What constitutes being "old school" in the military?

C-Rats for sure.

If you ever stood in line to get paid "Cash". Or My favorite, when you went to the field you put on your field pants, OD Green Field pants.

PT in boots, OD green uniform pants and white t-shirt. Ate C-rations... and had a favorite. Drove a jeep (M151A1). Know the plan for the Fulda Gap. Had a "Graf Hat." Called anyone on a TA-312. Saw the new XM-1 do tank tables at Hoenfelds and Graffenweir.

You wore Green Satine or starched cotton Fatigues.
You ate "C" rations in the field.
GP Mediums with pallet floors were up town.
You polished your brass with Brasso before putting it on your Dress Greens.
Spit shined boots and shoes.
Your 1st Gen NVG's are held on with surgical tubing.

In the field received cigarettes in your C rations. In garrison paid $3.50 for a carton of cigarettes.
Ran PT in fatigues and combat boots.
Put 2 shelter halves together (I still have mine)
The only way to get to see the commander was to either screw up really bad, or do something outstanding.

I guess I'm old school. But a transitional old school. I. Lived through all of that and also: starched fatigues, starched khaki, TWS, class A shorts going to lime green from tan., Dress Blues, pedestal gun mounts in M151 jeeps with fold down windshields, humping a prick (PRC) 77 radio. I also remember when HMMWVs, M1s, Bradley's and Sinar were new. I remember the first time putting on BDUs and trying to figure out what to do with all of those extra pockets.

Old School for me as a young soldier was that almost all our field grade officers and senior NCO's were WWII vets and the junior grades were Korean War vintage. We were the M-1, brown "gown" (WWII Ike Jacketed), brown shoe Army and we wore "fatigues" with white name tags, steel pots (see photo from Mannheim, Germany) and "Castro" caps. PS: The local Germans used to laugh at American GI's who would climb on this statue outside the art museum and behave inappropriately so my young German friends to whom I had given some uniform parts and a helmet dressed the statue and this photo appeared in the city Newspaper entitled" Bild ohne Worte" - no caption necessary... They all knew!!!

It was Brown Boot Army when I was in 1964-67: brown combat boots, M1 Garands, and those funny cylindrical caps. These were the older sergeants with WWII and Korean War combat patches, second award of CIB from those wars, and the military-gold stars on their jump wing. I remember the 1st Sgt of A/4/503 PIR remembering about the time we got to 173 Airborne that some LT had asked him how he liked Dominican Republic (82nd had been involved there in early 1965) and he had been with 82nd for drops at Normandy and Market Garden

To me, I would have to say that having CSM Glen E. Morrell as my first BN CSM makes me kind of old school. One of my favorite comments from him to the Bn in PT formation was that the new ranger battalion hair cut policy would be, we were authorized to grow our hair as long as he had his. By the end of the day nearly all of 1st Ranger Bn. had shaved our heads.

RA service number. Blocked (Castro type) fatigue hat, went through basic with fear of your drill Sgt. and u did what u were told when u were told, with no bullshit. Term "politically correct" didn't exist. You lived in a wooden barracks where u could probably see light between the board. Your heat and warm water came from a coal furnace. More later.