At Hereford back in '63 (and presumably other training bases) the NAAFI had plastic shirt collars for sale. They beat scrubbing and washing the issue linen ones but were an absolute bugger come summer and one started to sweat a bit!
Bulling the toe caps and cleaning the instep was fine until some w*nker decided to go one better and extend the bull to other parts of the boot. I seem to remember spending the best part of a year getting my graduation parade boots bulled from top to bottom because of that.
On the day one gingerly exited the barrack block and form up in threes. Then came the order "Number 1 Flight. Aaaaaaaaa.....ten.......SHUN!" And with that, a year's worth of bull cracked into myriad pieces and left a neat pile of hard Cherry Blossom where 100 Boy Entrants had previously stood.