My daughter got bad blisters at FTX wearing the standard issue boots. Mostly her fault, because appropriate taping and toughskin precautions were not taken, and her feet were badly blistered, which led to a favoring limp the last day, which led to a straining of her achilles that lasted three weeks. And she got chewed out by her chain of command for not taking the precautions the cadets were briefed on. Trust me, you don't care how rugged or long lasting or thick/stiff soled a boot is if it gives you huge blisters at FTX and other cadets have to come to your aid.
If you do ONLY ONE THING prior to ROTC, get the lightest, most flexible, most running-shoe type Army boot out there... Nike or the one approved for West Point cadets entering last August, the Khyber (by Belleville) Hybrid Mountain ACU ... this one
http://quanticomilitaryboots.wordpr...weight-acu-approved-tan-mountain-hybrid-boot/ ). Get the light/flexible boots now, ask permission later. It's that important.
When you get the standard ROTC issue boot (there are about 4 models that seem to change each year), wear them too, break them in, but don't wear them to to anything important like FTX or Ranger Challenge where flexibility and lightness is more important than durability or stiffness.
Also, your backback that you use when in uniform (one day per week) or going to morning PFT or anywhere else must be black with no branding visible.