Shoes

So as others have already posted about today's platoon experience, this post may not be too different. I think the thing that stood out the most about dressing as a World War I soldier was the shoes. Of course a female would say that... but honestly, I think the whole experience would have been a bit easier with the super comfortable shoes that we have today. I was given brand spanking new boots that rose to just above the ankle. They were so stiff and before we even began the march, my feet hurt. Regrettably, I complained so much about how much they hurt.

Later, the shoes experience reminded me of the movie All Quiet on the Western Front (thanks Sven for taking that title for your blog post). I never read the book but in the movie, one boy gets an amazing pair of leather boots from his family that all the other boys just drool over. The boy who owns the boots dies, and another boy picks them up and starts wearing them. Then that boy dies and the movie repeatedly shoots scenes of men wearing those boots falling to the ground. It almost seemed the the boots were a bad omen and yet all of the boys still wanted to wear the boots. I could actually understand today at wanting comfortable boots at any cost.

Shaylene Phillips