Hi Guys:
When I was a lad we had to go to the extreme of polishing and then pressing our laces before straight lacing our boots. We had one beat up old iron that was used for this messy job.
Then again, our Sgt Major was so straight-laced that he made us polish the bottoms of our boots.
One more war story- Bdr Calnan did not shave well one morning which resulted in his being offered a charge or the Sgt Major's punishment... with eyes on officer candidate training, I chose the 'no paper-work' option and, at the end of the training day, reported to the Sgt Major for punishment. He handed me a gallon of white paint and a 1" brush and put me to work painting the rocks lining all the paths around the "H" huts.
Many hours later, a gleaming pair of boots hove into my lowered vision and I looked up to find the Sgt Major inspecting my work. he kicked one rock over, called me a lazy bast*rd and dumped on me for not painting the undersides!
I learned "attention to detail" that night.
Bring back hosetops and puttees!
Cheers, Mike