My Father was in Africa and in the middle east in the 50'ies and 60'ies. I remember him telling about how arabs would usually take off their boots and flee the scene in combat situations. I assumed he was joking, but maybe not...
On uneven ground in a combat zone, littered with god knows what and where a broken ankle might mean death? Boots please.
In that case, I would be out of place to assume you haven't experimented much with barefoot running :-)
> On uneven ground in a combat zone, littered with god knows what and where a broken ankle might mean death? Boots please.
That is a good point, tho I don't see boots making you faster , but I concede that the ankle support and steel toes would certainly be safer, and you're gonna be a lot slower with a broken ankle. So I still think barefoot you'd be faster, tho certainly less safe. If I were fleeing in battle, I might would rather gamble my safety for some speed, but it's probably highly situational. I suspect I've just wasted a lot of time analyzing a very unlikely scenario :-)