Parade Gloss

C/2nd Lt Robot said:
That's happened to me, but that's to be expected seeing we worked 18-20 hours in the sun over the course of two days (for my city's Air Show. National Blue Beret is a different story). But it took me maybe 5-6 minutes to polish it off both boots.
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Robot you still a C/2d Lt?
 
Sweet, My Cadet Commander is a C/2D Lt. and whenever we ask him how long he's been a 2nd Lt. he say" Too long"...lol He'll be promoting soon tho.
 
Lol, the longest I've ever been in one grade (not achievement) is Cadet Chief Master Sergeant. Technically it was from 22 May 05 to 31 Mar 06. I'm planning on passing the Public Affairs Officer Achievement next week, waiting the darn 2 months after that to send in my Earhart and be Captain! woot! But alas, I now have to wait until Jan/Feb to get there because of the new regs! But thats besides the point, I went to my recruiters and they told me that I qual for aviation (Army) so I may not have much longer as a cadet (but at least until Jan 2008.) which almost gives me enough time for Spaatz...we will see...

The earliest I could possibly get the award is in Mar/May 2006 so I may stay for the whole year, of school, but who knows...

P.S. Franzz what are you now?
 
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Alright. This section is for parade gloss convos. Let's try to get back on track with that.
 
Best thing I find for shoes.

Base layers of standard black Kiwi boot polish.

Then when you've worked up the base and got a reasonable shine switch to kiki black parade gloss, also applying a layer of Kiwi Tan polish every 5 layers or so.

The black polish is great for a solid shine, the parade gloss gives it that extra bit of shine making them look like glass and the tan helps to give a deeper shine instead of it just looking like its a thin layer of shine.

And yes there is a difference, if you have a badass sgt then he should be able to tell
 
If used right it is great on shoes.

At LDAC resently, my platoon bombed the khaki inspection on shoes, really blew the shining off. All the razor creases in the world and all the shiney brass in the world doesn't save a bad shoe shine, which for me was all Kiwi black.

That night for inspection in our summer blues, we had about 3 hours (if we hoped to sleep more than a half hour) to get all of our shoes sqaured away.

I learned that if you want all your cadets to have a awsome mirror shine, get them all to shine their shoes the exact same way, with the exact same polish. We used Kiwi black, and black parade gloss(a thin coatof parade gloss on top of the black under coat on the toe only), unfortunatly we had not other choice but to melt it, it drys it on but delpetes the natural qualities of the polish wax, it makes them look like shiney black mirrors but it will only last about a week, quick fix that sucked, considering I strip polish the old fashion way.
 
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Threads like this are why God invented corfams...which I can now wear, being not a freshman anymore. Kiwi? Try Windex :p
 
Dare i may say this but we family has found a polish its in a blue can that's called Lincoln and its better then kiwi parade gloss with out trying just a quick rub on makes it better. haven't tried to melting it yet.
 
Kiwi Parade Gloss................. brings back memories :) my dad was a PO/QMG before he transferred to PO/SN, so I could always count on him to ensure I had boots in Parade Order, (or I had to do them all again from scratch. hehehe)
 
Ya i had my boots nice and shiny but my brother then found out that the leather was so old it was basically comming off with the shoe... other then that i can get them lookin good and with a nice iron uniform things go good.
 
I found that KIWI polish to be the best for bulling boots.

However, instead of using spit and yellow dusters, I always used soft cotton wool and tap water. I found the results to be much better.
 
Something to keep in mind before you take nife too it is ya you might wreck the leather and how old is hte shoe because that will affect how easily the leather comes off when you get close to it with a nife
 
For my non-inspection shoes, I generally use standard Kiwi - I've had bad luck with parade gloss. Start with a wet shoe, and use a cotton ball to apply the polish. Melt the polish while on the shoe, and remove with warm tap water. Then, buff it up with a clean cotton ball. Always 5/5 on inspections before I got corfams.
 
well i have a "secret" i guess you could say... any who i use baby oil before inspection i get a some on a paper towel and rub it on my shoes, then i just fold the paper towel up put it in my uniform pocket and pull it out if i need a touch up.. the only down side to this is don't touch them with ANYTHING and it wont last but about 2 hours but its great for inspection i haven't shined my shoes but once after i found about the baby oil
 
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squires said:
well i have a "secret" i guess you could say... any who i use baby oil before inspection i get a some on a paper towel and rub it on my shoes, then i just fold the paper towel up put it in my uniform pocket and pull it out if i need a touch up.. the only down side to this is don't touch them with ANYTHING and it wont last but about 2 hours but its great for inspection i haven't shined my shoes but once after i found about the baby oil
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The polish is not just to make your shoes shiny, it's also to preserve the shoe. The baby oil may work for inspections, but if you do it too much you'll ruin the leather. I would bet that if you tried to shine your shoes now without stripping them they won't shine very well at all...

Cotton balls and water. It'll take a while to get a good base coat on, but once you do, it will shine up real well. Take a brush and rub the boot until all the polish is off. Apply a generous amount of shoe polish and let sit for about 15 minutes. Buff the polish off so the coat is even throughout the shoe. It should slightly shine. Then, wet a cotton ball and squeeze the water out of it. Dab a bit of polish onto the cotton ball and apply it to your shoes in small circular fashion. In less than an hour your shoes should be nice and shiny and the shine will last all day. If you have a heat gun you can REALLY get them shiny but if you're not careful you can burn the leather. If you need any advice I'd be glad to give it.
 
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