When I enlisted, Uncle Sugar issued some lightweight wool socks that I couldn't stand. I figured it was some government cost savings issue, so I went down to Clothing Sales and bought some OD green all-cotton socks similar to the quality athletic socks I was used to wearing. After a few months of living in the cotton socks I found my feet starting to rot away from being constantly wet, and to this day my feet are rough and calloused to the point that they'll never be "right" (also partly due to wearing my jungle boots without socks at all for quite awhile in Georgia swamps and mid-east deserts).

Unfortunately I was too uninformed to realize the good qualities of wool socks at the time (wicking and odor control being a couple of the best features). Now all I wear when I hunt is wool and if I had realized then that the wool socks were a good thing, my feet would probably be in better shape.