The Defense Department is on the verge of naming military bases to house the overflow of children taken into custody at the Mexican border as civilian shelters reach capacity.

The DoD has yet to receive formal requests from the Department of Health and Human Services.

"I can tell you that we are very open to providing facilities and working closely with them to ensure that their needs are met," Dana White, the DoD's chief spokesperson, said at a Pentagon briefing Thursday.

White said last month that the DoD was awaiting a site survey by HHS to designate additional shelters, to include military bases. According to HHS, there are currently about 100 civilian shelters for Unaccompanied Alien Children in 14 states.

In a similar surge at the border in 2014, a total of more than 7,000 children were housed temporarily at the Army's Fort Sill in Oklahoma, Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, and Naval Base Ventura in California.

The most recent site survey by HHS included officials going to four bases in Texas and Arkansas. The bases were Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, Texas; Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, Texas; the Army's Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas; and Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas, ABC reported.

The consideration of the military bases to shelter children taken into custody at the border by Customs and Border Protection was prompted by a surge of about 20 percent in the number of children at shelters in May.

HHS reported Tuesday that 10,773 migrant children were in custody at the end of May, compared to 8,886 on April 29, a result of President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" policy on illegal immigration outlined in April by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

Under the policy, adults crossing illegally face criminal prosecution and can be held in federal jails. Minors under the age of 18 cannot be prosecuted or put in federal detention under U.S. law.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Outfits that look the same as the U.S. Army-style combat uniform worn by a gunman in an attack last week on Afghanistan's Interior Ministry can easily be found for sale in the capital.

At the Kabul market known as "Bush Bazaar," shops sell military goods of suspect origins -- everything from what U.S. troops wear on their backs to what they put in their bellies, and more. The mall, which brings together hundreds of vendors, is named for the former U.S. president who ordered the 2001 invasion, which brought in thousands of troops and the supplies to support them.

Most of a convincing counterfeit Army uniform can be had there for about $60 or less. Some of the uniforms and accessories seem genuine or are very good knockoffs.

Not long ago it was common for attackers to don friendly military disguises, but Wednesday's attack marked the first such assault in more than a year, said Gen. John Nicholson, commander of U.S. and allied forces in the country.

After a run of such attacks in 2012, including a deadly September assault on Helmand province's Camp Bastion that left two Marines dead and eight fighter jets damaged or destroyed, Kabul police began cracking down on the unauthorized sale of military and police uniforms.

As far as the police were concerned last week, those efforts had been effective.

"Selling uniforms is not allowed," police spokesman Hashmat Stanekzai told Stars and Stripes. "If someone is caught with selling those items, he gets jailed and the shop is shuttered."

They might be sold in secret, he said, but not openly, as it's "strictly banned."

Yet shopkeepers displayed plenty of military-style clothing for sale, and on a recent visit boasted that some items were the same as those worn by the country's commandos, the elite troops who work closely with American special operations forces and often conduct night raids against insurgents and terrorist groups.

Some Afghan forces and other coalition troops wear uniforms based on or difficult to distinguish from current or past U.S. uniforms.

When asked, some merchants claimed they sold uniforms only to military or security personnel, though they showed no reservations about offering military clothing to civilians before the question was raised.

The Marine Corps will soon test new cold-weather boots and socks designed to perform at temperatures from -20 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit, a temperature range currently not covered by the service's boot inventory.

Marine Corps Systems Command plans to award two sole-source contracts for two types of Intense Cold Weather Boots and Intense Cold Weather Socks, according to a recent MCSC press release.

"There are currently no Marine Corps issue boots designed for use in the -20 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit range," according to the release.

The Temperate Weather Marine Corps Combat Boot was designed for a temperature range between 20 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit, and the Extreme Cold Weather Vapor Barrier Boot was designed for a range from -20 to -65 degrees Fahrenheit.

"Based on market research, industry days and events such as Modern Day Marine, we narrowed our decision for the orders down to two companies for cold weather boots and two for socks," said Todd Towles, program analyst for the Clothing and Equipment Team at MCSC.

MCSC plans to buy 1,000 pairs of boots from Belleville Boot Company and 1,000 pairs from Danner Boot Company, according to a June 1 solicitation notice.

The Marines will also buy 25,000 pairs of Intense Cold Weather Socks from FITS Technologies and 25,000 pairs of the socks from Ellsworth & Company, according to a May 17 solicitation notice. The service expects deliver of the boots and socks by Sept. 28.

"This effort to acquire the cold weather boots and socks will help [Marine Corps Systems Command] evaluate commercial off-the-shelf solutions and offer the potential to reduce or eliminate the current environmental protection gap," Towles said.

The socks will have much higher wool content than the polypropylene wool socks Marines currently use. Additionally, the clothing and equipment team is hopeful the new gear will offer increased water repellency, comfort and insulation in extreme cold weather environments, according to the release.

MCSC's Program Manager Infantry Combat Equipment will conduct a field user evaluation December 2018 through March 2019 to gather feedback from Marines who will wear the ICWB and ICWS prototypes at the Mountain Warfare Training Center, Fort McCoy and Norway.