A Navy SEAL Briefly Discusses His View on Knives

What is there to get. I've read this thread four or five times. We all know that not everybody are knife knuts and yes they are many better knives than SOG!
 
Hey man what do I care I hang out over in the traditional forum. I was just rustling feathers to pass the time.
 
tirod3 said:
21 million veterans over the last 40 years have served, and the few who actually used a knife in combat number in the tens. Knives in the field are tools, not weapons.
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How could you possibly know that? Tell that to some of the Marines in Fallujah who were in Operation Phantom Fury. I was active duty Marine Corps infantry 04-09. As Ive stated many times before, I never used my knife in a "combat" way, but you can be sure we were taught how to use it if it came to it. I never carried an expensive knife in those days and neither did any of the other Marines i knew. I saw a lot of Kershaws and SOG folders as others have said. Almost nobody carried a fixed blade other than the issued Ontario USMC bayonet or the Ontario Kabar clone. I personally carried a Kabar and a Kershaw Blackout most of the time, and used the Kershaw daily in a utilitarian manner. I carried my Kabar vertically on my flak jacket tip down as the Navy SEAL in the OP did. Not on the shoulder but on the front near the center. With all the gear you are required to carry, that is honestly one of the easiest places to put it so you can get to it. As a side note, to the poster that said things in the military are designed to be "soldier friendly", id like to know what you are referring to. A lot of the stuff we were issued seemed like they were meant to NOT be easy to use and/or poorly designed. Anybody that got the new Marine Corps flak jackets around 2008 will probably agree.
 
Uhh just google navy seal knife and by all the millions of results you should learn something.

It's a tool, not a weapon in most cases btw
 
This style dagger is nothing new to the Navy SEALs. My father was search and rescue during Viet Nam. One SEAL (UDT or whatever they were called back then) gave him this knife to say thanks. The design is extremely similar to the more modern Desert Dagger.

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Bimmer1, thanks for your original post, as stories about knife use within the military, particularly Special Operations, are among the topics I enjoy most on Blade Forums. I haven't read Denver's book, so the information was new to me. Personally, I think that he must be at least a little bit a "knife guy" just because he knew the make and model of what he carried. I halfway expected more of the usual blase attitude: "I carried a knife called an SOP or SOC or something like that. It had two edges, I think." I know a lot of folks think that kind of disinterest is normal for a non-knife person, but I think it denotes unprofessionalism if exhibited by a professional soldier. It may indeed be the carpenter and not the tool, but a true professional knows his tools as well. And the very best carpenters use the highest quality tools to ensure superior results.

Ron Matthews, thank you very much for your contribution to this thread. That letter and the accompanying photo are pieces of military knife history! I remember that a footnote in Blackhawk Down! mentioned that that SEAL offered to be a spokesman for Randall Knives, but the company wasn't interested. Too bad, as I think it might have done Randall some good to have that kind of exposure.

Thomas Linton, thank you for gathering those Gurkha photos. Some soldiers carry large combat knives for more than just looks....

As for the argument that soldiers don't kill in combat with high-end knives, the September 2013 issue of Tactical Knives has a column about a Marine killing an enemy with a Spartan Ares. And for those who think it NEVER happens with quality folders, here's a link to a clip from an 82nd Airborne soldier who killed his enemy with a Cold Steel Hatamoto (drawn, opened, and used with one hand, by the way):

http://www.yourepeat.com/watch/?v=zCbSUox3W84

To help add to the topic, here's an interesting perspective on combat knife use from Harry Constance's book Good To Go:

"Everyone in our team had exchanged our nine inch Ka-bar knives for aircraft crewman's survival knives with a five-inch blade. They just worked better and were easier to wield with their shorter blade.

Dagle took his knife and, in a mixture of adrenaline and fear, thrust it viciously into the VC's midsection, at his belly button. Remember, the VC was a very small man. He couldn't be more than six inches thick. Dagle had a nine-inch blade. The blade ran completely through the VC, into the lieutenant's thigh and embedded into his thighbone."

I guess it just goes to show that every situation is unique. Sometimes you want the biggest knife you can carry, sometimes you don't.
 
Thomas Linton, thank you for gathering those Gurkha photos. Some soldiers carry large combat knives for more than just looks....
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The old gentleman in the wheelchair is wearing the VC, indicating that he experienced more than a little "danger" - and actually lived to receive the UK's highest award for bravery.
 
Silvanus said:
As a side note, to the poster that said things in the military are designed to be "soldier friendly", id like to know what you are referring to. A lot of the stuff we were issued seemed like they were meant to NOT be easy to use and/or poorly designed. Anybody that got the new Marine Corps flak jackets around 2008 will probably agree.
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^^^This!! One of the things I learned in the Army about our gear was it came from the lowest bidder. As for a knife, we had our issue bayonet, M9, and I carried a Gerber Gator that I got from the PX. I only deployed the Gator in anger against MREs that required opening.
 
Someone should post this in the Emerson forum. I like some of his folders but he blabs too much about being involved and privy to secret info. I caught him exaggerating
his stories a few times. I was in the military (1st 75th Inf) and I too agree on the fixed blade as a weapon and the folder as a tool. Some folders are stronger locked open than others but the pivot point is it's weakness. I also asked some SEALs on the base that I work at if they've ever heard of Emerson Knives. None of them had. The only SEAL I ever knew was a guy I climbed Mt Shasta with named Scott Sandavol. I asked him what he carried. It was a Swiss Army Knife.
 
CDKJudoka said:
^^^This!! One of the things I learned in the Army about our gear was it came from the lowest bidder.
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Not true. The Colt and Armalite M16's are not the cheapest guns out there. As far as the M9 goes, the only 2 pistols in the run were the M9 and Sig P226. Beretta was able to make them for a slightly lower price. I own an M9 and a Sig P229. Both great guns. If the Gov. wanted to go cheap, they could have bought a bunch of Rugers. I too heard the same BS stories when I was in the Army.
 
Frankly, I cannot imagine that a Navy Seal's opinion of knives would be any more valuable than just about any one else. I mean a meat cutter, a much less glamorous job, there's a guy who'll have something to say about knives. A wood carver, a north woods guide? Knives. A Navy Seal is going to do the same stuff with a knife as just about anybody else. Now what he does with his rifle, his parachute, and his training, that is going to set him apart!
 
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