Last week, major Uroš Trinko told RTV Slovenia that military boots did not meet their expectations. As seen from the photographs, the boots got loose on one side and water came through – soldiers were constantly waking in the snow, and the temperatures in Norway’s Folldal were around 20 degrees Celsius below zero. As the soldiers told us, the Slovenian Armed Forces most likely anticipated what would happen, because right after they started experiencing problems with their footwear during their first exercise, they received a duck tape from their superiors and they used it to tape their boots. The boots were apparently not properly stored, so they started to fall apart on the side.

“I ensure you that there is nothing wrong with the shoe and they satisfy the requirements. This is an exaggeration. Of course, you feel cold if there’s minus 20 degrees Celsius. I get cold as well,” answered the Defence Minister Karl Erjavec. “If I’m correctly informed, they wear Alpina shoes – I have one of those at home and I would probably be cold at minus 20 degrees Celsius, but I would not complain.”
He also added that only one officer of the Slovenian Armed Forces complained about being cold, others did not say anything. And also, according to Erjavec, nobody got frostbite. Nevertheless, he requested an investigation and a comparison of how the soldiers of other armies were dressed during the exercise.

Frostbite already in February on Poček
This is another issue with military boots – in February 2018, six soldiers got frostbite during the exercise on Poček, due to improper footwear. The former Defense Minister then claimed that the boots of the Slovenian brand are in compliance with all prescribed conditions and that they bought them because they were the most affordable. One pair of boots was 80 euros. Those boots are currently discounted on their website and they cost 112 euros.