Old Army/New Army

[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

[Nick Riviezzo]

No never had it turn white. I was talking about spit shine first then Glow Coat.You can't keep putting Glow Coat on forever,you have to go back re shine with Kiwi and then Glow Coat again. The only white on boots I remember seeing was salt from folks with very sweaty feet or boots worn in salt water.Just like a good paint job or blueing job the shine was in the prep, the Glow Coat was a "fixative"to keep the shine from melting. NIck

[Shooter5]

I suppose at least one good thing about the new army is the 'combat mindset' that is applied to the ACU - Army Combat Uniform. Combat items for the field and pretty stuff for parade. Since the color black and shine is stupid in combat then boots shouldn't look like that - duh! What surprises me is that it took so long for the Sergeant Majors to come around to the idea.
Now, if they could only get over the obsession with wearing a "BERET" with the "Combat" uniform and return to sanity and use the "Patrol Cap"!!
Duh again, only Chuck Norris and the Brits wear a beret in combat!

[Beachbumbob]

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.

I was taught to take a lighter and 'melt' the first couple of coats of wax into the leather. Don't know if it worked better than just buffing the first couple of coats before you had a base down, but you could see the shine before you started buffing it. But the main secret was a good base coat of wax.

For whatever reason, I always felt like a real soldier in my heavy starched Class B uniform (khaki) and bloused jump boots that reflected light and the old C*Overseas*T cap.

[BEAR]

The only way to spit-shine is with Kiwi, 100% cotton T-shirt, cold water in the upturned polish lid and genuine spit to finish the job. Spent 6.5 years as a "Blackhat" at Ft. Benning and I spit-shined 3 pair of jump boots everyday. First pair for PT, second pair for morning drills, third pair for afternoon drills. Heaven help the little scumbag who stepped on my boots in the 34 foot tower. Oh yeah, I had a fourth pair for the dress uniform.
Any of you guys have to run in jump boots? They would cripple you up until they were broke in.
BEAR

[Michael Tompkins]

Any of you guys have to run in jump boots? They would cripple you up until they were broke in.
BEAR

As an MP, I had to run in them a few times. When I did, I was usually chasing somebody. I had ripple soles put on them. They made a funny screeching sound when you walked down the hall. Could never sneak-up on somebody, that's for sure! Most comfortable boots ever, though.