Spit Shine as I learned it

[Quinbo]

Put on a brand new pair of boots and go trash em. Climb trees, walk miles, slog through the mud, kick foot lockers, whatever to get them boots broke in. Take em home and wash them in the hottest water you can attain. Scrub the holy hell out of them with a scrub brush, scrub until your arms are sore. Scrub until it looks like you have a thousand miles on them then scrub some more. Put em back on.

Next day go walk another mile or two in em.

Take them home and wash the holy mackeral out of them again. I mean scrub until the leather turns grey scrub scrub scrub.

Now.... while your boots are drying and you are recovering from all the scrubbing you are gonna need a few things.

1. A bottle of boot dye indigo
2. A jar of edge dressing
3. Two cans of kiwi black shoe polish
4. A standard MC issue white cotten T-shirt.
5. A couple of pieces of #400 grit sandpaper.
6. Some kerosene or lighter fluid
7. A regular ole horsehair boot brush
8. Bottle of Em-Nu

When your boots are fully dry take the sandpaper and smooth out the rough spots. After you have them smoothed out put a coat of boot dye on them and then an hour later put another coat of boot dye on them, then an hour later put a third coat of boot dye on them. Let them dry completely.

Next you will want to apply with just your fingers the whole first can of polish. Rub it in, rub, rub, rub and use all the polish and cover all of the boot. You're not trying to smear on big gobs of polish but a little at a time and work it in.

So far so good. Take the boot brush and buff and buff and buff. Should be looking pretty good at this point. Now open your second can of polish and pour some kerosene in the lid. Break out your standard issue MC white T-shirt and proceed to cut it into large pieces. Get a piece of T-shirt and wrap it around your fingers tight. Dip it in the kerosene then get a dab of polish and start gently rubbing it on the boot. You will be suprised how quickly you will create a small mirror on there and you can keep going to make the whole boot a mirror. The edge dressing is for the soles and the Em-Nu is for the lace eyelets.

If you by pass the breaking in point of spit shine you can get some awesome looking boots but as soon as you put them on the polish cracks and crumbles and looks like hell.

Every experienced inspecting officer looks at the soles before they look at the shine. They want to know if you broke em in.

[Echo_Four_Bravo]

Sadly, Marines don't have to spit shine any more. Just doesn't work with the new boots.

[ggyoung]

1960's all that was said was to buff shine your boots. no need to have your nose up your gunnies to far. This was said in boot camp.

[Quinbo]

Ahhh shoot. I thought kids now days still needed to know stuff we were taught when we went through. Yup buff shine .... one of my best friends had a can of black spray paint in his locker and buffed up his boots every day with a quick spray.

[yellowwing]

"Work on your boots." An old Corps testament to our Perfection Mystique. Hours of work. And before inspections we spend another 2 hours working on our boots.

[ejbabcoc]

REALLY???? No more spit shining?

[Sgt Leprechaun]

No, no more spit shining with the new desert boots. However, if you are very, very smart, and know how to spit shine, invest in leather dress shoes. I still have mine from 1982..and wear them for dress uniform police stuff today!

Corfram shoes look pretty, but they will destroy your feet, they don't breathe well at all.

I still spitshine my leathers, and other than replacing the laces now and then, they are still going strong. I use 'real spit' and a Pepsi to keep my mouth from getting dry. Nice used t-shirt, cotton, and plain old kiwi.

You want to impress the Old Corps Marines...wear spitshines! Far as I know, they are still legal.

[Quinbo]

I had the oppurtunity to serve with Sgt Maj Kellog and as a young punk corporal always wondered why there was a Sgt Maj walking around wearing a broke dick shirt and hershey bar shoes. He only had one ribbon on his chest and even officers were saluting him. I had a chance to talk with him one day and frankly asked him why the old leather shoes. He said when you're standing out on that parade deck in your fancy chorfam shoes and praying that the general will just shut the hell up you'll know.

[Sgt Leprechaun]

Hahahahahahaaha!

For those who don't know who SgtMaj Kellog is...

Allan Jay Kellogg, Jr.
Gunnery Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps
Current Residence: Hawaii
Kellogg laid the wreath marking the casket of the Unknown Soldier of the Vietnam War


Born: Oct 01, 1943 at Bethel, CT
Entered Service At: Bridgeport, CT
Date/Place of Action: Mar 11, 1970 - Quang Nam Province, Vietnam
Unit: Company G, 2d Bn, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division
Presentation: Presented at the White House
by President Richard M. Nixon on Oct 15, 1973
Kellogg was leading a small unit to evacuate a fallen soldier when his men came under heavy enemy fire. One enemy soldier maneuvered close to the American unit and threw a grenade. It glanced off Kellogg's chest and fell to the ground amid the group. Kellogg forced the orb into the mud and covered it with his own body. Though seriously wounded in the blast, he continued to lead his men until all of them reached safety.

[yellowwing]

I had a chance to talk with him one day and frankly asked him why the old leather shoes.

LMAO You got stones!

[USMCVet1992]

why would you want to spit shine your boots?

[ggyoung]

Sgtleprechaun===========No old salt that I have known was niver impresed by "spit shined boots" that was wasted time that should have been spent on MCI study.

[USMCVet1992]

Spit shining our boots was a practice our DI's taught us not to do. And they used some very creative methods of showing us how not to do something. The teaching methods usually involved a lot of sweat and sore muscles.... Making something that you are going to wear into combat shiny makes no sense.

[Sgt Leprechaun]

I kept a pair of spitshine boots ready (after I became a pogue in the S shops in the wing) but wore buffs day to day...when I wore Charlies etc, tho, I always wore the leathers.

I can't remember where I heard it, but someone once said "A spitshine is like a good coat of paint, covers a lot of rust.."

[Echo_Four_Bravo]

If we were in garrison, my boots were highly shined, period. I had boots that I only wore while in the rear. My field boots never saw polish. Danner makes a substance that keeps them 'black' but doesn't mess with the ability of the leather to breathe.