Leather Shoes vs. Corfams?

Full Metal Bulldog

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The military issues everyone Corfam shoes, but most SA's and SMC's issue/require old fashioned leather. I know wearing leathers is allowed (at least I've seen several AD officers wear them), and I personally feel they're more comfortable, but is there any kind of negative ring-knocker or other toolbag stigma that goes along with doing so that would be wise for one to heed warning of in order for them to not make a bad first impression?
 
I've never met anyone who cares what you wear (Navy at least) as long as it's presentable. I actually wear the leathers as I agree they are more comfortable. They aren't "high shined", but have a nice coat of polish and I clean them, touch them up on a regular basis.
 
Corfams are a joke. BUT.... it is nice to not have to shine them. I remember being so excited at CGA the first day we were allowed to wear them (not allowed 4/c year, when I was a cadet). But they're also kind of trashy... and it's hard to be a 2/c cadet, wearing plastic shoes while yelling at a 4/c cadet for doing a poor job shining his/her leathers. I'm about 99% sure as cadre we only wore leathers... at least during Swab Summer.

I'm not exactly sure what you're talking about though. Life after an academy? I think leather's the better way to go, espectially if you're worried about holding others accountable. If you ARE wearing leathers.... keep them shined.

I'm about 95% sure we could wear corframs on a ship because of the risk of them melting to your feet in the case of a fire. We had to wear leathers for drill and inspections (and if you've every stood outside in corfams in the sun.... it's like a microwave.... HORRIBLE).

But to be fare to KP2001.... you often don't go to the clinic to check out the uniforms. In the Coast Guard, our docs were U.S. Public Health Service.... and they REALLY had interesting uniform ideas (not officially.... just "creatively").
 
The military issues everyone Corfam shoes, but most SA's and SMC's issue/require old fashioned leather. I know wearing leathers is allowed (at least I've seen several AD officers wear them), and I personally feel they're more comfortable, but is there any kind of negative ring-knocker or other toolbag stigma that goes along with doing so that would be wise for one to heed warning of in order for them to not make a bad first impression?
You are going into the Army right? The number of times that you will wear low quarter shoes in a year pretty much will be in single digits. If you hate to shine shoes then stick with Corfam. If you hate sweaty feet and blisters- get a decent pair of leather low quarters and shine em up. Nobody is going to give you a hard time unless you are a guy wearing pumps with your Class A's. :)
 
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The military issues everyone Corfam shoes, but most SA's and SMC's issue/require old fashioned leather. I know wearing leathers is allowed (at least I've seen several AD officers wear them), and I personally feel they're more comfortable, but is there any kind of negative ring-knocker or other toolbag stigma that goes along with doing so that would be wise for one to heed warning of in order for them to not make a bad first impression?

I am very proud of the fact that I still wear my leather shoes from my cadet days when I wear my ASU. They are shine too.

I suspect shoe shining is a lost art. Good old days of trying to figure out the best combination to make dress shoes and boots shine. I do acknowlege that being able to shine my shoes does not necessarily make me a better officer or it was best use of my time.
 
The military issues everyone Corfam shoes, but most SA's and SMC's issue/require old fashioned leather. I know wearing leathers is allowed (at least I've seen several AD officers wear them), and I personally feel they're more comfortable, but is there any kind of negative ring-knocker or other toolbag stigma that goes along with doing so that would be wise for one to heed warning of in order for them to not make a bad first impression?

I am very proud of the fact that I still wear my leather shoes from my cadet days when I wear my ASU. They are shine too.

I suspect shoe shining is a lost art. Good old days of trying to figure out the best combination to make dress shoes and boots shine. I do acknowlege that being able to shine my shoes does not necessarily make me a better officer or it was best use of my time.
I actually find spit shining kind of relaxing- kind of like repeating a mantra only with your finger tips. It used to be kind of a personal challenge to get the Corcorans gleaming- just lots and lot of small circles with a damp broken-in baby diaper and a decent can of Kiwi did the trick if you just put the time into it. The Sun was your biggest enemy though- you could melt that shine off pretty fast on a hot sunny day.
 
Your right, Baby Diapers are the key, never found anything that worked quite as well in getting that nice spit shine.
 
But to be fare to KP2001.... you often don't go to the clinic to check out the uniforms. In the Coast Guard, our docs were U.S. Public Health Service.... and they REALLY had interesting uniform ideas (not officially.... just "creatively").

Haha, true. But I spent some time on the line side as well (granted I was almost always wearing flight boots during that tour). You are correct though, if you want to see some "interesting" uniform mistakes hanging out at a hospital/clinic can be quite fun. The most common is reversing the rank with the corps device on the collar to be followed by completely reversing name tag and ribbon side. (I wouldn't be surprised if this is one of the top reasons they now allow the NWU's in Navy hospitals....sewn on = no mistakes)
 
Nice cotton balls, water…. and fire.

FIRE SHINE! High risk, high reward.
 
Corframs are convenient, but they scuff permanently. Since wearing them as a cadet, I realized I don't keep my feet flat on the floor...
 
For the three or four times I actually had to wear Blues or Service Dress on active duty, I wore the leather shoes. I had Corfram shoes that I bought to wear as an upperclassman at VMI; however, my fondness for them only lasted a month or so. Yeah, you had to be more diligent with the leathers if there was an inspection or something coming up, but the day-to-day utility was better. Corfram shoes do not breathe at all, and your sweaty feet will make a stink so putrid that they can be smelled three rooms over (if you wear them for any considerable amount of time).

In my experience, people didn't care about what was on your feet during active duty so long as it was black and serviceable. This was the Air Force, though, so maybe other branches care a bit more. I usually wore the old "blue bag" USAF missile uniform, and then the flight suit when we got switched to that. We wore black boots with those uniforms. I don't think the footwear for that is even black anymore, so even less to worry about.
 
I heard the way to go is leather shoes for every day use and keep up with the shine. A pair of Corframs are nice to keep on hand for inspections.
 
In my experience at the Coast Guard Academy, you had to weather leathers for inspections (and drill).
 
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