Do soldiers really get knives "issued" to them?

GI issue. These date from the '80s-'90s.
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I went to Iraq in 2006 - 2007.



The Benchmade Auto Stryker 9100 on top was issued. I bought the Griptilian at the Ft Hood PX before we deployed.

A good friend carried a large Cold Steel fixed blade.
 
aquaman67 said:
I went to Iraq in 2006 - 2007.



The Benchmade Auto Stryker 9100 on top was issued. I bought the Griptilian at the Ft Hood PX before we deployed.

A good friend carried a large Cold Steel fixed blade.
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This was a COTS issue in 2007. Didn't use it. Personal preference. Just don't like autos.
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leghog said:
Tote an 81mm mortar base plate a few klicks then get back to me. Your an 11C, aren't you?
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Yeah, been there done that. I've humped the 81 and 60. The 81mm sucks to hump, but it's awesome. We mostly operated as normal 11b's. But we kinda pulled double duty, trying to keep at least one or two guns up when we could. I also humped it during the EIB road march, since I was the only Charlie in my battalion in the running. Are you a Charlie too? I will say 60mm direct lay is pretty fun too.
 
The 60mm company mortar had just made a come back when I was an infantryman decades ago.
 
leghog said:
The 60mm company mortar had just made a come back when I was an infantryman decades ago.
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Have you seen the new 120mm system they came out with? It's got some kind of gps computer on it, I consider that cheating. I used to love having regular line grunts drop 120mm he. It'd scare the crap out of them. They'd say "damn that's loud" I guess they figured it just went thump. I like all the systems though, the 81mm seems to be the fastest to work with. The 60mm is a pain just because it's so small and I'm 6'2. And everything about the 120mm is back breaking. The 81mm is just the right size. I was in an Infantry battalion at a real crappy FOB in the sunni triangle so I spent most of my time chasing hadji with the line grunts. Once the Arty guys were on point, the commander didn't see any reason for us to even have one Mortar system up. I think they even came out with a new version of the 60mm a couple years back too.
 
TrueBlue11c said:
Yeah, been there done that. I've humped the 81 and 60. The 81mm sucks to hump, but it's awesome. We mostly operated as normal 11b's. But we kinda pulled double duty, trying to keep at least one or two guns up when we could. I also humped it during the EIB road march, since I was the only Charlie in my battalion in the running. Are you a Charlie too? I will say 60mm direct lay is pretty fun too.
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leghog said:
The 60mm company mortar had just made a come back when I was an infantryman decades ago.
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I kinda envy you guys. I got stuck with a staff billet since I'm good at reading legalese. I have to sneak out into the field if I want to do anything "fun", which almost always gets the XO and OpsO telling me to get back to my actual duties. At least I've become the go-to guy for the pistol range, and I'll likely get to set up a few rifle ranges soon too.
 
Wolf1775 said:
I kinda envy you guys. I got stuck with a staff billet since I'm good at reading legalese. I have to sneak out into the field if I want to do anything "fun", which almost always gets the XO and OpsO telling me to get back to my actual duties. At least I've become the go-to guy for the pistol range, and I'll likely get to set up a few rifle ranges soon too.
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Are you 11 series?
We had a couple guys that were 11 series that got reassigned. One was good at typing and ended up working in CID somehow. Another was tech savvy and ended up in s4 and manning the little recon uav (drone). Even with me I didn't choose to be an 11c they assigned it to me. I was 17 when I joined and had no idea what a mortar system was. But either way I got to do my mortar stuff and my normal Infantry stuff, so it all worked out. The only thing that irritated me was that they weren't giving any slots to 11c's for sniper school at the time I was in. Plus, when you use the mortar system you usually don't get to see the target you hit, only your fister or other line guys will tell you about the aftermath. Being an 11c is pretty cool though, there's not that many of us and I hardly ever meet another one. I loved doing my normal Infantry stuff the most, time seemed to go by faster. Plus, being able to fight the enemy head on is pretty exhilarating.
 
Guessing you're Army and referring to the Infantry MOS's? In that case, no... I got assigned Adjutant (0180) and double as the unit's Legal Officer, so I'm the S-1 for my unit. My unit is a support squadron, so we're a non flying squadron in the Air Wing. Our mission is to set up forward refueling points, recover downed aircraft, and handle logistics. My first two picks were Artillery and Military Police, but the needs of the Corps, not the wants of the Marine. That's what I get for showing proficiency with the administrative and legal system. :P On the plus side, I work directly with the entire staff section of my unit, and only answer to the CO and XO. There aren't a whole lot of company level officers who get to do that, and it's pretty eye opening when you're up front with the entire planning process for every operation that goes on.

Still, I like being in the field during operations rather than in the COC or planning tent prepping ops. It's great planning out ops, but I get more out of participating in them. I'm pretty happy that at least I've been able to be the OIC for some of the live fire ranges, and the Ops Chief likes the movement to contact ranges I'm planning. If I show the OpsO and XO a good ORM plan then I'll likely get the green light to start doing something beyond just Tables 1 and 2.

Back to the original topic... Benchmade knives and Gerber multitools are the two most popular personally owned and procured tools that I've noticed. CRKT knives are also popular with the junior enlisted because they don't cost a whole lot, and the general mentality is use it until it breaks, then get a new one. The Staff NCO's tend to go for a more solid fixed blade since most just want one tool that'll last. I've also noticed the MP's usually have a pretty solid folder on them, and more than a few have a fixed blade as part of their field kit, as well as whatever else they have depending on what they're doing.
 
Gentlemen, I had a general question. First of all, you are all asskickers, and I thank you for your service. So, as to my question. You see various companies who all offer tomahawks, and part of their advertising is showing soldiers over in the ME posing with them. Did or do you ever see guys running around with those?
 
I've seen a lot of guys use RMJ tomahawks. It really depends on your job in the military. But when you see them it's usually RMJ. I know 10th mountain carries them and other Infantry and Marine units. They're mostly used for breaching and clearing obstacles.
 
I haven't seen anyone with a tomahawk, but one of our MP's had an ax from Blackhawk Tactical (or something like it) that he kept as part of his kit. He used it overseas a few times, but most of the time it just scared the piss out of the insurgents who saw him with it. He kept it as part of his kit when we did FEX's too since they got an opportunity to go to MOUT facilities and most of them offered the chance to practice different breaching methods.

One of our detachments gave tomahawks out as gifts for one of the Birthday Balls... I haven't seen anyone carry it during FEX's though.

Also, thank you for your support. It really does mean quite a bit to us.
 
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Victorinox has been issuing the "Soldier" to there army since 1891 so I would say yes to your question. :D


Here is one of mine that carries the WK stamp which means it was inspected for quality by the military before being issued to a soldier.

 
I'm a retired USAF Chief 1962-93,started out as an acft mechanic,and was issued two different commercial pocket knives,one an electrical knife,the other a full size stockman,and still have both of them.
 
how do you load pics on a message?
I have a pic I took of hadji, he looks like cheech, from cheech and chong
 
We need to stay on topic here the best we can folks...that means discussing the knives.
 
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