Old Army/New Army

[armorkav]

I remember, in 1988, being so tired I could'nt think straight, and sitting in the Latrine attempting to put a shine on a pair of "no shine" boots. wondering" WTF is this doing for the USA and how does this make me combat ready?" Flash forward 22 years and I love the smell of warm kiwi and leather. I guess that makes me a " lifer" or whatever, but I am cool with being Regular Army!

[Ron James]

Know what you mean. 1959 we were issue brown boots, left over from the old army, we were also issued bottles of black dye. The drill show us how to use a small smooth rock to " bruise " the leather before dyeing. Years later I still had a pair of those boots. They were black of course , except at the top where the blousing rubber rubbed, there they were a beautiful brown.

[Griff Murphey]

Although I only had two years ACDU if you count 7 years Army ROTC and 3 years USNR I was spit shining for 12 years. I find shoe shining very nostalgic and comforting. My masterpiece was a pair of cap toe jump boots I worked on daily, all one summer. They were spit shined all the way up. (Can we say obsessive-compulsive?) After I did that my friends all accused me of painting them with that faux patent leather boot paint they used to sell.

[SMOKEY]

What, no one cheated? Aero wax put a beautiful shine on and as long as you didnt flex your foot walking and crack the wax. Never did get gigged at inspection. And yes I did put many hours into spit shining shoes. My dear ole daddy taught me that when I was a kid. He never went anywhere with spit shined shoes.

[dave]

Don't see allotof guys in full dress anymore but the few I have look like the shoes are patent leather?

[Dan Shapiro]

That 'patent leather' look is corfam shoes. Great for parade, but hot as 'ell to wear all day on hot pavement.

[Liam]

One could cheat and use edge dressing (intended for the sides of the sole), but that shine would crack after a while and repeated applications. I know. I tried it.

One particular pair of Corcoran jump boots got passed around my company in West Germany. They were size 8, but they were shined so well that they accompanied at least 4 guys to the NCO academy while I was in FRG. Unlike BASIC, no one mandated we change pairs of boots daily, so no one noticed that those stunningly-shined boots were WAYYYY small for me!

[phil441]

Another cheat in the late '50 - early '60 time frame was to apply and buff a good coat of polish, then go over it very lightly with a "5-Day" deodorant pad. Worked really well on cap toe jump boots.... as long as they stayed dry.

[Festus39]

Another cheat in the late '50 - early '60 time frame was to apply and buff a good coat of polish, then go over it very lightly with a "5-Day" deodorant pad. Worked really well on cap toe jump boots.... as long as they stayed dry.

Dry and not exposed to hot and direct sunlight. Even in ideal conditions it was only good for a short period such as an indoor inspection or a guard mount.

Festus

[Michael Tompkins]

As a military policeman, I had to look good all the time. My jump boots were spit-shined all of the way up...even the tongue. I used to get accused of painting them with polyurethane. Ice-cold water and a cotton baby diaper was the secret over about 20 base coats. I used a woman's pantyhose to buff any scratches out between polishes. I used to lend them out to guys that went to BLC, PLC or trying for E-5. Never tried Mop n' Glo or any of that other stuff, just good old Kiwi. Had 1 1/4" ripple soles put on them too and ladder-laced them. Most comfortable boots I have ever worn...period.

[Nick Riviezzo]

Ice cold water was the major ingredient with Kiwi for a great spit shine but stand in the sun for five minutes and your shine would melt! Solution? Glow Coat floor wax applied with a cotton ball over the spit shine. Shined great and stayed for a long time if you had no major scuffs.Got a scuff? Buff lightly and re apply Glow Coat[ probably two coats over the scuff]. Nick

[Ron James]

I tried all the other methods, always went back to Kiwi ( or Esquire ) and an old Tee shirt. I also found that if the base was there you could " dry" spitshine, it works.

[armorkav]

Second part to that thread was that, What would these younger soldiers do? Suede boots and Clorfram shoes immediately as a grad present. What do they take out of Basic training that will be with them for life? Also if you went to the cheap and easy method, I consider you below human!
Armorkav!

[Maury Krupp]

I did my share of spit-shining from 1971-74. I tried to be a STRAC troop in garrison so maybe it was more than my share.

But I pretty much gave it all up when I switched from green to blue.

It didn't keep the airplanes apart or get one down to minumums on a PAR in crappy weather or even cover the midshift on the watch schedule so nobody cared too much about it.

If today's Army has finally realized that basic truth then that's probably a good thing.

Maury

[Michael Tompkins]

Ice cold water was the major ingredient with Kiwi for a great spit shine but stand in the sun for five minutes and your shine would melt! Solution? Glow Coat floor wax applied with a cotton ball over the spit shine. Shined great and stayed for a long time if you had no major scuffs.Got a scuff? Buff lightly and re apply Glow Coat[ probably two coats over the scuff]. Nick

I seem to recall guys in my unit using that stuff, but over time it would turn white if it got wet too often. Do you remember it doing that? Mike