HitorMiss said:
Here is the thing that I kinda don't agree with and no not you Vern the system that says no manufacture names.
I got hit, sure no problem went back overseas but took 2 pair tan Converse Boots (personally purchased) 1 pair SWAT tan issued by QM (local purchase). Got back to Canada put my old Vibram MKIII's which I used to love, however they now cause me leg pain in my injured leg, that did not occur while wearing the Converse with full combat load over long dismounted patrols. So The MO said "yup go to Physio we don't do boot chits but you need them." Went to Physio they examined me and what the doctor wrote for my consult and they said "which boots did you wear when you went back over?" I replied Converse, they said " Well then why mess around with this boot and that if the Converse Bootswere great with all that walking and extra weight why get you to try and error some other boots" So they write the chit which states Member requires Converse Boots (black) due to injuries sustained while in theater. Makes sense to me as to why the chit says that but I guess I am going to have to fight the system and waste the CF money till I get a boot that doesn't cause me leg pain....
See that makes no sense to me.
HitorMiss,
I purposefully bolded "canvas sided in lieu of
combat boots" in all of my previous posts. Your tan boots are NOT combat boots. Tan boots are
desert boots; if your
desert boots are being purchased locally for you, you should be experiencing ZERO problems with picking up a pair that are mesh or canvas sided as that IS the spec for those boots.
Canvas/Mesh-sided is
not the spec for for combat boots though. Combat boot specs are "black" and "all-leather," ergo the different requirement to meet the "in lieu of combat boot" specs.
The problem with the MOs writing your chit for a specific type of footwear is that the boots will be purchased locally (thus LPO -- local purchase order). What types of boots (from which manufacturer's) are available locally, differs greatly from base to base, and from town to town.
You come here on course and ruin those LPOd "specifically prescribed boots", and they are a type that are not available here locally .. (we can't get Danners locally --perhaps they are available somewhere around here now, but they weren't a couple of years ago), guess what?? We can't buy you squat then. Because some MO has prescribed you "Danners" for example. We, as Sup Techs, have ZERO authority to purchase you anything BUT those Danners when they do that. But, we can't LPO you what isn't available here ... so now, your MO's chit is basically useless, you're on course, and you have no boots. Guess who gets bitched at (usually by the soldier and by various levels of his course staff)?? Not the MO who wrote the useless chit, but the Sup Tech who
must (but
can't) obey it. And, you'll have to take my word for it, but this occured an awful lot with the amount of candidiates from every Army base in Canada that go through the Schools here; it wasn't a rare occurance -- rather it was causing problems with career courses for those soldiers affected by those "specifically" written chits.
That means, time off from course to go to the MIR ... see the MO ... get a referral to physio again (if applicable), have a whole new chit written up ... and on and on ... (and MO appointments take a very long time to get around here ... and it's pretty hard to be doing a career course out in the field without boots to wear on your feet while you are waiting).
I know what you are saying about the boots you currently have working for you, but that doesn't mean there is not another type available locally (here for example) that will work for you. That's why the system works the way it does.
That's also why the system needs to be fixed to allow for members to receive an annual allowance which allows them to continue purchasing their own footwear that they already know works for them.
The long and the short of it is, that "specific" type prescription ... limits any purchase for you to only that "specific" type ... and that just isn't feasible if you happen to be tasked, coursed, dom op'd to some small Saskatchewan town, or posted to another Base where that "specific" type is not available when you happen to need yours replaced.
... a long time ago.
