Knives Used By SEALs (member Qs)

About ten years ago I knew a former Army SF guy who spent most of his time doing drug interdiction work in central and south America. From his description, knife choices were all over the map, and the only knife he could name (IIRC) was a small SOG double edge knife, or something similar to that. It could have been another brand.

As for firearms, he said that they could choose anything in their armory, which included a pretty broad selection of small arms from around the planet, from both friendly and not so friendly countries.
 
John_0917 said:
You must live in East Texas...my favorite one (military poser) was a guy I overheard at Bass Pro in Mesquite one time loudly proclaiming how he carried a Sig when he was a "SWCC" and "all the team guys do"...I have to at least give him points for creativity in picking a pretty obscure unit to lie about being part of.

One look at the guy (who was about 23) and clearly the answer was no...
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We get a lot of those types. They are winded from walking the 20 feet from their car to our front door but yet 2 years ago they were on Seal Team 5 in Afghanistan.
 
During my time at Ft. Campbell in the 90s I talked knives with 2 guys that were with 5th Group.

One was a SF Medic and liked knives. He owned a Randall #1 that he got upon graduation from the language school. It sounded like he got it as a reward from the unit for completion. He would carry it while training, but was nervous about carrying it while deployed and losing it.

Other guy was a SF weapons guy and mostly carried nice production knives. When he deployed though he would take Ka-bars and Glock fixed blades though. He said they were great trade fodder and he'd usually end up trading one for a local made knife.
 
whitty said:
You guys want to talk to a Navy Seal just swing by a knife shop. 2 out of every 5 customers that walk in the door claim to be Navy Seals. I am shocked by how many retired Navy Seals chose my neck of the woods to retireo_O.
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Is this a for real thing or are you pulling our legs?

If that is true then that actually is hilarious.
 
WillB said:
PS, there is a knife display at the museum. I will try and take a pic. Nothing special in terms of choices, such as SOG, CRK, etc. and one LOL worthy which was added as something of an inside joke.
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This is the knife display at the USN UDT/SEAL Museum located in Ft Pierce Florida. I can identify the expected Kabar and MK3 but also see the Buck 184, SOG Seal 2000 and SOG Seal Pup, Gerber Silver Trident. Others I can possibly identify and others I have no idea.
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KenHash said:
This is the knife display at the USN UDT/SEAL Museum located in Ft Pierce Florida. I can identify the expected Kabar and MK3 but also see the Buck 184, SOG Seal 2000 and SOG Seal Pup, Gerber Silver Trident. Others I can possibly identify and others I have no idea.
yycVRf.jpg
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Did you read the OP? I'm a tour/answer guy at the museum. That would have to be an old pick of the knife display as it looks different now. There's a few more knives in the display now, but that more or less captures it. I will post a pic of the newer version of the display when I get a chance.
 
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WillB said:
Did you read the OP? I'm a tour/answer guy at the museum. That would have to be an old pick of the knife display as it looks different now. There's a few more knives in the display now, but that more or less captures it. I will post a pic of the newer version of the display when I get a chance.
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Yes I read the OP and noted you said you'd be "happy to give a personal tour". But nowhere did you identify yourself as a Museum Tour Guide.
Looking forward to seeing a new photo, especially to see ones that have been added. That photo I "think" goes back to 2013. Thanks for your contribution. BTW, in 2015 I sent an email to the Museum asking about these knives in that display but never received any reply. Were you there at that time?
 
KenHash said:
Yes I read the OP and noted you said you'd be "happy to give a personal tour". But nowhere did you identify yourself as a Museum Tour Guide.
Looking forward to seeing a new photo, especially to see ones that have been added. That photo I "think" goes back to 2013. Thanks for your contribution. BTW, in 2015 I sent an email to the Museum asking about these knives in that display but never received any reply. Were you there at that time?
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Just about yes. Would have been right on the edge of when I started. I work Sundays.
 
evilgreg said:
My last two units in the army were 2/3 SFG(A) and 1/10 SFG(A) and there weren't many specialty knives to be found. This was back in the 90s, mind you, but as you've described it was primarily whatever the PX sold--including a lot of Gerber, back then.

By far and away the single most common knife I saw used by any 18-series guy was the basic Leatherman multi-tool, though. I'd say the ratio was roughly fifty Leathermans to every dagger, hunting knife, or other folder I saw used.
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That's my understanding with maybe a few rare exceptions. We have a member of the family (SF Col) that was SOTF-E battalion commander his last deployment. He has been all over the mideast and africa in multiple deployments of various kinds over the last twenty five years.

I asked him last October about what the guys he knew and commanded carried. His answer was whatever they needed at the time. He was aware of the Winkler axes and had seen some guys carrying them, but for the most part it was PX knives, Leatherman's were everywhere and nearly every soldier carried one. He did say that the Blackwater contractors and CIA guys were more likely to have some "unique" knives and weapons.
 
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I have an old friend (since high school) who has been in the USMC since 2005, and is/was a member of Force Recon (it whatever it’s called now) as well as an instructor at the jungle warfare school and has done numerous deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan...amusingly he’s never seen a Strider SMF at work!
 
whitty said:
You guys want to talk to a Navy Seal just swing by a knife shop. 2 out of every 5 customers that walk in the door claim to be Navy Seals. I am shocked by how many retired Navy Seals chose my neck of the woods to retireo_O.
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There's a hilarious exchange in the CBS show "Seal Team", where one guy says

"If they are going to keep sending us on fake missions, can we send fake Navy Seals?" Another guy asks "Where can you find fake Navy Seals?", the team leader replies "In every bar in Virginia Beach."

:)
 
WillB said:
Just about yes. Would have been right on the edge of when I started. I work Sundays.
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OK. I remember now that I had seen this photo of the knife display floating around on the internet and although the knife names are marked on blue tags. the photo was taken from too far away to clearly make out the writing. So the email I sent simply asked if there was a list of those knife names. If you would be good enough to let us know the names on those labels (including any new ones of course) I would appreciate it. Thanks very much.
 
I guess it wasn't SEALs specific, but I remember the old museum at Port Hueneme had a mannequin display of a Navy Frogman using what looked like a SOG bowie to help him clear an underwater mine or something. To my young mind that was the coolest knife ever, that and the the one in the round scabbard that you have to unscrew. Ever since then I've always wanted one of those.
 
The 245 Matt Would Go (MWG) represents a partnership between Buck Knives and Tim Leathers, father of fallen Navy SEAL, Matt Leathers. Designed and created with Navy SEALS in mind, the MWG is a tough and durable tool with a well-balanced construction. As a highly decorated SEAL, Matt Leathers had a reputation for never turning down a mission. In fact, his fellow SEALS knew that when a call to duty arrived, “Matt would go.”
So came the name that honors SEAL member # 245, one of the top Operators in the SEAL organization who lost his life in a training accident in 2013.
Made in the USA
For more information, please see our product details sheet.
BLADE SHAPE:
Drop Point
BLADE LENGTH:
4" (10.2 cm)
WEIGHT:
6.3 oz. (179.4 g)
HANDLE:
MICARTA
ORIGIN:
Made in the USA

buck-knife.jpg
 
I think there may be two different worlds here . The real world, where the soldier in question just uses the tool that gets the job done, is reliable, can be used for lots of different tasks, and is relatively cheap to replace. Hence the prevalence of multi-tools amongst the replies here. Then there's fantasy wannabe knife world where both makers and buyers fantasise about what they imagine a SF soldier might use for the most part having ever talked to anyone involved at the sharp end. There's nothing wrong with that , people get to own a knife they can imagine is "just the same" as those used by the SF people. Knife makers get to fantasise and create some pretty amazing knives 99.9% of which will never see the battlefield but they get to make a living out of it. Everybody wins!
What does surprise me is peoples willingness to identify themselves as SF . I was in the UK army in the 1980s and the only way you would ever know someone was in the SAS was if they went from your unit to the SAS selection course from your unit and didn't come back (anybody from any regiment can go for SAS selection with their commanding officer's blessing). Nobody and I mean nobody on being introduced would say "Hi I'm ...... and I'm in the Regiment" . Very occasionally someone might get pointed out to you on a night out in a garrison town because the person you were with knew them. But if you asked them directly they would deny it ,not that I ever did.
 
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