Knife for iraq

R

razorsdescent

Joined
Jan 16, 2005
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My Best freind is enlisting and i am thinking aobut joining up. IF i do i was wondering waht knives would be preferred for use there? I was gonna take my Dalton tiger 2, And either a CRK warrior or a busse hells razor. Along with my edc emerson karambit of course. Is tehre any other knife i should consider ?


Any comments on joining the military would also be appreciated.
 
Yeah, they dont allow any knives at basic training. When you get to your first duty station, you wont need anything besides a good multitool and a decent under 4 inch folder. You wont need a karambit. Probably shouldnt even carry a fixed blade, you'll get some stares in garrison. In the field, its really dependent on the commander, but you wont need a fixed blade over 4 inches.

Downrange you will carry the same thing.
 
Worry about signing up and and actually completing training and getting to your duty station before you worry about what knives you need.
 
I admire your friends decision, hope it was for the right reasons. A multitool is a must... also consider a good folder, but something that you won't hesitate to destroy in the heat of combat. Also, good steel can only take you so far, consider sharpening stones.
 
11 years in so far and a few tours in some bad places has kind of made me realize a few things. Don't join because a friend did and you havn't thought it through all the way. 4 of us joined out of Highschool and I am the only one still in. I never got to be stationed with any one of them. I love my job and am on my 3rd enlistment now. In fact I should find out if I made E-6 on the 15th of this month. Crossed fingers. Anywho, back to your original question. Firstly, foget about the Dalton. There is a rule that you will learn about after you finish your training and are ready to go to the desert. It is called General Order #1. Specifically, you cannot carry an auto anywhere any time unless you have had one issued. And no, they don't look the other way on this issue. That whole, military guys can carry auto's thing has rules to it. Just because a store will sell you one with an ID doesn't make it legal for you to carry it. You will have it taken away. If your job requires you to have one, you will be issued one. Most likely it will be a Benchmade AFO or Auto Stryker. That or an orange handled Camillus jump knife. That's it. As far as the hell razor or any other big knife, you don't need them. Yeah you can take one to the desert, but you will find it getting in the way. My first time to OIF I took a Strider fixed blade with a 4" blade and it was perfect for what I needed. I have Darrel Ralph customs, Emerson, Spyderco, blah blah blah, because like you I am a collector, but the best knife I own for EDC and the one I will take with me next time I go over is a Swiss Army Knife. I have the Ranger model and I love it. It is the most usefull knife I have. I am not saying they are better than all the cool tactical knives, but after having months and months of time to discover new and interesting tasks I needed a knife for the SAK was the one I needed most. Sorry to poop on your parade, but I am not the only one who felt that way over there. Get yourself a nice SAK with all the tools you think you may use and take that. Of course I would say you should bring another knife to play with because you will miss your collection over there, but nothing to expensive because it may get confiscated if you bring the wrong thing, or stolen, because there are a lot of thieves among soldiers. Sad but true. Good luck and god speed.
 
benchmade makes some great knives for your type of question. i would either go with a spyderco or a benchmade.. the model would be up to you and be whatever you like the most. but the quality of these 2 knife brands are both great and hella-reliable.
 
I spent 3 years in ROTC and the National Guard then another 4 years on active duty as an Army Tanker. I had 3 knives throughout my service, Buck 110, Spyderco Endura, and Leatherman PST. By far, the PST saw the most use.

Keep your knife choices simple, small, light, and inexpensive. Your knives will likely be lost, stolen, broken, or confiscated during your time in. You will likely not need big fixed blades at all. In fact, as stated earlier, they are generally frowned upon by the chain of command. When I was deployed to Bosnia we were briefed on what was acceptable. Pretty much anything other than a small folder was prohibited.

Get yourself a SAK, Delica, or Leatherman and you'll be good to go.
 
soldiers aren't issued combat knives? They are troops, not boy scouts -- why aren't they at least issued k-bars or something. A boot knife, anything but a just SAK alone...I was just recently talking to a friend about this. Aren't knives for the "what ifs" more than they are for the routine tasks of deployment? :confused:
btw, God Bless our Troops!
 
get a spyderco karambit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
jk...






sorry guys i had to... hahahaha
 
Old Painless said:
Aren't knives for the "what ifs" more than they are for the routine tasks of deployment? :confused:
btw, God Bless our Troops!
Click to expand...
No, they ARE MORE for the routine tasks of deployment, which is what 99% use them for 100% of the time and the other 1% use 99% of the time. You have a gun. If you need to stab someone *everything* has gone wrong. There are exceptions for the Spec force guys but Hey, they are Special Forces for a reason. They, and only they, can do commando stuff.

Just as not everyone in the Air Force is a pilot, not everyone in the Army is a Grunt. (And no one is Rambo) Those few who are front line infantry MAY be issued Mk II’s (kabar is a company the knife is call a Mark 2) but often only on deployment.

I once asked my Sgt about that. “How come we are trained to use assault rifles but no one trusts us with a knife?” He said with only a slight grin: “We get drunk.” The sad state of the military today is the trouble makers ruin it for everyone.

Another way of looking at it is the non-infantry people use a rifle for maybe one week a year for practice. (USMC) Even then, some never even see one for years at a time. Even the grunts have a HUGE sense of responsibility put on them when the rifles are out. People fault the zero-defect-mentality (as do I) but one screw-up can kill someone. Then you have someone who shouldn‘t even be there in the first place think he is a bad ass and pick a fight. Yes you are a Marine, the boldest of the bold. So is everyone else on base.

90 to 99% of the men and women in the Service are good people who deserve our praise not just for the hard work that do day in and day out, not just for their willingness to put their lives on the line, but for putting up with all the crap that comes from the burden they shoulder and the myriad of little can’t-live-my-own-life inconveniences from being in a critical spotlight.

But it is the 1% that screw-up that make headlines.

"In war, out of every 100 men, 10 shouldn't even be there, 80 are just targets, 9 are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ahhh! But the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back, home." unknown
 
Old Painless said:
soldiers aren't issued combat knives? They are troops, not boy scouts -- why aren't they at least issued k-bars or something. A boot knife, anything but a just SAK alone...I was just recently talking to a friend about this. Aren't knives for the "what ifs" more than they are for the routine tasks of deployment? :confused:
btw, God Bless our Troops!
Click to expand...
No, we are not issued combat knives. Well I was issued a M-9 bayonet many years back, but they are crap. I don't count that as a combat knife. No, we are not boy scouts. Or at least I don't think I am :p . I tried to tell myself I was one while I was patroling the Iraqi border for 12-14 hours at a time for 6 months in the summer heat, but then I realized Boy Scouts are supposed to have fun and I wasn't having any. LOL Honestly, a SAK is the best single knife for a soldier. Here is a funny story. In the late 90's when I was stationed in Japan, I was getting ready for deployment and we were having our equipment issue. They opened the cabinet that contained all the small items like flashlights and knives and such. Well they had M-9 and M-8 bayonets and then a case of Victorinox soldier models (the 4 function metal handled one). Everyone jumped on those and pretty much everyone left the bayonets behind. Also think of it this way. I am an old SSgt. and I would rather have a bottle opener for my Corona in my pocket than a friggin' combat knife. Yeah I know I can't drink in Iraq, but then between the blades, sissors and screwdrivers, I am covered. If I need a knife to fight, than I have bigger problems than having some beefy tactical knife. All that being said.... Yeah I have a few. I do have a DDR Gunhammer, REKAT Carnivour Cub, Spyderco Delica, CS Ti Lite, CS Recon Tanto, MOD Beshara dagger and.... Well you get the picture. I don't really carry them anymore though. BTW I really like your screen name. J Ventura was awesome in that movie.
 
The main uses of a knife in the military will be for MRE's, 550 cord, engineer tape, map overlays, 100mph tape, cardboard boxes, and plastic bags. Multi-tools are also useful for doing routine maintenance on weapons, equipment, and vehicles. Think more MacGuyver, less Rambo.
 
My 2 constant knives while a Medic in 2/187 Infantry

1) SOG or Gerber Multi-Tool.
2) Spyderco Remote Release.
 
A knife is really gonna be secondary, tertiary, whatever in your training. I'm an MI weenie in the guard :p. I was on active status for almost 21 months for training, and I fired live rounds out of an M16 once outside of basic, that was quals last year, with no familiarization rounds. There were maybe 2 opportunities to qual with the M9 pistol, which I skipped because of my schedule. I never had to do combatives, or was offered; and only received about 4 hours of instruction of it at basic (but I have a couple years of JKD and some bjj and mma fighting experience from a few years back) It was offered, just never in any of the platoons I was in :(

A knife was out of the question at basic and ait. I had several with me at DLI, but there was a 3" restriction on anything not for "food preparation". Multi-tools are fairly popular, but not as much of the cadre carried as I had hoped. I saw about as many CCCs as spyders and BMs. I was out of the norm because I carried a leatherman and a folder as edc (which I've done for years) Don't consider a knife to be integral to your training. Even the combat arms guys and the high speed individuals with towers of power didn't seem all too into knives.

The example I've actually mentioned a couple times here-while cleaning weapons, one soldier got a mild reprimand for having a CS Recon 1 folder, which was over the size limit. Yes, while cleaning an assault rifle, a US soldier was told that his pocket knife was too big.
 
I'd go with something you're not afraid to wreck or lose. Something like a Delica. More importantly, I'd be sure you are enlisting for the right reasons.
 
Clint Simpson said:
There are exceptions for the Spec force guys but Hey, they are Special Forces for a reason. They, and only they, can do commando stuff.
Click to expand...

Don't want to send this in a different direction, but just curious, what type of knives ARE the Special Forces using these days?
 
Looks like a lot of great points have been made, but as the trite saying goes, here's my 2 cents:

I spent 5 years in the Navy as an aviation electronics technician working on helicopters. I was stationed overseas for 3 1/2 years in Japan and from there deployed to many countries, some friendly, some not so friendly. Before I was deployed I never heard of Leatherman or a multi-tool. In my pre-multi days, I carried only a SAK soldier and eventually added a Leatherman PST to the belt/pocket. I never needed anything more than either one of those knives. Nothing like whipping out a $30 Leatherman and $8 Mini Maglite to work on a $25 Million aircraft!

As a side note, after the Navy, I spent 3 years in the Army Reserves while going to college. It used to crack me up to see what the guys strapped to their battle rattle when we went to the field for drills - freaking machete looking things ready to slay dragons with!! I think the toughest things I cut during the whole 3 years were cardboard boxes, small tree limbs, and MREs. Again, the same ol' SAK and Leatherman saw me through just fine. Bottom line - carry something that you could actually use in the real world and you'll most likely need it wherever you might end up in uniform. Good luck in your choices.
 
I took my KaBar, and a Swiss Multi-tool. Also had a CRKT M-16 Sec Forces on my gear. The KaBar got left in my gear bag, and the other two were my daily companions.

The Multi-tool was BY FAR the most useful.

By the way USAFSP...good luck on the 15th!
 
Get a good knife and stay out of the military. This country knows how to win wars, but it doesn't know how to put down insurgents or, if it does, will never be able to do what it takes in the court of world opinion. Now the Romans...they knew about how to deal with insurgents. They were very good with knives, too.
 
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