# Foot Care



## UberCree (17 Apr 2006)

I am copying from elsewhere (with his permission) a detailed explanation of foot care from an SF medic.  This is a good source of info.  


Here you go. 

1. when you clip your toenails, you want to ensure that you use a nail clipper with STRAIGHT EDGES.

If you look at your standard nail clipper, the edges are almost always shaped in a half-moon configuration, like an arc. Those are fingernail clippers, and should be used only on fingernails. 

Toenail clippers are always straight. If they are not straight, they are not for toenails. You can use scissors, or whatever, but it is best to use straight toenail clippers because using scissors requires expertise and know-how and a deft hand and if you use a real sharp pair (as you must for them to work correctly) you can stab the shit out of yourself if your buddies bitchslap you while you are taking care of your shit or if you flinch or shake because you're drunk or whatever. 

Straight nail clippers work best on feet, and you just need to do whatever is necessary to find a couple of pair. 

2. Straight toenail clippers are LARGER than standard clippers. You have to look hard at the stuff sold at the PX or wherever you are buying your foot care gear. Make sure they are sharp as hell, and that they have a good wide set of handles. Spend more for good quality, and don't be afraid to really bust out the green and buy a good pair of GERMAN clippers. Those fuckers make shit like that better than anyone else. 

3. Toenails should ALWAYS be cut STRAIGHT ACROSS, NEVER IN AN ARC. Look at your fingernails. Typically, for most people who are not genetically one step descended from apes, fingernails are curved. Toenails can be curved, if you are an idiot and have not TRAINED them to grow straight, but having curved toenails is like begging to be ****ed up the ass. You will get ingrown toenails, and those mother****ers hurt real, real bad. 

4. When I say that toenails need to be cut straight across, I mean just that. You will see that the nail itself will probably end up being longer at the ends where they protrude from the toe bed, and that is fine. They can be shorter at the center, as long as they are straight across. Cutting them in this way, training them to grow this way, is intended to help prevent them from growing into the SIDES of your toe beds. 

5. You may need to get under the toenails at the edges, and work under them to ensure that they do not dig into the sides of your toes. Just work with them on a daily basis to help guide them where you want them to go. If your shit is too ****ed up, go to a podiatrist, explain what you are doing and why, and ask him for his advice. He may be able to just yank the ****ers so you can start over and train them from the beginning. Regardless, you need to get all the toe-jam out from under and beside your toenails, and you should do this weekly in garrison, and daily in the bush, at minimum. 

6. You don't want your toenails to be so long that they are bumping into the toe of your boot from the inside. They need to be long enough to protect the top of the toe, but not so long that they are the first part of your foot to contact the toe of the boot from the inside when you move your foot forward. If they fall out, don't sweat it. If you need to remove them, don't sweat it. Just work with them and train them so they grow back right, if they grow back at all. 

7. You need to keep your toenails ****ing trimmed, and that means you may need to clip them more than once a week. When you are in the bush, and your dogs are literally your life, then you will inspect them and maintain them and do whatever is necessary to keep them right every day, sometimes several times a day, conditions permitting. I'll talk about tolnaftate or other anti-fungals, foot powder, etc., down below. 

8. Boot sizing is critical. You especially need to pay attention to boot width. Go to a shoe store, an actual shoe store, and have a competent person size your foot, while you are standing. If you can, "liberate" an "oppressed" foot sizer device, one of those things they use in shoe stores, so you can size your foot while actually wearing a 60 to 80lb ruck on your back. Your foot WILL spread. Know your boot size, and when you get sized in the army, speak up and stand up for yourself, as you will be given boots, but your life will suck far worse if they are the wrong goddamned size. Remember that S4 Civilians are often ****heads sucking on the tit of government service, and they will often try to treat you like a louse and simply throw **** at you. Demand respect, politely, but demand it, and get it, and get your correct goddamned boot size. You will probably want between one half to one inch room in the toe. You want your heel to be secure, and not slip out of the heel cup of the boot. This is important. You will need to snug down the ankle part of the boot to a point where you are not inhibiting blood flow to the foot, but adequately to ensure that your heel does not slip. You do not want your feet sliding around inside your boot. 

9. Depending on the type of boot you get, you may or may not need to shape them to your feet to accelerate or facilitate the "break-in" process. There are a million methods of accomplishing this. Some folks wear their boots in the shower, and then walk around with them wet until they dry on their feet. Some folks just wear their boots for a month until they are broken in the hard way.

I used to literally soak my boots in a BUCKET of Neet's Foot Oil, which can be a very expensive proposition if you go to the store and see how much an entire bucket's worth will cost you. The thing is, Neet's Foot Oil breaks down the leather, whether you are using old-style authentic green jungle boots, newer-style black jungle boots, full-leather standard Army-issue boots, or whatever. I have no idea what kind of boots are issued these days, or permitted. But Neet's Foot Oil can make your boots softer than slippers, meaning the uppers will be nice and soft, and waterproof as HELL. When you are a grunt, and you live and die on your feet, no money is too much for the right shit, and Neet's Foot Oil IS the ****. No, I don't own stock or Neet's Foot Oil futures. 

10. The Neet's Foot Oil treatment is only appropriate for boots worn in the field. It will ruin all chance for boots to look "normal" or pretty for garrison purposes, but for field boots, you will thank me every day you wear them in the bush if you prepare your field boots in this way. I used to soak my boots, completely immersing them, (at least just the leather part, or completely, if they were all leather boots), for about two weeks. No kidding. Periodically, I would pull the boots out, and rough up the outer surface with a steel brush, carefully. This was so the Neet's Foot Oil could soak in deeper into the leather, completely saturating it. When I came back from the bush, I would clean my boots, then reinsert them into a bucket, or just liberally coat them repeatedly with more layers, to maintain the water repellency and softness. 

11. Boots prepared in this way are completely waterproof. They will leak Neet's Foot Oil onto your socks for awhile after you prepare them (this is ugly, but harmless), but they will last a long time, remain totally waterproof, and require very rare applications of black shoe polish, which means you can skip packing a can of polish and a rag in your ruck. Your boots will stay black, no matter what, and you will not have to polish them. Your boots will get softer than hell, and very comfortable, and you will like them more than tennis shoes. Your boots will be as waterproof or more so than a set of gore tex boots, but they will be a hell of a lot cheaper, even considering the cost of the Neet's Foot Oil (it might cost around $20-30 for enough to immerse your boots, with a bucket large enough to fit both boots in it). 

12. The ultimate combo is a pair of SEAL Skins gore tex booties (or your alternative preferred gore tex bootie, which also must be carefully sized to ensure it does not SLIP inside the boot) and a properly broken in and prepared Neet's Footed pair of jungle boots. You can stay amazingly dry, and that means you can stay surprisingly warm. Getting your feet wet can be a serious, serious problem in the bush. Any way you can find to minimize it, particuarly when you are carrying your house on your back and you are moving dozens of klicks a day for days at a time, will save you time, pain, and grief. It will keep you mission-effective, and you will be able to ruck harder, and farther, and you will remember me and this guidance in strange places and on many lonely nights and you will be very grateful that you heeded me. 

13. Now, let's talk about socks. In the bad, bad bush, where you are in ****ing rain forest like Panama or parts of Colombia, Central America, Peru, the Amazon Basin, that sort of thing.....if you are walking through streams, in streams (sometimes jungle is just too thick, and you have to walk IN the streams, as dangerous as it can be), I never wore socks. My feet were like rocks, anyway, and wearing socks just kept them wetter. You have to dry your feet out under these conditions, and that means sometimes you have to stop, hang your ruck from a tree (carefully, being aware of snakes and ants and spiders and millipedes and ****) put up your goddamned jungle hammock, and get into it to pull foot maintenance, clean your weapon, eat chow, etc. The major part of foot maintenance under extreme conditions can be merely drying your feet out. 

14. Once you do what you can to keep your feet dry, you check your nails, make sure they are cool, then you clip them if necessary. If you are not in the jungle, but are just in forests, your sock selection will be based primarily on the weather and the temperature. In warmer weather, particularly if I was moving long distances and my feet were going to be swelling a bit after rucking for many hours, I would skip socks entirely and wear ONLY sock liners, typically polypro or something along those lines. These extract sweat away from your feet, trasmitting it into the surrounding leather or goretex bootie, and help keep your feet DRY. Remember what I said about dry feet? Dry feet are always warmer than wet feet. Dry feet are HAPPY feet. Thin sock liners ALSO have the crucial benefit of helping you avoid blisters, and this is a major, major bonus. 

15. Depending on the terrain, environment, etc., I would go sockless in the jungle, and otherwise wear liners, only, under all other conditions except cold, cold weather and mountainous terrain, and then I would carefully consider what would work best under those situations. I got to a point where I really preferred sock liners under the vast majority of situations, and would just put them on under SEAL Skins gore tex booties in properly prepared and broken-in Neet's Footed jungle boots or standard Army issue leather boots. Standard boots, properly prepared, can be pretty nice in colder weather, as they lack that stupid steel shank that used to be included in jungle boots. That shank would make your feet colder than hell, sometimes. Anyway, wearing just liners, my dogs would stay dry, and since they were dry, they were WARM. Nothing better than warm dogs. I **** you not. Nothing worse than cold feet. 

16. Ok. If it is pretty cold out, and you need more insulation, then you have to look at your boot choice versus your sock choice. If you go with a warmer sock, test out and strongly consider Smart Wool socks. You can get them at LL Bean, REI (yes, you should be a member), joints like that. You have to make sure that you get them in a tall enough height, like ankle height, or boot height, whatever, so they don't scrunch down into your boot and fuck up your feet by cramping your toes, and you have to carefully look at the weave, thickness, etc., but generally, a Smart Wool sock will have properties of moisture management and warmth that are unmatched by virtually anything else. 

Be careful with your sizing. You want to ensure that your socks fit right inside your boots, and that your feet fit correctly inside your boots wearing socks of different sizes. You need to be careful: if your feet slide when wearing just liners, you need to tighten your **** up, or maybe use a half-size smaller. If your boots are too tight when wearing Smart Wool thicker socks (like during the wintertime), then you need to loosen them up, or go a half-size larger. The only difference, generally, between a half-size is like a half-inch in the toe. 

17. For colder weather, you can generally assume you will be wearing different boots, so you will want to properly prepare and size your cold weather boots separately and differently from your warm weather boots, and both should be separate from your jungle boots. These are three separate climates. They require three different sets of foot SYSTEMS, including boots, socks, liners, booties, etc. 

In colder weather, I like boots with a little thinsulate in them. I personally wear these boots made by Chippewa. I was issued a pair by the Army a long time ago, and I really liked them, even though they were heavy as shit, so I checked out the Chippewa website and ordered a couple of pairs that were like Army boots but better. You have the option of steel toes, etc., but I would recommend avoiding that unless you want to invite frost bite. 

My Chippewas are warmer than hell, they took the Neet's Foot Oil treatment like champs, they are soft, and they are very durable. You need to be careful, because if you get the wrong ones, they can be a little too heavy, but you need to draw a distinction between boots worn in garrison for training for rucking, etc., and boots worn in forests or mountains in snow or rain or just plain old cold ass weather. For the latter, these are your boots, though others may have differing guidance. 

18. Ok...where are we.....let's talk about what you do to maintain your feet. 

You want to powder your feet at least once a day, regardless of where you are, or what you are doing. And that means right now. You want to use any powder with anti-fungal properties, like Desenex, whatever, and yes, cans cost a ****load (like six bucks!) at the grocery store, while they are FREE in the Army. In garrison, powder your feet when you put your boots on in the morning, after your shower. If your feet are sore, or crampy, massage them, and massage them right. If you don't know how to do that, go get a foot massage from a Rolfer masseuse, and ask them to show you what to do. They can put you to sleep with a ****ing foot massage, and teach you how to bring a woman to climax with a foot massage. I **** you not. 

In the bush, you powder your feet as needed, whenever possible, depending on what your team leader says, or is appropriate. You will learn about this as you proceed through Basic, etc. You do this both to help keep your feet dry, but also to change socks (from wet to dry), to CLEAN your feet, and to stay ahead of fungal infections. Itchy feet ****ing suck. That's why you ALWAYS wear shower shoes in the Army rather than bare feet. ALWAYS. Never walk around barefooted. You will get a gnarly fungusamungus and hate life. 

If you do get a fungal infection, see your doc and get some stuff for it. There are a variety of drops and creams and stuff that work ok, as long as you use them for a FULL course of treatment, and then continue with good maintenance and prevention using powder. 

19. Ok. That's about it. I am probably forgetting something, but I'll let the others jump in here with their opinions and corrections. In sum, you get boots that are the correct size based on what you are doing, where you are doing it, and when; you prepare the boots, breaking them in, waterproofing them; you exercise care in sock selection and sock usage; you practice good foot hygiene, and keep your shit trained and trimmed, and you use both experience and gear to keep your feet dry, whether the weather is hot or warm. If you are in hot weather, you wear appropriate boots and liners to keep your feet as cool as possible. You can use antipersperant to actually inhibit sweating, helping keep your feet dry. No kidding. In cold weather, same thing. 

Hope this helps.

M


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## UberCree (17 Apr 2006)

Please excuse any profanities I may have missed. ;D


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## medicineman (17 Apr 2006)

You forgot one thing - foot problems are (add your own expetive) driver maintenance issues - they only become my problem or Armymedic`s problem when they are beyond your scope to fix (or flexibility  ;D).  Yes, even blisters can be looked after by yourself - most of us are happy to show you how to fix your own feet and show you what needs to be seen by us.

A lecture of mine, similar to yours, managed to cut our sick parade in Gagetown last summer by almost a third.  Cree (and anyone else out there for tht matter) - is it just me or is this something that is slipping by the wayside in Basic; kind of makes you wonder if in fact that is the case, and if so, what replaced it as being more important.

MM 

PS - Excellent and important post BTW.

MM


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## monika (17 Apr 2006)

Wow! What an informative post. I have to say I'm glad to see good ole' wool socks get the thumbs up. I make my own and they are the same wool/nylon blend as the SmartWool, just as comfy in +30C as -30C.


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## Armymedic (18 Apr 2006)

Where do we get this Neet's Foot Oil?


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## scm77 (18 Apr 2006)

Armymedic, try searching for "Neatsfoot oil" (neatsfoot one word).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000B3ASS/103-6306944-0963041?v=glance&n=3375251


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## Matt_Fisher (19 Apr 2006)

This is what I tend to do when I'll be putting on several miles on my feet.

Spray your feet with Tincture of Benzoin spray where blisters usually form, ie. heel, ball of foot, toes, etc. as this forms a tough, protective layer around your foot.  Be careful not to apply too much or in the creases of the feet as it will crack and dry the skin.  Then put a thin layer of Hydropel around the feet.  Hydropel is a Vaseline-like substance that offers some water repellency and a little lubrication without friction.  Blisters are caused by moisture, heat and friction.  The Hydropel provides a water-repellent layer over your feet so they don't get all 'pruned out' and it's 'slickness' helps reduce friction.  Not much you can do to reduce heat, but by reducing the factors of moisture and friction, you reduce the likelihood of blistering.


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## UberCree (19 Apr 2006)

Mink Oil.  Mink oil the hell out of them and keep reapplying.  It will soften up the leather.  If you keep reapplying it long enough they will feel like moccassins.
I would prefer that to the Neets foot oil trick.

The one point i would add to the post is to take good care of your feet invest in a good pair of orthotics, especially if you are flat footed like myself, not as relevant if you have perfect arches.  They cost upwards of 300 bucks but they are well worth it in the long run.  I am flat footed and have never had knee or hip problems through use of orthotics even though my legs and feet are well used and way past their 'best before' date.


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## Hot Lips (19 Apr 2006)

Can you purchase your own boots? Or do you have to wear the issued ones?  If you can purchase your own, what do you recommend?

HL


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## Armymedic (29 Apr 2006)

You have to wear issued boots.

Thanks for the info above.


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## Roy Harding (29 Apr 2006)

Piper said:
			
		

> Ok, another question.
> 
> I wear 9 1/2 D combat boots. I just tried on my oxfords to confirm my suspicions that they, like my combat boots, are too thin. My small toe is squished up against the rest. Now, this is because both of them are rather...deformed (they are quite 'fat').
> 
> ...



Two options

    (1)  get the "correct" size - IE 9D.  Soak them thouroghly (overnight) in water.  Wear them until they "form" to your foot.  See what that does.

    (2)  get one "oversize" - but wear thicker socks - treat them the same as option (1), but with the thicker socks.


I spent a long time in the Army - 1977 - 2004, most of that time in the field, albeit in a CSS role.  During all that time, I never deviated from what I learned in '77.  Wear a cotton sock next your skin to wick the sweat away from your foot - over that, wear a woolen sock to absorb the moisture.

I've never gone wrong with that advice - and as a civilian cabinetmaker in a civilian work environment I find the advice to be just as valuable.  I'll grant that I left the Army just as gortext socks and such were coming in, so I may be out of date.  However, no matter the material involved, you've got to wick the moisture away from your feet - that's what makes your feet cooler in the summer, and warmer in the winter - moisture hurts, no matter the environment.

Don't confuse military sizes with civilian sizes.  All of my adult life I have worn a civilian size 9.  All my military career I wore a combat boot size 7 - go figure.  I don't know why that is, I'm married to an (ex) Bin Rat, and she couldn't figure it out either.

Take care of your feet - they'll take care of you.


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## sober_ruski (29 Apr 2006)

> Toenail clippers are always straight. If they are not straight, they are not for toenails. You can use scissors, or whatever, but it is best to use straight toenail clippers because using scissors requires expertise and know-how and a deft hand



Listen to what he says. 
I've been having problems with my big toe nails since I was 12. Had them removed completely 3 times on each foot, and partially once on each foot. Only about 2 years ago I stoped getting ingrown toe nails, and I can tell you those bastards hurt and if taken too far, only complete/partial removal will work. 
Also, if you think you're getting an ingrown nail, keep that foot in hot bath of water and salt for about 30 minutes at least once a day. After the bath, try to "pull" the growing part out of the tissue.


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## Arctic Acorn (30 Apr 2006)

Nice post!

Has anyone here tried the 'Neetsfoot oil in the bucket' trick on the MKIIIs? 

 :dontpanic:


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## Wynne (10 May 2006)

Does anyone know how to get rid of an ingrown toenail issue without going the needle route with a doctor that is jab happy?  lol.  I have one and I've tried everything I can think of you know, digging it out and such LOL (I know, probably not the best thing, but I'd rather inflict the pain on myself than have a doc do it).  Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.


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## medicineman (10 May 2006)

Try sticking some rolled up kleenex under the edges and centre of nail.  Soak your foot in water supsaturated with salt and as hot as you can stand it for at least 15 minutes 2-4 times daily.  If you persist in digging it out adn not careful, you're setting yourself up for an infection or worse.  Depending on what the ingorwn horn looks like and how well dug in in it is, you may in fact have to have it dug out by a physician or their delegate.

Good luck.

MM


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## Wynne (10 May 2006)

*whines* Thanks MM.  I have a feeling it's going to be a trip to the doc.  The ingrown part is at the very base of the nail, which really bites...all this because I probably need insoles lol.  I've high arches, it's a pain every time.  I've made sure to be a good girl and avoid the infection route...cleaning it and such.  Thanks a lot MM!


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## medicineman (10 May 2006)

No probs.  Another thing toworry about is making sure your socks don't fit too tightly and your feet don't move too much in your boots - nails get upset about smacking the front end of the boot alot.  

MM


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## Hot Lips (11 May 2006)

Wynne,

You can try to make a little "V" wedge in the middle of your toenail, at the tip of course.  
While utilizing what MM has said.  If you have alcohol swabs, I would put them under the nail edge in place of tissue, but both will work.
The Doctor is your friend, lol, consider seeing him/her before you get an infection or worse.

HL


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## Wynne (11 May 2006)

hehe well I'm a genius and decided that well if i cut out the ingrown part we'd be doing well.  But in those efforts, I managed to cut the toenail pretty darn low *g*.  I'm thinking even though I don't like docs...I should get my butt over there.  Just really don't have time to take off work...hmm maybe I'll get it fixed when I have two days off in a row LOL.


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## Centurian1985 (12 May 2006)

medicineman said:
			
		

> A lecture of mine, similar to yours, managed to cut our sick parade in Gagetown last summer by almost a third.  Cree (and anyone else out there for tht matter) - is it just me or is this something that is slipping by the wayside in Basic; kind of makes you wonder if in fact that is the case, and if so, what replaced it as being more important.
> MM



That is probably one of the best descriptions on the subject I have ever heard, thanks Cree.  Ref the above post, I dont recall ever hearing this through training, all the advice on foot care I got was from older guys.  If it was in basic, I must have been not paying attention... hope they are teaching it to the young ones these days.    

Ref boots, Cree has covered pretty well every tip Ive heard on the subject, other than an old WO who said I should bury my boots in the back yard for two months to break them in.  And, no I didnt do that, Im pretty sure he was just shitting me. it would be funny to hear if that is actually a valid 'boot care' remedy.  

One point to add to Cree's foot care:
Always carry a sheet of moleskin with your kit (about 6"x6") - sometimes you get issued boots on short notice and dont have time to break them in properly.  Moleskin will save the day, and your heels.  In a pinch, a couple of layers of duct tape will also work.  
Check the back of the boot where the seam of the boot runs across the back of the heel for any bumps or raised stitching that shouldnt be there.  In one pair of old pattern combat boots there was a bump in the leather, from stitching or some other production problem, that ended up pressing on the achilles tendon with every step I took, and causing enough problems that they had to be replaced.   In one pair of desert boots I got issued right before deployment (so no time to break them in), the stitching was raised and tore up the heel the first day they were used. If you check first you wont learn the lesson the hard way!


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## sober_ruski (30 Jun 2006)

Found out one thing this summer. 

To all people who go on their basic:
If you still have MK3's and those crappy grey wool socks, get some ankle socks and wear them as undersocks. Do not wear those full sized white sport socks. Reason for that is, those ankle socks do not slide around unlike the full sized sport socks.

I had blisters cover my entire heels 2 weeks into the course. Ended up performing a little surgery in the shacks (one of the roommates had methanol and sterile pads, so no infection occured) draining them. It was disgusting to see that white puss squirt out... ewww.  ;D :blotto:


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## p_imbeault (30 Jun 2006)

sober_ruski said:
			
		

> get some ankle socks and wear them as undersocks. Do not wear those full sized white sport socks.


+1

Liner socks are great, they reduce the friction against the skin, and if you get some poly pro ones they wick some of the mositure away from your feet (avoid cotton for liner socks).


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## Red 6 (3 Jul 2006)

I wouldn't mess around with an ingrown toenail. Go to sick call and let the docs hook you up.


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