Knife for a Marine?

redvenom

redvenom

Joined
Aug 15, 2000
Messages
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A USMC friend of mine is scheduled to be deployed to Iraq in October and I was thinking of getting him a khukuri companion that wont let him down, probably a BAS or WWII. It will be a nice surprise for him. Anyone know how liberal are the USMC regulations on non-issue knives?
 
From what I understand, the USMC is pretty anal about what their marines wear. It has to be uniform; and I mean everyone exactly the same. THerefor I doubt that he will be allowed to wear his Khukuri.

Unless he is in a reconnaissance unit, that is - then it would be the CO's discretion.
 
best bet is to send it to him when hes already there, but include the receipt so he doesnt get it confiscated when he comes back.
 
Back when all that started over there, a bunch of us were sending stuff to troops. I turns out that not too many troops are allowed to carry stuff like khuks and some guys over there just don't want to have to carry the extra weight. I'd run it by your buddy first so he can check it out with his commander first and decide if he wants to hump the extra weight.
 
FWIW, Sarge (USAF forward air control) carried my 15" villager in 'Stan, and my 20" Shop 1 sirupati in his first tour in Iraq. He brought both back razor sharp, and said he preferred shorter rather than longer on his second tour. The BAS is probably the best choice for your friend if he can have one.
Wish Sarge would contact us.
 
15" AK- more "whack" to it than WWII, little bit more than BAS. About the same size.

20" probably was too big for Sarge to easily use/carry.

If I could only have one khuk, 15" AK villager. Mine's pointy & on the light side... had another 15" & gave it away- they tend to all be different...

Great for utility, and may the enemy fear for their turbans.

also, your tall tale about the kamis & the 1" thick khuk was hilarious...



Ad Astra
 
My cousin carried a 18" AK on his tour in Iraq he was an engineer and so didin't do a lot of ground patrols a 15" might be better for an on the ground marine :eek:
 
He was Air Force Ground Support, I believe. Here's two old posts:



06-29-2003, 11:50 AM
Sylvrfalcn
Registered User Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Fort Hood, Texas
Posts: 2,049


Dadgummit Kis, I'm a sucker for a good horse trade. Send me your snail mail address and I'll send you the Pen Knife I carried in Afghanistan. It's a good one, well tended and sharp, and it's from the first production run Bura made. Hope you don't mind, but the original karda and chakma have been long since replaced by ones with file steel blades and whitetail antler handles. One's sabre ground, the other full convex, both sharp enough to shave callouses off my hands with.

Fair enough?

Sarge




#24 06-30-2003, 09:54 AM
Sylvrfalcn
Registered User Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Fort Hood, Texas
Posts: 2,049


You'll like this one Kis, it's got stories, from the rust pitting on the blade caused by the terrible monsoons that afflicted Nepal at the time it was made, to the time it bought me back my personal space "comfort zone" over in Afghanistan. I was in a small village, and curiosity being what it is, soon found myself crowded in by a throng of people. I slapped my loaded M-16 to let them know I was armed, to which they slapped their loaded AK-47's in reply. At that point I pulled back my DCU shirt and showed 'em my Pen Knife. They immediately reacted by backing the heck up. I don't know if they thought I was a head hunter or an "ear collector", but they dayumed sure knew that weren't no issue Kabar.

Sarge
 
Where is Sarge now, anyone still hear from him? He sent me a couple of nice scandi type knives, one of them one of his 'file with antler' jobs. I miss his input here.
 
Berk? Did Sarge have BOTH models over there? I remember the big ones too, as well as the Pen knife I got.

Imissthepeckerwood.
 
Sarge did two deployments - the first to 'Stan (he brought me back a pacoul hat that I love to wear in winter -tell everbody they've never seen anyone wearing one who wasn't carrying an AK-47). That tour he took the villager. Next trip he went to northern Iraq, took the sirupati - used it to carve some door handles for the tent! Have not heard from him in a long time - searched the USGov websites for casualty info with no results. My suspicion is that some CO read some of his posts and told him to STFU. :mad: Oh yeah, he was off to his second tour to Iraq when last I talked to him, and gave him about a half dozen assorted blades for himself and buddies.
 
Thanks for the replies. Would have been nice to surprise him, but I think I will get him to check it out with his C.O. first before I send him anything.

Cheers
 
I'd personally send him a stout but not overbuilt knife with a 4" blade.

John
 
Hmmm... good advice. I have quite a few fitting that description, so that's doable.

Maybe I'll send him both a big blade and small fixed blade/folder. The big khuk in case his camp is invaded by zombies :) and the small for everything else.

Spectre said:
I'd personally send him a stout but not overbuilt knife with a 4" blade.

John
Click to expand...
 
A hatchet or a khukuri for carry in his ruck, like a WWII, a 15" Ang Khola, or maybe or a Gransfors wildlife hatchet.

Also get him something with a 6" to 7" blade as a GP knife and an 'Oh Sh*t!' weapon.

A Ka-Bar D2 Extreme would probably be plenty welcome and no USMC officer or non-com will ever say anything negative about a Marine in a war zone with a Ka-Bar.

The D2 Extreme is a traditional pattern Ka-Bar fighting knife with a better, more modern handle made out of a highly grippable Kraton (important when there's human blood everywhere) and a 7" partially serrated, laser cut blade made out of D2 tool steel with a hardness of Rc59-60.

If I were being deployed right now, this setup is what I'd carry. (I wonder if the Kamis would ever try making an HI leaf spring version of the Ka-Bar?)

Toss in a couple of small diamond sharpeners, such as a tapered rod to keep the serrations sharp, and he's set.

Brigade Quartermaster
Ka-Bar
1282_large.jpg
 
I think the Kumar Karda is a great choice for a K-bar type knife. When I got mine, it replaced my Camillus Marine Combat knife. They cover a whole lot of the same ground. The K-bar is thinner and a better slicer, but the KK is stouter and chops better. Other than that they are real similar.
 
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