It took only a few frigid February days for several United States Marines trudging through Norwegian snow and ice to notice something was wrong. First, they found holes yawning in the leather of their often brand-new boots. Next, gaps opened up in the soles of the shoes, freezing water slipping in as they hiked and skied, weighed down by the packs strapped to their backs, according to a Pentagon official and U.S. military records reviewed by Newsweek. The failures occurred during pre-exercise training for Cold Response 2026, a Norwegian-led NATO exercise involving more than 25,000 personnel in the Nordic country, and more than 7,000 others in Finland. They have raised questions about the quality of military-issued footwear and about a congressional push that would further restrict the boots U.S. service members may wear to models made entirely in the United States.