Men were glad to do away with their puttees, which Private H. J. Youngman of the London Rifle Brigade viewed as ‘a stupid piece of clothing,’ and that it was ‘all too good that they have been abandoned.’ When professionals suggested soldiers wear multiple pairs of socks on rotation, however, it relied on the ability to find ample time to take their boots off in the trenches. This was not a simple undertaking. Further, when the men wore pairs of socks on rotation, constant rain meant there was no way both the soldier and their socks were going to stay dry. Lieutenant Butlin wrote ‘the weather was rather bad…in fact I never got dry again the whole time.’ The socks stored in their kits were just as wet as those on their feet. Even when soldiers