What You Need to Know When a Blister Could End Your OCS

With all the humps (forced marches) at OCS, and running in boots, and in wet conditions, my feet never looked worse than as a candidate. Here is my back and forth with an applicant who is getting a pre-OCS practice hump scheduled right after he overdid it in his boots:

How can I heal a blister overnight?

I am going on a mandatory hike tomorrow to train for Marine Corps OCS. Two days ago while breaking in my combat boots, what was a “pump bump” turned into a blood blister the size of a quarter on the back of my lower heel.

I made a cut with a knife at the bottom of it to let all the blood out but it still hurts like hell and I can barely walk.

I’m considering just tearing all the skin off & putting hella bandaids on it or putting a liquid bandaid on the raw skin.

I’m not concerned about any initial pain, I’ll do whatever, I just dont want this to effect my performance tomorrow.

Any suggestions would be very helpful

Don’t Let This Be You!

Response

I’ve been in your shoes before, and here’s what worked for me:

-Drain it and clean thoroughly (done)
-Allow to completely dry
-Apply superglue to form a callous
-Dry
-Don’t use a bandaid, right before the hump apply Bodyglide or similar product
-Apply a topical pain reliever like tiger balm or bengay
-Take motrin or similar to help with the pain and any swelling
-Wear sock liners!

And remember getting through OCS will require lots of pain tolerance so enjoy a little taste of mental toughness to come. Good luck and Semper Fi

Bengay
Bring this with you to OCS and you’ll be a popular candidate
BodyGlide
Buy BodyGlide and use it–or regret it!

Leave a Reply