Ammunition boots

[karhu21]

Just curious after watching a documentary about the Grenadier guards how the boots are polished like mirrors
but the sole and heels are black as well. Is this because they apply polish to the leather sole to help waterproofing?
Fine sturdy footwear but would make a nice mess of a dancefloor!

 

[mikepara]

Ammo boots soles, are polished especially the middle bit between the sole and the heel which is polished to a mirror like shine as much as the top. It however has nothing to do with waterproofing and everything to do with BS. In the Guards and most British Units, BS baffles Brains.

It is all down to discipline. If so much time, effort and care is taken over a pointless exercise such as this, because you are ordered to, then when the order to charge the machine gun posts comes it will be carried out without question.

 

[Dumpster Diver]

The same may also be said about The design of a pair of Jack boots, they are built so that one may not walk easily in them with bent Knees.

hence too Tired from goose-stepping to carry out commands while questioning orders.

 

[Doctor Damage]

Here's a photo of a couple of guardsmen doing their thing:



I have a photo at home which I will post later which shows how thick the soles are on the Foot Guards parade boots.

 

[Worf]

I don't know but when I served you had a pair spit-shined so that you could stand guard-mount but other than that... an ordinary shine would do. Some guys bought a second pair that they kept mirror bright JUST for guard-mount or other special occaisions but it certainly wasn't required.

Worf

 

[fishmeok]

I read that in WWII the pebble finish covered the entire boot and had to be smoothed down with a hot spoon or similar to get the smooth mirror finish on the cap toe- any truth to that?

Cheers
Mark

 

[Sloan1874]

From what I understand, spooning was done because the quality of leather used on the boots during WWII was not great, it was heavily blemished and pebbled. It was hard to get the regulation mirror shine on them without resorting to this hot and smelly process first. I remember mates of mine at school who were in the Air Training Corps used to get boots out Army surplus stores and had to do this.

 

[Foster]

It's referred to as 'bulling' one's boots, if I am not mistaken. The pebbled finish is pressed into the leather before it is sewn into boots, but some decided the pebbled look wasn't ideal for having a shined appearance, hence the tendency to iron out the texture (with heated spoon) and apply polish to yield a mirror shine.

 

[Doctor Damage]

Grenadier Guards parade boots:



Scots Guards brogues (they seem to be polishing only the wingtips, not the vamps):

 

[Doctor Damage]

RAF boots on parade:

 

[karhu21]

Fascinating posts. I read that such boots are known as ´Crunchies ´ due to the noise they make.

 

[wellofsouls]

When I was in The Old Guard in Washington DC in the 80's, we did the same thing with our "spits" - the term for our best pair of leather low quarter shoes. I was in an elite unit and it wasn't uncommon for us and the Tomb Guards to spend a whole weekend on our shoes - heavily lubricated with Shaeffer beer, of course.

The soles were built up leather, an inch or more thick, and sanded glass smooth at the shoemaker's. The sides of the soles would also be mirror shined. Because they were so thick they had no flex at all, and the shine there actually lasted a long time instead of all cracking off. And of course you NEVER stepped on grass with your spits - no way, no how.

 

[DodgerMan]

I hadn't heard of polished soles before. Must have looked really slick when you put your feet up off duty.

 

[blazerbud]

It's called sole dressing and it is shoe polish as earlier mentioned. You can spit shine a rock if you cared to put a base coat on it. This brings back nightmares to me.

 

[Xenophon]

It's called sole dressing and it is shoe polish as earlier mentioned. You can spit shine a rock if you cared to put a base coat on it. This brings back nightmares to me.

+1, still remember my service time, getting back into barracks at 3 after an all day and night lovely walk against the clock wearing full gear in the rain, only to start spiffing everything up because you just knew there'd be an inspection at 6. It's all BS, as was said, but when you're in the circus, like it or not, they transform you into a mechanised clown through a million such stratagems and the perverse thing is after some time you actually start enjoying that crap. Anyway, been a loooonnnggg time now.

 

[karhu21]

Fascinating posts. I have read accounts of National service in the 1950s in Britain where young servicemen recalled
their memories of ´spooning the boots`and bulling them for hours in order to achieve the requisite mirror shine.
Bulling did not end there however as all brass items (buttons, badges and belt buckles all had to be shined up with
Brasso)
The leather soled boot was phased out in the 1950s and replaced with the DMS (direct moulded sole) and guess what?
The sole still had to be polished!

 

[oneterrifichog]

I don't know but when I served you had a pair spit-shined so that you could stand guard-mount but other than that... an ordinary shine would do. Some guys bought a second pair that they kept mirror bright JUST for guard-mount or other special occaisions but it certainly wasn't required.

Worf

Also a pair of spit shined combat boots and a quick knowledge of General Orders and other BS about the Army could get you out of Guard Duty for the night. At least when I was in (before the All Volunteer Army). 68-71

 

[karhu21]

I read an account of one man´s national service where he recounted a similar procedure concerning Guard Duty for the night where the smartest and best turned out
man would be excused and allowed to return to the barracks.

 

[oneterrifichog]

I read an account of one man´s national service where he recounted a similar procedure concerning Guard Duty for the night where the smartest and best turned out
man would be excused and allowed to return to the barracks.

It is technically called a Supernumerary, an adjective which means "exceeding the usual number". I don't think it is used in combat zones but it was a part of Guard Duty when I was stationed in Germany in the 70's.

 

[Grayland]

When I was in US Army Airborne School in 1982, we had to have highly polished boots each morning for inspection...before they dogged the crap out you. 98% of all Airborne students used the services of "boot blacks" who were old men who applied a super shiny "paint" to your boots. We each had two pairs of boots, so you droped off your dirty pair at the end of the day and picked up the shiny pair for the next morning. I have to imagine the black hats (Airborne instructors) got some sort of kick back.