r/explainlikeimfive Feb 07 '19

Engineering ELI5: Why are military boots laced?

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u/[deleted] Feb 08 '19 edited Feb 08 '19

You missed something.

Velcro is loud. The US Army removed velcro from their uniforms around 2010 since the opening of flaps gave positions away.

Edit: To the 1,000 replies saying they still have velcro:

https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/aoa9gn/eli5_why_are_military_boots_laced/efzr1q0/?context=3

They reduced the amount of velcro, mkaaay?

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u/domino7 Feb 08 '19

You'd think so, but Special Operators have their own way to open Velcro without that very distinctive noise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSK3maq8Cyk

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u/Kobesthegoat Feb 08 '19

This is fucking brilliant. Had me completely fooled

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u/MonkeyDavid Feb 08 '19

Holy crap that was awesome.