What constitutes being "old school" in the military?

Stayed in WWII barracks in Adak, Alaska, in post WWII occupation barracks in Atsugi, Japan. In Adak there were officer and enlisted restrooms in the operations building, enlisted were prohibited from dating the DOD school teachers (were somehow able to "bend" the fraternization article to include teachers). In Atsugi the enlisted club made about four times more MWR funds per month than the officer's club yet 75% of the funds went for renovations of the "O" club. I could go on but this is what it was like in the late 60's and early 70's. The "racial thing" was fading out but still most African Americans wound up in engineering or supply department billets. Lots of changes and many improvements and also numerous changes that are still questionable. Most notable was there still existed "fan room" correction of junior enlisted, etc. You could get your bell rung and little to no recourse. REALLY "old school" during WWII was the fact that females with BSN's (BS in Nursing) were commissioned as ensigns whereas a male with a BSN stayed enlisted (see DOD school teachers above) and blood was labeled with race for blood transfusions (hard to believe today but that was a reality back then). As far as that "ever moving line" a retired guy is always going to be "When I was in . . . ".

We had 16 weeks of USCG boot camp 1963.
Why only 8 weeks now ?

Old school in my era,70's til 90's was running a 23 mile ,through the LTA ,PT Run in O D green uniform pants ,combat boots,white T-shirt and working on the gamma goat .in the motorpool.

Now these are Dog Tags!

This is about “old school” as it get.
I’m old school.
If you ever sang cadence “they give you $100, and take back $99.
Duck walk during PT
Did PT and the morning run in combat boots with the OD green fatigue pants, white tee shirt, and baseball caps.
Moved around in “cattle cars”.
Did the”monkey bars”.
And what hits home for me is being an ”Old School Ranger”. When the rubber hits the road, a Ranger is a Ranger. But what separates “Old School” from the 21st century Ranger is the intense technological training advantage and learned combat knowledge todays Rangers have. There were no wars to fight when I went to Ranger School. The US military was “war weary”, from fighting in Vietnam.
Ranger school, although as intense, was an extra rung on the ladder to promotion. We were looked upon as “super soldiers” sent back to our perspective units to train and pass on some of the knowledge we possessed. Also, there were no computers and no GPS to guide us along.
I still embrace the Ranger “ethos” and sometime wish I was born thirty years later to fight along side of the 21st century Ranger. Regardless, Rangers process skills people spend thousands of dollars to experience. Where else can one throw hand grenades and fire machine guns and get paid. If I could, I would do it all over again.

Smoke 'em if you Got'em

Being able, like I am, to say "I joined the military in 1972"...or any year that is at least 50 years past. All you others are just young punks! Hahaha!!!

The old school was when "blanket parties" were done to stop... idiots' actions from affecting everyone else in the unit...

The answer is in your question - "it's an ever moving line" - so you won't be able to find it. For old farts like me, old school is the VietNam/Cold War era. For others, Gulf War I is rapidly becoming old school. And so it goes. SSG Bodley, I take it you are on Active Duty or currently serving in one of the Reserve Components. If so, one day you'll find yourself as old school too. When that happens, you'll be surprised and a bit saddened.

The 5 event pt test. Reporting to pay call to get your measly 350.00, only to donate to the 1SG's coffee fund that you were not allowed to drink.