Sole Searching: Choosing Tactical Footwear

A patrol officer writes in with a problem almost every first responder recognizes:

Boots that feel great at the start of shift…
Feet that are cooked by mid-shift…
Low back and knees that start complaining before the day is done.

And the worst part? Everyone at work has an opinion:

“Go heavier.”
“Go minimalist.”
“Just get insoles.”
“Just toughen up.”

In this episode, the Tactical Trio cuts through the noise and explains how first responders should actually choose tactical footwear based on what the job demands from their feet -  not trends, brand loyalty, or locker room advice.

This conversation connects load carriage, pavement time, sudden sprints, squad car entries/exits, and long standing shifts to what really matters in a boot or shoe. You’ll also learn how to tell whether the problem is truly the footwear… or the body wearing it.

In this episode, we cover:

• What police, fire, and EMS work actually demand from your feet
• How footwear influences knee, hip, and low back pain
• The difference between a footwear problem and a foot/ankle strength problem
• Why outsole grip and stability matter more than you think (don’t slip on scene)
• The role of calf strength, ankle control, and single-leg balance in foot fatigue
• Why rotating footwear is smarter than wearing one pair into the ground
• How often tactical footwear should really be replaced (hint: sooner than you think)
• How to safely explore minimalist options without wrecking your feet

This episode is essential listening for police officers, firefighters, paramedics, corrections, and military members who spend long hours on hard surfaces under load.

Link to article discussed: The Impact of Footwear on Occupational Task Performance and Musculoskeletal Injury Risk: A Scoping Review to Inform Tactical Footwear https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36078419/

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:02

Welcome to Ask the Tactical Trio, where your questions meet real-world experience. We're three ATs and strength coaches with over 45 years working with first responders.

SPEAKER_00 0:14

From health and resilience to performance, leadership, and longevity, you ask, we answer. The perspectives shared in this podcast are our own and are intended to support conversation and learning. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations we work with, serve, or are affiliated with. Real questions, real experience, real tactical wellness.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Let's get into it.

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Hey everyone, welcome back to Ask the Tactical Trio. I'm Tracy Toffner and I've got Anna August with me today. Becky Swan, unfortunately, is at the well, fortunately, unfortunately, I think it's I think it's fortunately that the Canadian Athletic Trainers is what the Canadian Athletic Trainers Association is working with her right now. They've got their annual conference taking place, and Becky's a very important uh person up there. And so, Becky, we're wishing you the best from the United States to Canada, hoping it is all going well. And so we've got a wonderful question today planned that came in. So again, thank you for sending your questions in. A simple email to ask the tactical trio at gmail.com. Um, bring those questions in and we're happy to answer them. So here's what we've got today, Anna. You ready? Ready. All right, dear Tactical Trio. I'm a patrol officer and I'm on my feet for long shifts, pavement, stairs, sudden sprints, gear, weight, getting in and out of the squad all day. And my boots feel great for the first few hours. Then by mid shift, my feet are really cooked and hurting. My low back starts barking, and my knees start to join in and get sore as well. Everyone at work has an opinion. Get heavier boots, go minimalistic, get insoles, just toughen up. So, my question to you is how should first responders actually choose footwear for the job? What matters most, and how do we know when the problem isn't the boot versus the body wearing it? Signed soul searching. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

Yeah, great, great question because any job where you have to be on your feet for a significant period of time and then you have the added load of the gear. So it's not just your body weight, it's x ray on top of that. Um, footwear is really important. So that's a that's a great question. Um I and it's really convenient because I just happened to do a deep dive or sort of deep dive on footwear today for um one of my officers who had a question. Um and he's got some special circumstances, but um, I did find one research study where they did a meta-analysis. And if you're not familiar with that, they looked at all the research that's out there and sort of summarized it for us about occupational footwear. And so they included fire, police, uh, nurses are included here. And uh and I think we can answer some of these questions. Um, so Tracy, do you have any thoughts that you want to start off with?

SPEAKER_02 3:16

Or I think, you know, because we're missing Becky and she's so good at this, maybe I'll I'll work through the first question. And so when we look at what he's really asking, here's kind of what I see. The first question I want to ask is what does your job actually demand from your feet and footwear, and how should that guide what you choose? You want to take that one first?

SPEAKER_01 3:40

Sure. So I think that's really important. I work for a department where we have uh I think every specialty except for equine. Uh and so different shoes demand different jobs. And so patrol, uh, I would say is based primarily on comfort. And even this research uh article backs that up, whereas uh a lot of pain and occupational footwear uh is due to just uncomfortable shoes. And that's gonna vary person to person based on weight, based on biomechanics, based on the shape of your arch. And so one thing's a a lot, uh, and this may be depending on your department, if they pay for your footwear and you only have a limited selection, that may be part of the problem. You may not have a good time or easy time trying on those shoes. But I I recommend almost treating it like a pair of running shoes where we you would go to a local running store and talk to somebody and try them on and stand and walk in them for a little bit to get a real feel for how uh how they fit your foot. And uh maybe even like athletic shoes, consider going half a size up above what you might go for a pair of dress shoes or even a pair of competitive sport shoes, because by the end of a 12 and a half hour or 24-hour shift, those those um feet are gonna swell a little bit and you're gonna need a little bit of extra room. So um comfort, um, even according to this article that I read is uh is key actually per for preventing foot pain and then preventing other compensations in your lower extremity due to that foot pain. Uh and it's really gonna depend on um on your specialty, like I said. So patrol, comfort is really important. If you're a canine officer, if you're a SWAT officer, if you're repelling, if you're marine patrol, then slipping and falling becomes a different thing because water is everywhere. And so you're gonna want to look at those outsoles a little more uh closely. Um, high top versus low top, also like some of my NPU neighborhood patrol officer, uh, who are um I don't want to call them bicycle cops because it's a different thing than the movie or than people tend to picture. Um, they're actually really tough, and I'm scared of them. Uh, but uh but a low top might do better for that because they're essentially on cross um hybrid bikes, um, biking a lot across town and uh and a high top might get really exhausting um for their feet and the weight of the shoe is important. I think in the question it mentions uh that you should get heavier shoes, and I would be curious to know what the people mean by that, because according to this research article, heavier shoes actually can lead to more injuries in your lower extremities over time. Um, and I think it's similar discussion, and this is for another podcast to the duty belt. Um our department's standard is a leather duty belt, which is wide um and a little bit stretchy over time. Uh, and a lot of people think switching to the nylon gear, the benefit is the difference in the weight, but the weight difference isn't as much as you might think. It's the uh the way that the nylon changes your biomechanics because it's a narrow belt. And I think it's the same way in shoes. I think um weight does make a difference, but also how flexible is your ankle? How flexible do you want your ankle to be? What kind of terrain are you operating over? What kind of obstacles are you navigating around? And so you have to kind of sit down and take inventory of all these questions to get an idea of um what kind of shoe you might need. And then also you have to look at your own foot. Do you have, and I and they laugh at me in the clinic all the time because I call them beautiful flat feet. And I don't know why. I have had, I know people are so embarrassed by their flat feet, and I don't know why. I don't have flat feet. I have the fun, rigid, high arch. Um, but I think flat feet are great, they just have a different set of needs that people understand a little bit less. Um, and they try to jam them into like really rigid arch support all the time, which may not be the may not be the answer to that. So you have to look at your feet. Um, you have to look at your activity, what you're doing, what your specialty is, um, and then you have to look at what makes you comfortable versus uh uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_02 7:52

Whoa, that was overload. Overload of information. Um, but let me see if I can try to sum it up. I was taking a couple of notes here along the way, and let's see if I can it can sum it up um just a little bit of what you said.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

I don't even know why you guys let me play on the best podcast because I forget the question and then I just start talking about things that seem relevant and hope everybody can keep up. So I'm really I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_02 8:18

And I I think you're doing you're doing just fine. So here's what here's what I heard, and I absolutely agree with you that it is not a perfect answer for everybody. The big thing is, and I heard you say this is one, you know, think about how tight that shoe is on your foot. Think about when you're picking out your shoe and trying it on. Um, the general guideline is later in the day, right? Later in the day when your feet are its largest, that's usually when you want to try shoes on. I heard you say things like think about the socks that you're wearing, consider the way that the the tread is on the bottom of the shoe. And I would echo that in the paramedic space. We're always talking about like, you know, some of these homes that they're walking into where, you know, it's a hoarder or there's potentially needles on the ground. Like you want to make sure you've got a thick enough sole to be able to protect your foot in that perspective. And then I'm also with you on the the ankle mobility aspect of it. Some thrive in a high boot and some thrive in a lower profile shoe, again, just depending on the foot that you have and you know what you're essentially trying to do with it. And so I I think maybe maybe we'll come back to this at the end because I have a feeling it's gonna get answered. But when you think about kind of a checklist, what is like the one thing on a checklist that every operator should do for their footwear and that they should be looking at? Do you have an idea of any any of those?

SPEAKER_01 9:53

Any idea of what that would look like? Do you so just so I understand the question correctly, and Becky is certainly welcome to edit any of this out? Um but do you want one item on the checklist, like the most important item, or do you want the whole checklist?

SPEAKER_02 10:08

No, tell me what you think the most important item is. If you're if if I'm an operator and I'm picking out a shoe right now, what's the first thing I should be looking at on that shoe before I even consider making trying it on? So I think, oh, before you try it on? Yeah. So, like, say I'm at the shoe store and I see I'm going to pick out a shoe. I listen to this. I'm to you're gonna learn about all the reasons why you should have a good fitting shoe. And I go there, and what's the first thing I should do before I make my selection? Like it's the end of the day, I've got the socks on that I'm gonna wear for work, and I'm looking down the aisle at the boots. Is there some sort of criteria that I should be looking at?

SPEAKER_01 10:54

I think that um that's a hard question. Um because once you try it on, I think comfort really is very important. And uh even according to this research article, comfort and pain and then compensation and where you tend to have those pains, that is really important. But before you try the shoe on, I think uh, of course, your departmental requirements matter. Um, officially in my department, we have to have shinable shoes uh on patrol. And so uh so if you can't shine the toe of your shoe, it doesn't matter how comfortable it is, it's out of regulation. And so please make sure that you understand this is my disclaimer. Uh please make sure you understand what your departmental requirements are for whatever type of shoe you're gonna wear. Um, beyond that, I would go with uh outsole just by looking at them and how much uh you anticipate like traversing obstacles or being in slick environments where you're gonna slip and fall. And so sort of the grippiness is the non-technical term for that is the outsole and what it looks like. And uh some people need gripper, like I said, Marine Patrol for us, those guys are on a boat all day long. There's water everywhere. Um, during the winter, the right type of shoe might be different than during the summer because around here in Virginia, we get uh, well, and where Tracy is in Wisconsin for sure, gets a lot of snow and ice. And I joke all the time with officers, but we have like a snow and ice slip and fall season. And then it becomes really important how grippy those shoes are and how well they do when you're getting out of a patrol car very quickly um in wet or icy conditions. Uh and so so I guess without trying them on, that's one of the first things I would look at. But you might also consider whether to go high, like super high, high, or mid or low uh in terms of the top of the shoe itself. And it has been shown um in athletic research, and most of this research has been done in basketball shoes, so the grippiness of the the outsole doesn't necessarily uh come into play. And if you're wondering what outsole is, it's just the bottom of the shoe that contacts the ground. Um, but the height of of the boot itself, um sometimes it's good to have. Like if you're you know running tracks out in the wilderness, then it may be good to have a higher or a mid-level um uh shaft on that shoe for support uh that may minimize injury. Um, it's not gonna prevent all your injuries, but it may minimize angel ankle injury if you get in an unstable situation. Um and so that might be the other thing I look at. And again, like I think if you're doing, if you're on the bike team, then having a low top shoe is uh gonna be more comfortable for you. If you're um search and rescue, if you're uh canine, if you're SWAT, then having a higher, higher topshoe is gonna be more effective and more protective for you.

SPEAKER_02 14:02

You know, I love the the part on the the discomfort side of it, and maybe that that kind of leaves us into part two of this discussion is whether pain or discomfort is actually coming from the footwear or from the issues in the body instead. And so is there a way that you can tell the difference between one or the other that you found?

SPEAKER_01 14:25

Oh, that's a tough one. I think that um I think that it's probably always a combination of the two. And I don't have any research to back that up, but you should know if you have a history, if you have a history of ankle surgery, um, significant ankle sprains. I think ankle chronic ankle instability is really underdiagnosed because so many of us play sports when we're young. And, you know, I have so many people come into my clinic and they're like, well, I've sprained my right and left ankle a thousand times, so I've never seen a doctor for it. And now just sometimes they ache and sometimes they hurt. Um, I think sometimes that's the body and not the shoe. Um, but we uh have treated ankle sprains even in sports medicine for a long time as if they're no big deal. And it turns out as we get older, they're a little bit of a bigger deal than we thought. And they can create impingements and they can create chronic instability that will create pain that a shoe is not gonna fix. Um I think that uh you also run into you the body being the problem if just your general biomechanics are not great, uh, which is there's no way for me to like really drill down on that effectively on this podcast. Um, but if you've got a lot of knee valgus where your knees sort of running towards each other um anytime you bend them, um, then I think a lot of the pain may be coming from up higher in your hips and your knees, and you need to look at your core, which is anything from your nipples to your knees, and make sure that your glutes are doing their job and make sure that your ankles are doing their job in terms of stabilization. So um, so I use any reason, like I'll say let's fix your shoes and let's fix your body. Um, and so if there's any doubt uh whether or not it's the shoe, then find someone who can help you also take a look at sort of your overall biomechanics. Because shoes can do some uh to help your biomechanics, but they're gonna be uh I would say more of a supplement than a like solving the problem type aid, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 16:23

Yeah, I think that makes a ton of sense. One of the things that I like to do with folks is uh have them do some single leg or some functionality, like single leg balance or some functionality in their shoes to see how it's oper how their body is feeling, and then take the shoes off and then have them repeat the same tests and see if we've got some of those same pinch points and such going on. And so that's a great way if you're on your own, is put your shoes on, take your shoes off, and kind of see if there's some sort of stress or factor that's coming into um some of those aspects of it.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

That's a fantastic suggestion. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

You know, one of the things that he asked in this uh question is minimalistic shoes. I what are your thoughts on that? Minimalistic shoes while I do. I mean, I got my opinions on my firefighters and paramedics, but I would love to hear your law enforcement.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

Okay. So I actually I have a firearms instructor who's big on the minimal minimalist shoes. Um, shout out to that firearms instructor in case he's listening. Um, and I'm a runner, so I've had this debate in my head, and I've read Born to Run, uh, which is a great book, and uh and talks about minimalist shoes. And I really just think it depends on the person. And like if you look at this research article, and just to give credit to this research article, I'll give you the title of it. If you want to Google it, you can. It is called The Impact of Footwear on Occupational Task Performance and Musculoskeletal Injury Risk, a scoping review to inform tactical footwear. Um, Rob Orr, actually, I just realized is on it. So of course he is. Shout out to Rob Or. Shout out to Rob Or.

SPEAKER_02 17:57

We'll put that link in the show notes too for listeners.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

Has done all the research on all the things. Um, but they actually mention minimalist footwear as leading to fewer injuries because, and I think to quote uh Becky, uh, hopefully this is okay in our chat. She calls uh shoes the sensory deprivation chambers.

SPEAKER_02 18:19

She does.

SPEAKER_01 18:20

And uh and there's some truth to that. Um, they do sort of take some of the heat off of our feet and the nerves in our feet and the proprioceptors for navigating the world around them. Um, and so there are benefits to minimalist footwear, but also if you try to transition straight from uh regular footwear to minimalist footwear, you're probably gonna hurt yourself. Um, when that born to run book came out for runners and everybody was trying to run barefoot all of a sudden, I had all kinds of injuries. I think I was still working in the collegiate environment at that some point at that point, but all of our cross-country runners were like, we're running barefoot now. And I uh and I just was bagging them, like let's transition out slowly. Um, uh because our shoes have a um a drop in them. So the distance between the ground and your the ball of your foot and the ground and your heel is typically somewhere between nine and 12 millimeters, which makes a real difference to your Achilles tendon when suddenly you take that difference away. And no one uh in the tactile space like to think likes to think of their boots being heeled, except for maybe our motor officers, our motor officers have to wear very pretty leather heeled boots. Um and uh, but everybody else I think doesn't really think about that. But we're all wearing a little bit of a lift under our heel if we're wearing normal shoes. And if you suddenly drop that out from under your heel, your Achilles has to travel a further distance to the ground and can get real angry real quick. And so I highly, highly recommend if you're gonna transition to a minimalist or a zero drop shoe that you do it slowly over time and allow that Achilles to adjust to that. Um, the other thing that's missing in a minimalist shoe uh that I that I'm concerned about that just needs adjustment time. I'm not saying you can never do it, although I would maybe suggest that some of my beautiful flat-footed people never do it. Um is uh the art support. Um and if you don't have strong intrinsic muscles, your foot has been in those sensory deprivation chamber chambers for so long. We may be able to get you some like really weird-looking but really effective foot exercises to help those tiny muscles in your foot. Like if you think about your foot, um, we tend not to think about it as a fine motor um area in terms of little muscles that do little things like in our hands, but there's a lot of similarities there. And there's little muscles that do some of that finite balance. That's the first place where our body uh really works to keep us upright so we don't fall over. And sometimes they just need some extra practice before we move into a minimalist shoe.

SPEAKER_02 20:50

Everyone should be doing toe yoga. Love my toe yoga. So, for listeners, if you don't know what toe yoga is, essentially what you do is you lift your big toe while the other toes stay down, like to the best of your ability. Then you put the big toe down and then you lift the other four toes up. And you just want to do that like 10, 15, you know, maybe 20 times. And it's called toe yoga. Um, one of my favorites. I also like uh the towel scrunches, that's one of my favorite ones for building intrinsic muscles. And so for a towel scrunch, essentially you take uh one of your hand towels from the bathroom, you put it on the ground, and you use your toe, your toes to pull the tower, the towel, the towel. Gosh, I'm struggling. Pull the towel towards you or or inward, I guess. And then uh you kind of straighten it out with the other foot. And you could do that like two to five times just to try to build and you know, work that scrunchiness um of the toes. So, Annie, got any favorite exercises for intrinsic uh muscle building?

SPEAKER_01 21:52

So I really try, uh, and it's hard because if you haven't done these, so I'm really great at them on my right foot because that's usually the foot I demonstrate. With um and my left foot I can't do toe yoga with. I have to really think hard about it. And so officers will get discouraged real quick because they're like, My toes can't do that. And I'm like, well, they can. You just have to practice. Um, so uh foot doming or the short foot uh we try to do, um, where you try to get your metatarsal heads moving back towards your heel without lifting your toes off the ground and without scrunching, um, or just single leg balance, single leg balance on a pad that will get your foot intrinsic working. Um uh sometimes it's as thin as a yoga mat, is where we start in terms of like unquote unquote unstable surfaces. Um, but just trying to keep your um arch fairly stable while you stand on one leg will do a lot for those little intrinsic muscles of your foot and and the muscle of your ankle. But but you already listed all the toe yoga and stuff that have everybody to do.

SPEAKER_02 22:54

Those are good ones. Yeah. All right. So coming into the last part of uh soul searching's question is how do you know when to replace your footwear? Let's go, let's go replace, maintain. I even got some firefighters that rotate their footwear. What are your thoughts on that? How are you feeling about that one?

SPEAKER_01 23:18

I am a huge fan of footwear rotation. That's something that they tell runners to do. So I always have two pairs of running shoes going. Um, I don't do the same with my work shoes, and I probably should um because I do spend a lot of time on my feet, but I am a big, big, big fan of rotation, uh of footwear. And in terms of like timing for replacement, this is where I'm gonna sound like a real hippie, but you'll feel it in your body. Um, your you'll be tired, your legs, your whole lower extremity will be tired, more tired. I have adult grammar, I promise. Um you'll be more tired at the end of the shift, you'll feel a little bit more achy. And so if you're paying attention to the signals your body is giving you, you'll kind of know when it's time. Um if we go off sort of the running shoe model and wear that rubber, because what happens, it's it's not necessarily the cushioning um inside is the cushioning outside. Um, so you have that outsole, and then you have another layer that provides cushioning, and then you have the insole. And we can replace the insoles, and sometimes that's good enough to extend the life of a pair of shoes, because I know attack boots are expensive, um, so running shoes. And so you kind of extend the life, but all the outside stuff on the shoe uh is my understanding the the life of that is about six months tops, and then it just gets really compressed. Um, and and I would guess it may be even within the four to six month range for some of our operators because of the amount of weight their gear adds to their body weight. And so um, so pay attention to the signals your body is giving you and then kind of keep a clock on it. Um, it's a little bit harder, like running shoes. I can keep a mileage counter on. My garment has a part in the app where you know exactly how many miles the shoes have done and about when they're ready to get replaced. But what I've found for myself over a lifetime is just like if I feel extra tired after a run that shouldn't make me feel extra tired and my joints are really achy, then it's time. It's time to go find a new pair of shoes.

SPEAKER_02 25:17

Um that's the same, that's the same thing I do. When my feet start hurting or my knees start hurting more than they should after exercise or a day of wearing them, it is time to replace them. So I'm with you on that one.

SPEAKER_01 25:31

Our bodies are so fantastic, they tell us all kinds of things. It's just a matter of taking a breath and taking a beat and paying attention.

SPEAKER_02 25:38

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

Which I think we're all universally bad at. So no shame. I am also bad at that.

SPEAKER_02 25:44

Me too. I just replaced my shoes and I was like, oh, I bought these like seven months ago. They should have been replaced a while ago. But timing and kids are sometimes getting.

SPEAKER_01 25:53

Oh my goodness. Yeah, you know what all of my work shoes are right now.

SPEAKER_02 25:58

All right, let me see if I can sum this up for listeners today. So if you've been listening along to our soul searching question, um, these are the five things an operator should do right now to check their footwear. One, make sure you're fitting your shoes or buying a new pair with duty socks on. And at the end of the day, that is when your feet are the largest. That is the best time to go look for a new pair of boots, shoes, whatever it may be. Outer sole is very, very important. You do not want to fall. So making sure you have a good outer sole is um number two on our list. And Anna, pop it if I forget anything. Um, when you buy shoes, test them, test the single leg balance, test ankle and calf functions prior to um going barefoot and then going in the shoe and making sure everything's fitting right before you walk out. In fact, I actually run around the store. I and many of you know I'm not a runner, but I run around the store in my shoes to see how they feel before I actually leave the store and make my kids do it too.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

So I think that's so important in here. I think a lot of people will say, Well, this discomfort is gonna go away when I break them in. Um, and I think it's not.

SPEAKER_02 27:11

You blistered in the store.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

In the store, you're not gonna be comfortable out of the store. So try a size up, try a size down, try a different brand. Try like if you're not comfortable in the store, you're probably not gonna be comfortable three weeks later.

SPEAKER_02 27:24

Like it. Um, replace your current shoes, boots every four-ish months. Listen to your body, is really the gold standard. And as Anne and I both agree, rotation is a better plan. So give your boots a break, give them some air, buy two pairs, make it happen. Just do it. Okay, just buckle down and do it. I know the department gives you money for your shoes.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

And so, well, in case you're wondering why, it's because you'll always have one pair of shoes that's at the that's at that perfect, broken in, comfortable, still supportive, cushion-y moment, um, while you're also working on breaking in the other pair of shoes. So it's it's actually really nice.

SPEAKER_02 28:06

Fantastic. And then the last part of this is do some toe yoga. Get those, get those feet some air, wiggle your toes, you know, consider the single leg balance, test to start building foot strength. That's an excellent exercise, anyways, because as you get older, your balance starts to go away. My number one for the single leg balance is when in the morning when you're brushing your teeth for the American Dental Association guidelines of two minutes for two minutes, one minute on the right foot, one minute on the left foot every day, and you'll be golden.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

I tell people that all the time. Me too.

SPEAKER_02 28:41

All the time.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

The toothbrushing thing is amazing. Um, and also it's okay to make a change in footwear. Like if you're curious, curious about the minimalist footwear, make that just make that change gradually. It's all that I ask. Because your body is gonna need some time to get used to a zero drop shoe or suddenly having no cushioning at all. And so the tow yoga can help with that to a certain extent. But um, if you're curious about that, make that change gradually. Maybe make that change in your off time first and then gradually bring it into your work life um to see how that works for you. Um, and again, make sure you check your agency rules on what type of footwear you're allowed to have. Um, because just because Tracy and Becky and I might want to run around barefoot all the time doesn't mean you're allowed to do that. Also, OSHA has guidelines, so they do um you're probably gonna need, you know, and some of my specialties steel toad footwear, which is a whole different conversation.

SPEAKER_02 29:40

We've got so many conversations just making a list.

SPEAKER_01 29:43

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:44

Um, well, this is gonna roll us into our fun question of the day. And I thought I'd have a little fun with it because we're talking about footwear. And so, Anna, if you could wear one type of footwear for the rest of your life, what would you choose?

SPEAKER_01 30:00

Uh, so here I go again, advertising for companies that aren't actually sponsoring for us. But I'm a Southern California kid, so I have been wearing rainbows uh for years, and if you know, you know. Um, but they're a type of flip-flop or thong um that are 100% leather. They multi your foot, they last for 900 years. Um, they have a lifetime warranty. They're very, they're the closest thing to being barefoot, but they have some good art support for high arch people like me.

SPEAKER_02 30:27

And I can hear some foot people going, Oh my goodness, no flip-flops have I was just thinking, I was like, oh my God, if you could hear rush from one of my friends, the foot guy, he would just be throwing them at you right now. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:39

But I'm telling you, I have been wearing rainbows for decades, and I love them. And I have more pairs than I'd like to admit to in my closet right now, and uh, and I will never stop wearing them.

SPEAKER_02 30:50

It's funny. I love it. Well, since we're talking about the the summer shoe wear, um, I'm I'm with you. I'm I'm more on the um not a flip-flop. You not see this girl on a flip-flop, but I do like Birken socks. Um, I love their arch support. And again, they're not sponsoring this podcast in any way, but I do like the arch supports. Hi, everybody. If you're listening, we can um but I do like sponsor us rainbows. Yeah, I do like it. Um, you also find me if at home I'm almost always barefoot running around. Um, I grew up uh by the water, um, walking on gravel all day long. So most of the times I am barefoot um when I am home, and then at work, obviously I'm in a supported work-appropriate shoe. But yeah, too fun. I love that we're both like beachy shoes. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 31:37

Yeah, yeah. Well, and I am a no shoes in the house person, so I am barefooted in public. Yeah. And just so, like Becky is busy doing important things in Canada, but she did take the time out to let us know that her selection is also uh bare feet all the way. Um, and that's where her sensory deprivation comment came regarding shoes themselves. So um, so Becky is here with us in spirit. In spirit, loving that barefoot life.

SPEAKER_02 32:06

Fantastic. Well, thanks, listeners, for joining us today on Ask the Tactical Trio. And again, if you've got questions, feel free to send them our way. We look forward to seeing you on the next one. Have a great day. Thanks for being here with us today.

SPEAKER_00 32:23

If you have a question, make sure you send it in. We are super excited to build this with you. This is Ask the Tactical Trio.