Do soldiers need or just want a knife ?

Mannlicher said:
I have sent a number of lads folders, fixed blades and multi tools. No one has ever told me later, that they did not need them. I ask what they want, and send what they feel they will need. One good friend has taken a gifted Benchmade D2 710 into the mountains of Afghanistan twice now. He says he won't go without it.
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Did they really "need" them or did they just use them because they had them? For tasks which they wouldn't do otherwise (whittling) or for tasks where they could have used other available tools like an axe or wire cutters?
 
leghog said:
Observation post.

You didn't run wire between the Fire Direction Control and the mortars? You used radios? That's lust begging for an enemy strike.
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Fire control was too far and as I said only a few salvos and we had to move again. No time to set up cables and remove them if you don't want to compromise speed.
Laser might be a good option but we used fog quite often and even without fog there wasn't a LOS all the time.
Ever seen a mortar tank shooting? The way it jumps normal cables wouldn't do well.

Cables might be good for dismounted which we didn't train since unlikely. But even there it wouldn't take a rocket surgeon to figure out our position if we are fixed in one spot, cables or not.
 
Jens Schuetz said:
Did they really "need" them or did they just use them because they had them? For tasks which they wouldn't do otherwise (whittling) or for tasks where they could have used other available tools like an axe or wire cutters?
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You can turn that in every direction.
Who needs wire cutters & an axe, when a knife will do?
Who needs wire cutters & a knife, when an axe will do?
 
mtangent said:
You can turn that in every direction.
Who needs wire cutters & an axe, when a knife will do?
Who needs wire cutters & a knife, when an axe will do?
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Yep and knife enthusiasts like us on BF turn that mostly in one direction. Because we know knives are cool and fun we find justifications like this. I admit being guilty too :p


Also people who like being in an army like knives more than the rest of a population which amplifies that approach. However an army as a whole tends to give soldiers dedicated tools for most tasks and doesn't make communication, food, combat depend on every soldier having a pocket knife.
 
jackknife said:
My own opinion is that every man with a pair of pants on, should have a knife in a pocket. Everyman, no matter what his profession or occupation.
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The missing last verse of the Bible. :)

I wasn't in the military, but being a knife nut, I have pestered every friend and relative that ever was, especially in combat zones, about the knives they carried or saw carried, and how much they were used. Pretty much the consensus, especially in the modern military of the last 15 years, has been.

1. A good multi-tool will get used most.
2. A good solid folder is needed.
3. Mega huge bladed fixed knives, after being lugged around with all the other crap they have to carry these days, soon gets traded/sold for a folder, or left behind in base camp after a folder is acquired. Wasn't 100%, but a pretty high percentage.
 
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In one of my units our supply sergeant gave us Gerber multitools, so I guess you could say the unit considered it a need item. I saw alot of them break, and now I stick with my leatherman. I'm sure the breakage was due to heavy use/misuse of the tools and not any inherent weakness, but you know how it goes.
 
My coworker is a former marine and he says he almost never used a knife, other than multitools.
 
Maybe I was the exception, or maybe it was just the infantry, but at the end, I was hauling around no less than three knives, sometimes four. I had a Gerber MkI taped to my web gear shoulder harness (handle down, of course), a Mk 1 deck knife (a Kabar in a hard Navy sheath like that of a bayonet--it came in a complex multi-sided trade), a demo knife in my crimper holster, and a "demo" knife tuck into a boot top. I may or may not have had a slip joint stockman in my pocket. Sometimes I carried one of those early mini lock back Gerbers made back when they used a decent hard steel. Of course, I was in during the late '70s, on through the '80s. Apparently, some things have changed.

Oh, and we didn't have issued multi-tools back then. It was knife or nothing.
 
There are guys who carry knives and guys who ask to borrow somebody elses.

A multi-tool is a multi tool.

A knife is also a multi tool. Like it or not.

For some it's for nothing more than opening MRE, scraping carbon and pointing at crap on a terrain model.

For some its more.
 
I was a tank crewman 1990-1997 I was issued a Gerber multi tool and a Gerber Gator folder. We also had a SOG (PUP of some sort) lashed to the loaders side sponson box so it was retrievable while dismounted. We used the SOG for everything that you shouldn't use a knife for. It was beat to hell.
You wouldn't believe how handy a Gerber or Leatherman is on a M1 tank! They did open MRE's and T rats nicely also! The Leatherman was a good "green key" for the M.I.L.E.S. box :D You would almost NEVER die. (some of you know what I'm talking about).
 
I retired a few years ago. I never was without a knife of some kind. The variety ranged from cheap, keychain knives to more expensive knives and multi-tools. When I was on deployments, I always had both a multi-tool and a knife on me. Period. When you need a knife, you NEED a knife. There were plenty of times I needed one. It could be used for anything from opening an MRE to fixing a hose on a vehicle that broke down. Or, as was stated, you can reset your MILES. ;)
 
Mono....I was also a tanker. How many gerbers did you kill banging out towbar cotter pins? Lol.
 
leghog said:
In was in 1981-2004. Thankfully I never heard or saw something so asinine.
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yes we had a reserve captain doing his active time so he made that a company policy. the only company in the Battalion that had that rule. NOW IF YOU ARE A VET PLEASE EMAIL ME AT ginrickie1@juno.com AND I WILL EMAIL YOU 3 PAGES OF PLACES YOU GET DISCOUNT JUST FOR BEING A VET.
 
jackknife said:
My own opinion is that every man with a pair of pants on, should have a knife in a pocket. Everyman, no matter what his profession or occupation.
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It fascinates me how people think this is a "man's" duty. Women should just use their nails? :D
 
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