27d • Tradecraft
"Sole Survival" The Grey Man's Guide to Tactical Footwear Preparation
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"Sole Survival"
The Grey Man's Guide to Tactical Footwear Preparation
Why Escape Shoes?
I personally spend more time on this part of my operational gear for a few reasons. One being that historically speaking, a hostage’s shoes are rarely taken, in fact if the hostage takers care anything about the health of the captive, the shoes are traditionally the last clothing item taken from them. Jumpsuits come in 1 size fits most, but shoes do not.
Additionally, although shoes may be inspected and even taken, they will likely be overlooked and left for the initial capture. (When an initial hasty search, may be conducted, depending on how experienced and thorough the captors are)
And last but not least, in the many times that I’ve participated in hostage prevention training, I can almost always get to my shoes, whether my hands are bound front or back. There are of course exceptions, but due to a combined mobility of legs and arms, I can usually reach them if I need to.
Operationally Effective
First escape shoes should blend into your environment. Are you attending a business conference or black-tie dinner? Your shoes need to match. Are you going to the front lines of a combat zone? Then don’t take your running shoes. Just like any part of your clothing line, your shoes should fit the part and not stand out while providing maximum mobility and support, and oh yeah, they should be stinking comfortable as well.
With this in mind, you might need to outfit several different pairs of shoes/boots to match your most likely circumstances and activity. But it starts with having the appropriate footwear to match the situation.
Enhanced Laces
Next, I prefer any shoe with laces as opposed to one without for this reason. Laces themselves can serve as the most expedient and effective friction saw to cut though restraints. Of course not all laces are created alike, especially for the purposes of sawing through flex cuffs or synthetic rope. Almost any off the shelf shoe lace falls apart before cutting through plastic based restraints, and most boot laces aren’t much better.
There are 3 quality alternatives.
1. Kevlar or fireman’s laces. These hold up to the heat exceptionally well and disperse it sufficiently that they rank #1 on the toughness chart. They can be store bought and color matched to your boot of choice.
2. Survival cord. These are paracord derivatives that are able to withstand not only 550 working lbs of pressure but are tested to 660lbs due to the 3 extra strands besides the standard 7 synthetic internal strands. One is a small gauge wire, the second is monofilament line and the third is a fire tinder alternative. Besides being able to use these extra materials to set trip lines, snares, fish or start fires, the cordage it’s self is just a bit stouter.
3. Paracord variant. The military rated “550” cord is excellent for shoelaces and should be as long as possible to facilitate “bicycling” maneuver. 3 feet of cordage is bare minimum and 4 is preferred. If it’s untenable to have laces this long, then consider simply tying extra under the lace but over the tung of the boot for ease of access. But remember there are smaller variations of this cordage, if “550” rated is too large and conspicuous, there are “275 lbs” rating and smaller as well that still serve as effective laces that can cut through man made materials when needed. But for our purposes, of re-purposing it, the thicker and longer the better.
It goes without saying that the color needs to match the shoe. OD green doesn’t go with everything like black does.
Escape Tools
Favorite improvement I like to do with shoes is add handcuff key shoe laces tips. Small, metal (They won’t snap like plastic ones do) and concealable. They should be covered with the small rubber casing provided, heat treated shrink wrap or at least electrical tape in a pinch. You can simply add one, but for uniformity I like to add them to all of my lace tips. It’s not unusual to have metal tips, or rubber casing at the end of laces. This is very hard to detect even for an investigator who knows what to look for.
Many shoes can have a small razor blade added either in the sole, or seam near the top of an ankle boot. Of course flat escape tools of almost any type can be slipped under the insole. I like to add small laminated reference cards. This could be a small map of the area, encrypted contact cards with address or phone numbers or cash etc.
Remember in a hostage escape situation, you’ll not only likely need to escape but also evade. Sometimes a map and cash is worth it’s weight in gold. Along with that is an area study and knowing your operational environment… but I digress.
Additionally, if you really want to go full James Bond, you can find insoles with hard cases incorporated into the design so you can stash all kinds of aids for E and E into it. Although nifty, I don’t think this is necessary.
What else could you hide in your shoes?
Survival items like fishing line, fish hooks, Fresnel lens, micro compass, mini ferro rod, tinder, micro signal mirror, micro chem stick, button light, IR reflective tabs, etc.
Escape items like pics, shims, handcuff keys, micro blade/saw, diamond file, tensioning tool, 100lbs test Kevlar cord, braided wire saw, poly Carbin shank, fixed blade, percaline glass breaking bead, etc.
Evasion items like maps, local currency, credit card, calling card, wireless tag, encrypted address/contact card, language aid, passport copy, encrypted thumb drive/SD card etc.
At the end of the day, what you should carry depends as much on your operational environment as it does on your skills. What can get you the farthest the fastest in a desperate situation? Can you hide that in your boots without it becoming a pebble in your shoe or looking like a wart on a dog’s nose?
Hiding them becomes as in-depth and creative as you want to get. You can slice a seam open and slip a slim tool inside, or duct tape something to the tread of your boot (under the arch so you are walking on it) I’ve seen some take a hot needle and burn a hole into heel, then slip a shim in it and cover it with shoe goo and paint over it.
Some boots offer enough of a tung or gromet overlay that there’s enough space to hide tools underneath a flap of leather etc. While hiking and business shoes offer significantly less real estate than a logging boot, it comes down to your creativity. Is there a label that you can hide something under the tung without creating a blister? It’s your feet, so be sure to test it before you step off for overseas travel.
Also I highly recommend you test your shoes with sprinting full out to ensure you don’t leave a collection of secret agent tools in your wake. And it bears mentioning that I’ve personally hidden escape tools all over my person before and then forgotten some of the locations and items. If you have multiple sets of shoes, it’s best to keep the placement and tools the same and review what you have as frequently as you need to remember, as well as doing a quick function check before the start of your trip or day to ensure something hasn’t shaken out and you don’t need to replace anything.
Happy trails.
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"Sole Survival" The Grey Man's Guide to Tactical Footwear Preparation
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