Huerten doesn’t recommend the impermeable liner, purely on heat grounds: “There is no membrane in it. They walked around in the mud and water and did not get wet feet. If you want to have waterproof combat boot we can insert a membrane, it is not a problem, but we do not recommend membranes in general because it is really warm. [The normal boot] provides protection against vapour and limited liquid, liquid is limited to the leather, which is oil and liquid repellent for 8 hours. We did chemical testing with thickened mustard under pressure, and that was ok.” With a two-year storage life, and 24 hours protection against 10g/m2 liquid HD/GD, it could seem like the way forward. Genevieve Desautels, International Sales Manager for Airboss
Denfenceis less convinced: “Despite the new CBRN socks and inherent CBRN protective clothing” Desautels said, “and all of the latest initiatives towards some soldier modernisation programs, we still see a need for a disposable overboot, both for troops on the ground, mounted in vehicles and in and around airframes. There will always be times and tasking for which the most expedient, economical and safe solution will be to use an overboot like ours. We can easily envision a couple of scenarios where this will be the case, for example aircrew in transit, on foot across potentially contaminated airfields where it is essential to mount their plane with completely ‘clean’ footwear. For this, a set of swiftly donned, doffed and ultimately disposed of overboots will remain in our view the simplest way to achieve this.”
Ms Desautels makes a strong case for the ease of the overboot, including the difficult task of taking proper combat boots off while in full PPE: “A sentence often bandied about is ‘Of course the Holy Grail is to achieve CBRN protection with our standard combat boots, gloves and clothing’. Protection, yes, but when we go on to consider cross-contamination, decontamination, breaking clean, logistical support and ultimately continuing with our operational commitment, let us be certain that our ‘Holy Grail’ is not a poisoned chalice in disguise!” Indeed, one of the concerns that ‘All Thumbs’ here has is the ability to fiddle with laces once the ‘gardening’ gloves are on – most overboots come with idiot-proof straps. This is perhaps where the concept differs. The conventional boot with a CBRN liner is supposed to be that, looking like an everyday pair. Once you start adding in additional features it all adds up. “We were thinking about it, but the boot gets bulky again,” said Ms Huerten, “So far we have not been told laces are a problem, they are regular polyester laces,” she continued. “If they are contaminated we suggest the boots are thrown away, we do not recommend decontaminating it, as the soles and tongue could not be got clean.” As you might expect with the
manufacturer of the Moulded Lightweight Overboot (MALO) it is no surprise Ms Desautel is keen on overboots, but then all overboots are not made the same. Much the same as the gloves, the user needs to be sure whether these overboots are hand assembled from extruded sheets, or injection moulded. While the difference is not as marked as it is with the gloves, there is a positive difference between overboots that have been moulded out of a single block of butyl rubber, rather than the hand assembled variant. Ms Desautels also points to the decontaminability of overboots and their cost – both as important factors in the modern military as comfort and capability. As good a point as Ms Desautels makes, it is still hard to get away from the feeling that overboots are yesterday’s technology – up there with the ‘gas poncho’. Yet there does not always need to be a gold-plated solution for all these problems. Yet do we want to end up with the usual holiday scenario – that you are never quite sure which shoes to pack because you don’t know what you will be doing! It may well be that for all their rusticated look, the overboots remain the versatile choice [both smart and casual? Ed.], no matter what other technology matures.
It is difficult to dispute the fact that the boots and gloves sector is a relatively stagnant one. Yes, there have been improvements such as the Airboss boots and gloves, and occasionally new products such as the Bluecher boots, but generally the customer is happy with what is available – and that breeds conservatism, i.e., if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it… It seems likely that if there is to be an injection of innovation it will probably come from ‘left field’ when manufacturers in other, larger, markets such as Warwick Mills, come up with a mainstream product that has applicability in the hazmat/CBRN market. It has happened elsewhere: St Gobain’s entry into the Level A market saw a sudden renaissance in everybody else’s product. Until then however, it doesn’t seem as if I’ll be throwing my overboots away…
www.cbrneworld.com CBRNe South America 2012, 13-14 March, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. More information on
www.icbrnevents.com
February 2012 CBRNe WORLD
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