Big Red Car here. It’s going to be 70F and sunny in the ATX. How about where you live?

I bet you would like our Texas winter season. Sorry, the Big Red Car can get really obnoxious at times like this. I hate myself for it sometimes. Sunscreen!

So, The Boss and I were talking to a CEO who was having trouble with a change that was forced upon him. Struggling really.

The Boss told him, “Adapt and drive on.”

The CEO made a face. “Adapt?”

Corcoran jump boots

The Corcoran jump boot is the sole and exclusive domain of paratroopers. You have to be at the very least a five jump “commando” to be able to buy and wear Corcoran jump boots in the Army. Back in the day, when you got your jump wings at the end of your fifth jump, the lads “pounded” them into your chest with the pins drawing a bit of blood. Brutal, barbaric ritual but then you were joining that “death from the skies” fraternity and one has to expect a little blood in that line of work. When you reported to your unit, they often “wetted” them down with beer. It is a great tradition of the Airborne.

You don’t have those jump wings on your chest and you will catch a lot of shit about wearing those Corcorans. Some paratrooper may knock you down, unlace your boots, and confiscate them.

The Corcoran jump boot goes back to the “brown boot” Army of World War II vintage wherein proud units like the 101st Airborne, 82nd Airborne, 11th, 13th, 17th Airborne divisions wore them. [I am overlooking the many separate Parachute Infantry Regiments and such units as Parachute Artillery and combat engineers. Sorry. No disrespect intended.]

Those paratroopers wore brown Corcorans. Jumping out of perfectly good airplanes has only been a part of the doctrine since 1940, so this bunch made up the rules.

How do you break in Corcoran jump boots, Big Red Car?

Ahhh, herein lies the story for today. When The Boss was a fledgling five jump commando and got his first set of Corcorans, a salty sergeant told him the secret.

Put the boots on and sit in a bathtub with them to keep you company until they are soaked and the leather pliable. Seems like heresy to get leather boots wet, no?

The sergeant did not elaborate and say whether The Boss was supposed to wash where the sun didn’t shine while he was sitting there. The Boss, a green second lieutenant, didn’t ask the sergeant because, well, he was a second lieutenant and knew enough not to be badgering real soldiers. He just laced up his boots and got into the bathtub.

Then, change your socks and wear them gloriously wet for a day. By the end of the day, the boots will be molded to your feet and that stiffness will be gone and in its place will be a boot that is perfectly adapted to our feet.

What does the boot do, Big Red Car. Adapt?

Yes, grasshopper. The boot adapts because you made it adapt.

What’s the lesson, Big Red Car?

The lesson, leg grasshopper,  is that CEOs must be able to adapt both to changing situations but also at the injection of new techniques, new tools, new processes into their business.

[A “leg” is a straight leg meaning a soldier who doesn’t blouse his combat uniform like paratroopers. A leg is usually called a “dirty” leg because, well, they are dirty creatures. You do not want your sister to marry a dirty leg, do you?]

A good CEO will know it when they see it. It will be obvious and they will say, “Let’s just adapt the enterprise to this changed condition. Get into that bathtub and soak those new boots and adapt.”

Good story, Big Red Car, but what do you actually know about Corcoran jump boots?

Here is a picture of The Boss overseas in his well-adapted Corcoran jump boots, dirty from landing in a rice paddy, and in his green lieutenant glory.

You will not be able to smell it but if you could you would say, “Hmmm, that doesn’t smell like dirt, Big Red Car.” That is because it is something called “night soil” and night soil is not something that is discussed in polite company.

The Boss went to some trouble not to execute a PLF (parachute landing fall) as it would have entailed rolling in the …………………….. night soil. He landed standing up and “stuck” the landing as evidenced by the night soil on his boots.

So, yes, The Boss and the Big Red Car know something about Corcoran jump boots, you dirty leg. Adapt. Drive on. Overcome. Fight. Win. [Do not let your sister marry a dirty leg.]

But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red Car. A dirty leg my own self. Be good to yourself. You deserve it even if you are a dirty, nasty leg.