Place has gone to &^%# already

OldRetSWO said:
Doesn't anyone teach them how to shine their shoes anymore? And
those lines are more crooked than a just off the base used car dealer on payday.
Someone needs to get these plebes to square away their covers.
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They also need to tighten up those haircuts. Looking awfully scraggly.

I think I found my DS. He the one in the white cover and BCG's
 
.
I don’t know. It looks pretty straight to me … and since I can’t see it from my house, I think things will be Ok.
.
 
Looks good! My kid was in ISO during the 2024 picture. I can pick his company out easily, it's the one missing 16 plebes. I'm just so happy they got the picture and a traditional plebe summer.
 
Time to bring back the Bates high gloss corfams, @OldRetSWO. Even if they made your feet sweat. Gotta love the plebes sporting the 20 mission, combat tilt on the dixie cups. Very salty. Go, Go, go 2025!!. Enjoy PPW.
 
WT Door said:
Time to bring back the Bates high gloss corfams,
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What, no Bates Floataway Corfams anymore ..what is the world coming to ?

Funny, was just thinking about those shoes last week. Married off my daughter and had to suffer with rental high gloss shoes. My feet were dead at the end of the evening. Just looked online, and I could have just bought Bates Corfams...
 
I can feel my feet heating up and sweating just reading these comments…
 
Same here. I had the required leathers at OCS, had to keep them perfectly shined. The minute I got commissioned, I bought myself some corfams to avoid some shoeshining. Of course, my first duty station was NAVSTA Rota, Spain. My feet felt like they each had their own personal saunas. Never again. I lasted about a week using those.

I actually find shoeshining to be rather a Zen thing now. I have two things that remind me of my beloved Dad, gone many years now. I have an Italian gettone (token) in my wallet, the same one he carried in his, after he and Mom visited me in Naples. The second is his wooden shoeshine kit, with tidy spaces for cans, brushes and cloths, a place on top to rest a foot in a shoe for a quick buff, and a little formed knob to put a shoe on while working on it. I watched him do his business wing tips and casual loafers on that same kit when I was little. It’s actually a good gift for a military person.
 
Corashams ..... no thank you! Gotta work for that shine! Spent hours on my boots in the Army, and on my dress shoes.
 
A REAL plebe summer was with no use of CORFAM allowed. Leather shoes had to be worn and they had to be as shiny
as CORFAM (or so it seemed).
 
Capt MJ said:
. I have two things that remind me of my beloved Dad, gone many years now. *** The second is his wooden shoeshine kit, with tidy spaces for cans, brushes and cloths, a place on top to rest a foot in a shoe for a quick buff, and a little formed knob to put a shoe on while working on it. I watched him do his business wing tips and casual loafers on that same kit when I was little.
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Right there with you.....except for as long as I could remember it was me shining the shoes for him ! Of course I got paid for my service -- I think it was 25 cents a week !

Fast forward -- I only wore corfams for inspections at USNA. Always leathers to class. After graduation, brown shoes :) and flight boots. I was actually pretty good about shining my flight boots , despite the popular myth that shined flight boots were a fire risk. On deployment, my routine was to return to my BOQ room after the Ready preflight and shine my boots, so they looked pretty good after 6 months.

I'm well over it now... there is a Cobbler shop in town that does shoes , and he needs the business ---COVID had to hit him hard, I went over a year without wearing my wingtips or dress loafers. I still like taking care of good leather shoes and boots, just no desire to shine.
 
Old Navy BGO said:
Right there with you.....except for as long as I could remember it was me shining the shoes for him ! Of course I got paid for my service -- I think it was 25 cents a week !
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You got paid!!!!!!
Very nice.

From about age 9 or 10 onward, I was the shoeshiner when my father was preparing for Reserve Weekend. I shined his Flight Boots and shoes for him on a kit like that described above and luckily (for me), it was shining with brushes and buffing cloths, not a real spitshine so it was not too hard or take too long.
 
I like dress shoes and take good care of mine. Shoe trees in every one, shoe horns every time they go on, shoe shine every few wearings. I do believe from business casual to dinner formal, the wardrobe starts with a strong foundation — well cared-for shoes.

But for some reason, I can’t get DS — soon to start college — to buy into this. I’m going to send him off with a basic shoe-care kit and a couple pairs of good dress shoes, with strict instructions to use shoe trees religiously and shoe horns regularly. Perhaps AROTIC will educate him also. We’ll see how that goes. 😐
 
I went to MMA, many years ago....leathers for 4th class, corframs only for 3C and up. Small school, learned a lot about ships. Didnt learn that much about USN though.
 
Corframs were never allowed PS. Also never allowed as a Plebe unless inspection called for them specifically. I think I wore them maybe less than 10 times total at USNA I hated them so much. Marines usually wear them, but I rarely did. Always wore heavily shined leathers.

I do dress for work. Suits nearly 5 days a week again. I shine my shoes still and ensure everything is well pressed, gig line, etc.
 
NavyHoops said:
Corframs were never allowed PS. Also never allowed as a Plebe unless inspection called for them specifically. I think I wore them maybe less than 10 times total at USNA I hated them so much. Marines usually wear them, but I rarely did. Always wore heavily shined leathers.

I do dress for work. Suits nearly 5 days a week again. I shine my shoes still and ensure everything is well pressed, gig line, etc.
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Of course you do, Hoops!
 
MidCakePa said:
I like dress shoes and take good care of mine. Shoe trees in every one, shoe horns every time they go on, shoe shine every few wearings. I do believe from business casual to dinner formal, the wardrobe starts with a strong foundation — well cared-for shoes.

But for some reason, I can’t get DS — soon to start college — to buy into this. I’m going to send him off with a basic shoe-care kit and a couple pairs of good dress shoes, with strict instructions to use shoe trees religiously and shoe horns regularly. Perhaps AROTIC will educate him also. We’ll see how that goes. 😐
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I believe it is a result of our disposable society. Things aren’t made to last. And the younger generations don’t even know about longevity. It’s the way things are nowadays.
 
A good cobbler is also key. I think I took it for granted the ‘free’ access we had to one as a Mid. As an adult now… they are expensive but worth it to keep my shoes in good shape and can re-sole them. Quality over quantity on shoes for sure. Rather pay for the good brands and re-sole them, last years and years that way.
 
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