Mickey Mouse Corner is in Pobwon-ni, South Korea, near Camp Snow & Camp Irwin. I was at Camp Casey in 1960-70.

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Originally posted by NK402:
Anyone else here ever been to Mickey Mouse Corner and know the story of how it got its name?

YES I DO.. northern portion SOUTH KOREA just south of the DMZ.. story i heard was as a US ARMY TRUCK while in transit was boarded by 'SLICKY BOYS" when it slowed down to make a turn at a intersection...upon arrival at destination the cargo was GONE.. when I was there 1969/1970 CAMP SABRE (105mm howitzers) village of MUNSANI? it was common practice to make sure to have someone riding in back of covered vehicles be they cargo or enen trailers with preferaby pick ax handles as a deterant which I actually put into use more than once................drill sgt.

1973-1977 FORT GREELY/DELTA JUNCTION, ALASKA.. 110 miles east of FAIRBANKS, ALASKA.. assigned to the COLD REGIONS TEST CENTER... job was to test new equipment of all things from ammo/equipment/weapons/clothing etc....even tested a NEW type of ARCTIC sleeping bag laying on a frozen lake ice in the open.. woke up every hour on the hour by the test officer to ask if I was warm or cold......... one night testing some new night vision equipment temp reached -82*F below with chill factor of -127*F so the white m/m boots work if you stay mobile and you have to carry extra dry socks to keep feet dry.. if not feet can get frostbite.. not me but saw it happen............ drill sgt

Interesting to see slightly different versions of the same story. I remember well the slickie boys. I remember Bob Hope saying that hecause of slickie boys, while his plane was taxiing after landing, it changed hands three times.

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Originally posted by NK402:
Interesting to see slightly different versions of the same story. I remember well the slickie boys. I remember Bob Hope saying that hecause of slickie boys, while his plane was taxiing after landing, it changed hands three times.

never got to see BOB HOPE but did see numerous USO shows.. for 1 month assigned as a dedicated driver for several "Doughnut Dollies"
as they made their appointed visits to the smaller post/camps...... Christmas 1969 was the winner of a phone call HOME from the SEOUL USO for quessing how many jellybeans were in the big glass jug.they payed for overseas operator and 1st 3 minutes and I payed for the rest.. had 2weeks to have family ready and sitting by the home phone....OH THE MEMORIES ARE PRICELESS....... drill sgt.

I was issued a pair of them when I was in the army., (1955-1966) Did 9+ years of that time in Germany. Had some REALLY cold winters from time to time. We spent a lot of time on maneuvers, summer and winter. Got a lot of use out of those "mouse boots".

But, I had frozen my feet as a 15 year old, wading through 2 feet of snow to deliver newspapers. Comes when you have to pay room and board to live at home.

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Originally posted by cas:

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Originally posted by pbslinger:

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utilizes outdated technology and manufacturing processes which are no longer available within the U.S

I'm going to assume this means there is too much hand labor required in their construction making them too expensive to produce in the US. Otherwise what shoe/boot manufacturing process isn't available here?

If "not available here" means there isn't a current plant, are they saying one can't be built? I'm sure many military contracts involve new construction of a manufacturing plant. I'm pretty sure we have the technology to make something as high tech as shoes.

Could be they're made with some process/chemical that the EPA has issues with.

The Soldier systems link says they're made in Canada, and they're apparently expensive. I had a pair of th eblack ones in Germany, but it never got cold enough. If you forgot to leave the air valve open they could 'explode' in flight due to air pressure.

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Originally posted by SgtGold:

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Originally posted by cas:
Could be they're made with some process/chemical that the EPA has issues with.

The Soldier systems link says they're made in Canada, and they're apparently expensive. I had a pair of th eblack ones in Germany, but it never got cold enough. If you forgot to leave the air valve open they could 'explode' in flight due to air pressure.

There's two hang-ups with the Cold Weather boots, one is the actual manufacturing and the other is material sourcing. Right off the bat, there's very few domestic footwear manufactures remaining. There's a handful of unique craft factories but, as an industry, there's very little, which also means there's very few skilled workers to draw-on; footwear in-general is labor intensive. The wholesale business drives the train, while Belleville, Danner, Rocky and Thorogood are making uniform boots, the reality is those boots are of average quality at best, not terribly technical in design, partially compared to what you can get from an Italian or, German manufacturer who's background is in mountaineering.

The other larger issue, is the processing portion of the rubber. Not only does the manufacturer need to be familiar with rubber polymers and such, but, they need to have a background in the footwear business. The US doesn't have a extensive rubber-chemical business outside of medical, automotive, and industrial plumbing/conduit needs; in a perfect world, brands like Baffin and Sorel/Columbia would be invested in this, along with Bass Pro/Cabela's contract for private label. The reality is so few people need such robust footwear, and the Bunny Boot/Mukluk design has been functional enough that consumers and military program managers are content with 'good enough'.