A Navy SEAL Briefly Discusses His View on Knives

For me, Harv24 summed it all up. Just because a man knows how to use a tool, does not mean he knows(or needs to know) all the qualities of the tool. If it allows him to do his job, that is all he needs. It is a mistake of those who would assume that his choice is the best.

Maybe it was all he had but did a good job so he is pleased with it.

I cannot quote it but GSgt.Carlos Hathcock II once answered a question about the building of his Corps rifles and loads something along the lines of- I just shoot them and trust other people to know how to build them.

Bill
 
fallow said:
It's funny how the SEALS are just seeking the recognition now, it was all so covert and hush hush not so many years ago...
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You're either in your late teens or early twenties, fallow...or you've been oblivious to Hollywood...

"The Rescue" in 1988.....then you have Charlie Sheen playing a Navy SEAL in 1990 in "Navy SEALs"...Rob Lowe playing a Navy SEAL in 1992 in "The Finest Hour"...Steven Seagal playing one in "Under Siege" in 1992...

You're just noticing it now. It's been going on for decades.
 
Indiana Joe, The part about the Randall knife saving the Seal from injury is a story that Chris Kyle told in his book.
 
It is my understanding that any person who is, or was part of any special operations, ESPECIALLY counter-terrorism units, are well advised to keep it to themselves. It is also my understanding that any mission, successful or not, that goes public is considered a failure.
Cheers
 
Depends what the media mission is - hand in hand. If it's hurting efforts of people who don't want to play with us then it is hush-hush. Quite vocal to help a campaign or our international charity image.
 
OrdnanceBubbaUSMC said:
Depends what the media mission is - hand in hand. If it's hurting efforts of people who don't want to play with us then it is hush-hush. Quite vocal to help a campaign or our international charity image.
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I hear you on that.
My point is more towards the identity protection of those involved.
Cheers
 
sn8kedoc said:
Indiana Joe, The part about the Randall knife saving the Seal from injury is a story that Chris Kyle told in his book.
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Here's John's recollection of that incident as told to me in July of 2004:

Ron,

Nothing to be impressed about. The bad guy had me dead to rights. His windage was on, but I think his elevation was off, or the bullet dropped too much, as I was driving away from his position when I got hit. The knife literally "saved my ass"! It was a hand me down model 15 Airman, 5.5 inch Stainless Steel, sawteeth, green micarta handle, and leather Sullivan sheath. This knife has its own history too. It was given to me by a fellow team mate at Navy SERE school, where we were both stationed as Combat SAR Instructors, when I left to try out for a high end SEAL team on the East Coast that will go unnamed. It was given to him by a Vietnam era SEAL, who later unfortunately died on a diving accident in Subic Bay, PI. I wore it by itself on my pistol belt, right hip, as at the time I was wearing body armor and a chest mounted ammo rig, along with a shoulder holster. Like to wear everything high when riding in vehicles. Anyways, the round hit dead center of the sheath, on the stone pouch, hit leather, stone, leather, went thru and hit steel. The bullet richochet out the side stitching, but about 3.5 inch of steel from the 5.5 inch blade blasted out the back of the sheath and into my hip in several large fragments. All in all, I came out pretty good. It felt like I was hit with a baseball bat swung by Sammy Sosa. Flesh wound I guess you would call it, with major contusions and a stress fracture of my hip. I did salvage the knife and what was left of it (.5 inch in front of tang, and about .25 inch of the tip) before we left the burning hulk of our HUMMV in the streets of the Mog. The sheath of course was still on my belt. I have told this story all the way to the President of the United States, Bill Clinton at the time…… The sad part of the story is that after I left the Team I was assigned to when this all happend, I moved out to San Diego, and for some crazy reason, someone stole the remains of my Randall, and a replacement a friend of my who made knives gave me, out of my house while I was away on an exercise in Korea. Now all I have are the picture I took of it.

Regards, John

And here is the photo he refers to:

orig.jpg


Best,
 
Many valid comments have been made.

My impression (for what little it's worth) is that the SEAL guys will use any knife that they feel personally comfortable with once they receive their trident.

The BUD/S video of class 234 clearly shows that they were supplied with the Cold Steel SRK (at least back then), as well as others but they all look like Cold Steel to me...please correct me if I am mistaken.

The video even shows a instructor sharpening the knife on a ledge...check it out.
 
Quote Originally Posted by fallow View Post
It's funny how the SEALS are just seeking the recognition now, it was all so covert and hush hush not so many years ago...
You're either in your late teens or early twenties, fallow...or you've been oblivious to Hollywood...

"The Rescue" in 1988.....then you have Charlie Sheen playing a Navy SEAL in 1990 in "Navy SEALs"...Rob Lowe playing a Navy SEAL in 1992 in "The Finest Hour"...Steven Seagal playing one in "Under Siege" in 1992...

You're just noticing it now. It's been going on for decades.
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late 30's actually. But you missed my point of these recent films wanting absolute authenticity, and seeking a lot of actual, factual content and expertise. Navy Seals, Under Siege? The SEALs would have been embarrassed. At least ZD30, and Blachawk Down were authentic.
 
fallow said:
But you missed my point of these recent films wanting absolute authenticity, and seeking a lot of actual, factual content and expertise. Navy Seals, Under Siege? The SEALs would have been embarrassed. At least ZD30, and Blachawk Down were authentic.
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Research Harry Humphries

Harry Humphries (born November 17, 1940) is a highly-decorated former United States Navy SEAL who currently works as a consultant and actor on Hollywood films
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Navy SEALs, released in 1990, is actually based on events from Chuck Pfarrer's career with the Navy SEALs.

Pfarrer was one of the SEAL Team leaders responsible for the apprehension of Abu Abbas and the hijackers of the cruise ship Achille Lauro. Pfarrer ended his service as Assault Element Commander at the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU), formerly known as SEAL Team 6.
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It's been going on for decades. You're just now noticing it.
 
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There are so many experts here; clearly the world would be a safer place if SEAL teams consisted of bladeforum members.
 
tobii3 said:
Research Harry Humphries



Navy SEALs, released in 1990, is actually based on events from Chuck Pfarrer's career with the Navy SEALs.



It's been going on for decades. You're just now noticing it.
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You've named 2 people from the last 20 years. There are countless that have books on the shelves, and "consulted" from the last 5-7 years. You can't deny there has been a recent and massive surge in spec op soldiers all wanting to tell their stories. That is still my point...

And I think you need to watch Navy SEALs and Under Siege again. I have them filed under comedy.
 
fallow said:
You've named 2 people from the last 20 years. There are countless that have books on the shelves, and "consulted" from the last 5-7 years. You can't deny there has been a recent and massive surge in spec op soldiers all wanting to tell their stories. That is still my point...

And I think you need to watch Navy SEALs and Under Siege again. I have them filed under comedy.
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Wow. No effort to actually click on the links and read them?

I would suggest you go and read the list of movies that Humphries has worked on.

Then at least make an effort to research Chuck Pfarrer.

After leaving the military, Pfarrer embarked on a career as a Hollywood screenwriter. His film credits include writing, acting and production work in Navy SEALs, Darkman, and Hard Target. Pfarrer was the screenwriter on The Jackal. His spec screenplays for Virus and Red Planet were also made into movies. He is an uncredited writer on the films Arlington Road, Second Nature, Sudden Impact and Green Hornet.
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Simply noticing the author of "Warrior Soul, The Memoir of a Navy SEAL", published in 2004, might point out the obvious...or, more recently, the author of "SEAL Target Geronimo, The Inside Story of the Mission to Kill Osama bin Laden", published in 2011, might help as well. Could it possibly be the same guy that wrote "Navy SEALs", the movie you dismiss as comedy? Shocking!

Considering HOW MUCH just those two individuals have contributed in the past 20+ years to Hollywood, one would be inclined to realize that the movies and the books have been going on for decades, now, haven't they?

The next time you are looking at the books in the "Military" section, you might notice the names Dennis Chalker and Richard Marcinko, both of whom served with Harry Humphries. Small world, isn't it?
 
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Research Harry Humphries



Navy SEALs, released in 1990, is actually based on events from Chuck Pfarrer's career with the Navy SEALs.



It's been going on for decades. You're just now noticing it.
Click to expand...

You've named 2 people from the last 20 years. There are countless that have books on the shelves, and "consulted" from the last 5-7 years. You can't deny there has been a recent and massive surge in spec op soldiers all wanting to tell their stories. That is still my point...

And I think you need to watch Navy SEALs and Under Siege again. I have them filed under comedy.
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There has been considerably more activity from the special ops community in the past decade than the decades between vietnam and now. The US is also starting to realize that the special ops community should be expanded as they can be very highly effective in small numbers. Especially in a counter terrorist guerrila war. There is a whole lot more to write about these days. And countless amazing stories none of us will ever hear about
 
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