Like I said, everyday boot. For Class As I prefer low quarters and spurs. They won’t allow tanker boots.
Air Force, meanwhile, still wears the much-more-fashionable black leather boots, according to a friend I just checked with.
You could just join the First Cav division, they wear leather riding boots and stetsons, IIRC.
(From Reader’s Digest)
Recruits at an induction center were shaking hands and declaring their loyalties.
“I’m Army!”, “I’m Navy”, “I’m Air Force”, etc.
A Marine was countered, “The Marines? Aren’t they just a division of the Navy?”
“Yeah”, came a growl. “The men’s division”
A radio station at a multi-force base announced the time: "It’s 4 PM. Army and Air Force personnel, that’s sixteen hundred hours. Navy, it’s eight bells. And for you Marines: the big hand is on the twelve, and the little hand is on the four.
Air Force - continue to carry no weaponry.
Army - feel free to occupy the territory we’ve already taken.
Navy - someday we’ll see a naval battle again.
Marines - SF started with Semper Fi.
In honesty, though, I appreciate all of y’all - I’m just engaging in some friendly play. Just wanted to make that clear before anything gets nasty.
Hehe, well just for the purposes of conversation, the Air Force Security Forces guys get to carry weapons, but then most of what they seem to do consists of checking IDs at gates and such. I also understand some of the Air Force special forces guys are pretty cool, but they’re for fairly specialized work (Combat Controllers, Para-Rescue, etc.)
Actually, for sheer randomness, I was reading a copy of the local paper, and they were talking about illegal immigration and border security (an ongoing and constant source of news fodder around these parts), and they had a picture of a guy in BDUs with a rifle out in the desert, and the captain said “Airman so-and-so patrolling the border on such-and-such day” accompanying the front page article of the day about some recent expansion in manpower via the local Army base for local border patrolling. I read the caption and said “Airman? That’s an interesing mistake to slip past an editor” and then looked at the guy in the picture. He was indeed an airmen, with the star-and-chevrons of an Airman First Class on his uniform sleeve. I think the next day I nearly hit a Security Forces truck with my door while going to the PX (fortunately I didn’t, the guy sitting in the truck probably would have gotten annoyed).
Still, I’ve been friends with a couple Marines, and I just want to know… how the HELL do you guys get your shoes to be so freaking SHINY all the time? You could blind nearby pilots with those shoes! :eek:
Raguleader,
A non-rate in the paygrade of E-3 in the Aviation apprenticeship group in the US Navy is an Airman.
Yeah, but the guy definitely didn’t have naval ranks (which I can’t decipher anyways) on his sleeve, but rather the Air Force ones. Enlisted men in the Air Force from E-0 to E-3 are Airmen, and I think “Airman” is also the catch-all phrase for Air Force personel, similar to “Sailor” “Soldier” and “Marine.”
Oh, and when you type my name on a line by itself in all bolds, you scare the crap out of me, man! I was like “OMG what did I do?!” 
Because the Navy would want to mail it in, the Army is too scruffy, and the Air Force would wet their pants at the first sign of hostility. Also, they look real purty in their shiny suits.
Started? The Marines were the very last branch to have a unit join Special Operations Command. So, you could say that SF ended with Semper Fi.
Actually the Army still does too. The wear-out, or expiration, date on the BDUs has not been announced yet. So not everyone has to wear ACUs and tan boots.
Actually, I wear shiny black boots and BDUs much more often than ACUs and tan boots.
An ex-boss of mine was prior Air Force, and he was fond of saying that their slogan was, “The Air Force. We don’t fight. You can’t make us”.
It is funny how the same word can mean different things to different people. Take for instance the word secure.
If you tell someone from the Air Force to secure a building, he will rent one with an option to buy.
If you tell someone from the Navy to secure a building, he will go inside and turn off the coffee maker and all the lights.
If you tell someone from the Army to secure a building, he will string barb wire around it, and set up a check point out front.
If you tell a Marine to secure a building they will go room to room with guns blazing.
Doesn’t matter which service, I am proud of you all, and thankful for your service.
Hehe, proof that the Air Force has the bravest men of all the services:
An Army General, a Marine General, a Navy Admiral, and an Air Force General are taking shots of Patrón. They get into a debate over who’s enlisted men are braver.
The Army General turns to a nearby soldier and says “Private!”
“Yes sir!”
“Go stop that runaway jeep!”
“Yes sir!”
And the soldier runs out in the road and gets nailed by the jeep.
The Marine General grins and turns to a nearby Marine “MARINE!”
“Yes Sir!”
“Go stop that tank!”
“Hooah, Sir!”
And the Marine runs out and gets pancaked by the tank.
The Navy admiral chuckles and turns to a nearby Sailor. “SAILOR!”
“Yes Sir!”
“Catch that falling ship anchor!”
“Aye Aye Sir!”
And the sailor runs over and gets squashed by the falling anchor.
The three officers turn to the Air Force General, who shrugs and then says “Airman!”
“Yes Sir!”
“Catch that landing bomber!”
The Airman looks at the descending plane, then snaps to attention.
“Go to Hell, Sir!”
The Air Force general turns to the other three officers and says “THAT, Gentleman, took balls.”
An Army soldier, a Navy sailor, an Air Force airman, and a Marine got into a fight about which service is the best. The fight was so heated, that they killed each other. So, they found themselves in Heaven. They see St. Peter walk by and ask him: “Which branch of the Service is the best?” St. Peter replied: “I can’t answer that but, I will ask God what he thinks the next time see him.” Some time later the four men see St. Peter again and ask him if he was able to find the answer. Suddenly, a dove landed on St. Peter’s shoulder. The dove was carrying a message in its beak. St. Peter opened the note and read it out loud to the four fellows:
“Gentlemen All the Branches of the Service are Honorable and Noble – Each one of you has served your country well. Be proud of that.” - Signed, God, USCG (Ret.).
You left something out: s/s God, CPO, USCG (ret) 
A Marine would tell you that “Spitshine” is a misnomer: it’s done with cotton balls & ice water.
Historically, the Marines were not any more spit & polish than the other services. What changed this was the Boxer Rebellion, and the military presence in China which followed. This was the frst time that the US had its soldiers serving right next to the soldiers of Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, etc. At this time in its history, as an up-and-coming world power the US was very touchy about not looking second-rate. (not suprising - it must be hard to stand next to an Italian Bersaglieri and not feel a little drab)
Initially, the US occupying force in China was the Army’s 15th Infantry. Its members were required to be veterans with clean service records. Because China was so desperately poor, the soldiers could afford their own personal coolies to maintian their uniforms.
When the Phillipine-American War turned into a prolonged meat grinder, 15th was recalled to the Phillipines and was replaced in China by the Marines. The Marines inherited this military strain of OCD and continue with it today.
Nah. 1st Cav is cav in name only, it’s really a heavy armor division. Stetsons are only worn in cav squadrons. There are some cavalry units in the 1st cav but most are not and don’t wear stetsons. Unless things have changed since 1993 when I left the division. All armor including cavalry give out spurs. They are not automatic, you have to earn them.