MACV Recondo School Honor Graduate Knife?

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digital9ja

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Feb 4, 2007
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I was just watching a video on Recondo School in Nha Trang, Viet Nam and they mentioned that each class's honor graduate received a "coveted bowie knife" with the title "Recondo Honor Graduate" engraved on the blade. I've done some googling around and searched these forums but can't find anything about this knife. Of course, there is a flurry of knives made by SOG, Bark River and others that are named "Recondo" but they have no claim to being replicas of whatever was awarded to Recondo school honor grads.

I'm sure many can speculate, but I'd appreciate limiting replies to credible sources or personal experience. My guess would be it was some kind of SOG-style bowie but I suppose it could have been a Randall, John Ek, Ontario/Ka-Bar, Case, etc. I have read that the winners of each Best Ranger competition used to receive special John Ek knives. I actually had in my possession for a time a beautifully engraved and glass cased Ek Bowie US Army in Viet Nam commemorative bowie but I gifted it to my barber who was a Viet Nam vet.

Anyway, thanks for any help. I used to work with a guy who graduated Recondo School, I'm going to email him and see if he knows anything about it too.
 
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This is the first time I've heard that it was a "bowie" type knife. I was under the impression that it was a Gerber MK II.

"In his book "Six Silent Men - 101st LRP/Rangers - Book 3", Gary A. Linderer mentions the MACV Recondo School at Nha Trang, run by the 5th Special Forces Groups. Probably the finest school of its kind anywhere in the world, this was the 'finishing school' of long range patrolling.
"It was the tradition that the honor graduate of each class at MACV Recondo School be awarded a Gerber commando dagger by the school's staff. During the school's illustrious history, a large number of 101 st Airborne Division Lurp/Rangers won that coveted award, a testament to the quality of men who served in the division's Long Range Patrol units".

GERBER MARK II™ IN VIETNAM

Information and Photos Regarding Gerber Mark II™ Knife In Vietnam
www.militarycarryknives.com
 
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That's awesome. Gerber crossed my mind, but I was thinking of the little clip point Gerber that the SEALs use in BUDS. I can't wait to watch that video later tonight, it's different than the one I saw. I did ffwd to the knife at 27:58 of the video. I also have that Linderer book, I'll have to re-read that one. Thanks guys!
 
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digital9ja said:
That's awesome. Gerber crossed my mind, but I was thinking of the little clip point Gerber that the SEALs use in BUDS. I can't wait to watch that video later tonight, it's different than the one I saw. I did ffwd to the knife at 27:58 of the video. I also have that Linderer book, I'll have to re-read that one. Thanks guys!
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As far as I am aware the Cold Steel SRK and SOG Seal Pup are used by USN Seals BUDS. I suspect that you may be thinking of the Seal Pup.
The Gerber Silver Trident is one of several knives used by SEALS but not in BUDS.
omQZli.jpg
 
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For something like this with such a narrowly focused list of honour graduates I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't the same knife every year. Unless they bought a batch early in the program.
 
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I'm a grad of the MACV Recondo school. July 68. In my class (it was one of the guys on my school team that won it) it was an engraved SOG knife. The real SOG knives, not the modern company that appropreated that name. They later switched to Gerber Mk-II's. I know a serious collector that has both models in his collection. There may have been others I don't know about but there weren't all that many honor grads from the school.
 
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Sidehill Gouger said:
I'm a grad of the MACV Recondo school. July 68. In my class (it was one of the guys on my school team that won it) it was an engraved SOG knife. The real SOG knives, not the modern company that appropreated that name. They later switched to Gerber Mk-II's. I know a serious collector that has both models in his collection. There may have been others I don't know about but there weren't all that many honor grads from the school.
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It doesn't get any more authoritative than that! Based on the description, the SOG seemed most likely, but I thought that Western W-49s or Buffalo Bill knives might also have been possibilities.

Thank you for the great first-hand information! The references I checked didn't identify the Recondo knife specifically.

Out of curiosity, did the inscription on the Honor Grad blades identify the recipient as such? How were they marked?


-Steve
 
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Given I wasn't the honor grad and only handled the knife briefly many years ago, I'm not sure but I think it did. Next time I see my collector friend I will ask if his is. As for the W-49's and Buffalo Bill Knives I haven't seen any marked from MACV Commando school but there may have been other knives besides the SOG bowie and the Gerber MK-II. It was a long war.
 
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I looked at the video again, and they are at the RECONDO school run by the 5th Infantry Division (Mech) which would be at Ft Carson, CO. When I went to ANCOES in 1973 at Ft Benning, one of the other men in the class came from that unit now know as "MECONDO" school. Originally the RECONDO school was started by the 101st Airborne Division. Several units, at least in SF, gave out W-49's as end of tour gifts. John
 
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Sidehill Gouger said:
I'm a grad of the MACV Recondo school. July 68. In my class (it was one of the guys on my school team that won it) it was an engraved SOG knife. The real SOG knives, not the modern company that appropreated that name. They later switched to Gerber Mk-II's. I know a serious collector that has both models in his collection. There may have been others I don't know about but there weren't all that many honor grads from the school.
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Thanks for your feedback. In the video I have on Recondo school they specifically called it a "Bowie", not a dagger so that helps things make sense. I love those old SOG knives, I've seen one good article on them that discusses the plum-colored blueing and other things that was real interesting. I believe at least some of them were manufactured somewhere in Japan according to that article. The closest thing I have to one in my collection is a Blackjack that has the stacked leather washer handle and similar Bowie-style blade. One of these days I may try to get something that more closely resembles a real SOG knife. BTW, thank you so much for your service. My family and I love and appreciate all veterans, especially those of you from the Viet Nam era.

"As far as I am aware the Cold Steel SRK and SOG Seal Pup are used by USN Seals BUDS. I suspect that you may be thinking of the Seal Pup.
The Gerber Silver Trident is one of several knives used by SEALS but not in BUDS."

My bad, I said Gerber but I was actually thinking of the Ontario MK3. I thought I saw somewhere that BUDS students got issued those during some phase of the training. I wasn't sure how long they had been around as a military issue knife and it doesn't seem like they'd make much of a special award, although they look to be good stout knives and I'd like to pick one up one of these days.

BTW, the documentary that I have been referring to is the one done by The History Channel and narrated by Tom Selleck..."Special Ops: Recondo School". It's very good if you are interested and haven't seen it yet.
 
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Now that it has been established that it was a Ben Baker SOG knife, I wonder if it matches ones of the Presentation models listed here.


From what I remember, the 5th Special Forces Presentation model had a slightly different grind than the others, the grind line met the tip of the second spine peak. This was not the case for the various "sterile" versions. And this was the basis of the commercial SOG knives in 1986.
 
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digital9ja said:
Thanks for your feedback. In the video I have on Recondo school they specifically called it a "Bowie", not a dagger so that helps things make sense. I love those old SOG knives, I've seen one good article on them that discusses the plum-colored blueing and other things that was real interesting. I believe at least some of them were manufactured somewhere in Japan according to that article. The closest thing I have to one in my collection is a Blackjack that has the stacked leather washer handle and similar Bowie-style blade. One of these days I may try to get something that more closely resembles a real SOG knife. BTW, thank you so much for your service. My family and I love and appreciate all veterans, especially those of you from the Viet Nam era.

"As far as I am aware the Cold Steel SRK and SOG Seal Pup are used by USN Seals BUDS. I suspect that you may be thinking of the Seal Pup.
The Gerber Silver Trident is one of several knives used by SEALS but not in BUDS."

My bad, I said Gerber but I was actually thinking of the Ontario MK3. I thought I saw somewhere that BUDS students got issued those during some phase of the training. I wasn't sure how long they had been around as a military issue knife and it doesn't seem like they'd make much of a special award, although they look to be good stout knives and I'd like to pick one up one of these days.

BTW, the documentary that I have been referring to is the one done by The History Channel and narrated by Tom Selleck..."Special Ops: Recondo School". It's very good if you are interested and haven't seen it yet.
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All of the MACV-CISO SOG knives were made in Japan ordered through Ben Baker's CISO office in Okinawa. The contracts were awarded to Japan Sword Inc. and Yogi Shokai,. a trading firm that I believe was or became part of Marubeni Corp. The knives themselves were likely subcontracted in Seki. Baker's office procured equipment other than knives and he went directly to Seiko to procure a couple of wrist watch models for MACV-SOG use as well.

Not sure if the MKIII was a BUDS issue, It may well have been as it is among the knives listed as used by USNS.

If you want a SOG knife, the best were the ones Hattori made for SOG 1986-2006. Today they aren't as easy to acquire and Bark River offers a nice model.

 
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digital9ja said:
I was just watching a video on Recondo School in Nha Trang, Viet Nam and they mentioned that each class's honor graduate received a "coveted bowie knife" with the title "Recondo Honor Graduate" engraved on the blade. I've done some googling around and searched these forums but can't find anything about this knife. Of course, there is a flurry of knives made by SOG, Bark River and others that are named "Recondo" but they have no claim to being replicas of whatever was awarded to Recondo school honor grads.

I'm sure many can speculate, but I'd appreciate limiting replies to credible sources or personal experience. My guess would be it was some kind of SOG-style bowie but I suppose it could have been a Randall, John Ek, Ontario/Ka-Bar, Case, etc. I have read that the winners of each Best Ranger competition used to receive special John Ek knives. I actually had in my possession for a time a beautifully engraved and glass cased Ek Bowie US Army in Viet Nam commemorative bowie but I gifted it to my barber who was a Viet Nam vet.

Anyway, thanks for any help. I used to work with a guy who graduated Recondo School, I'm going to email him and see if he knows anything about it too.
Click to expand...
Believe this or not. But it COULD be a Gerber. My boss and friend (RIP) at the time gave 8 of us all sterile Gerber 06 Autos. Not a mark anywhere on them (we knew why) and I wasn't "that" familiar with knives at the time and wasn't told - though one of the fellas guessed it right, without letting bossman know that we knew what it was, I am soooo glad to have a new one now, brings back so many memories and stories. I'm not much on a company putting its company name and symbol etc.x10 all over the piece. But I must admit that these newer Gerber 06's Autos....EVERYONE IMO should own one - I am speaking strictly about their tanto pieces. I have no experience with anything else they sold/sell - - though they did exactly what I just said that I didn't like, Gerber did it extremely classy IMO. One side of the blade (3 lines on top of each other on one side) says "MADE IN THE USA" - then "PORTLAND, OR- - then finally in a little smaller print (and everything is in BOLD Gold Capital letters) S30V then a straight up and down line I guess as a spacer, finishing with 08720. The other side simply has the Gerber Trademark/Stamp. VERY VERY well done by Gerber. 100% Quality IMO and quite a whittler if I say so myself - - and I do. :0) Hope you find out, some time (I know of ONE case like this) you simply will never know, if it's a folder - there are many way to "switched things up" - something as small as using four different screws, be it knowingly (kind of like Emerson) or unknowingly so there is always the question and use of "plausible deniability".
 
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KenHash said:
Now that it has been established that it was a Ben Baker SOG knife, I wonder if it matches ones of the Presentation models listed here.


From what I remember, the 5th Special Forces Presentation model had a slightly different grind than the others, the grind line met the tip of the second spine peak. This was not the case for the various "sterile" versions. And this was the basis of the commercial SOG knives in 1986.
Click to expand...

Ken, Its just too long ago for me to remember which variation of the knife it was. And I've owned most them in the past.
 
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digital9ja said:
Thanks for your feedback. In the video I have on Recondo school they specifically called it a "Bowie", not a dagger so that helps things make sense. I love those old SOG knives, I've seen one good article on them that discusses the plum-colored blueing and other things that was real interesting. I believe at least some of them were manufactured somewhere in Japan according to that article. The closest thing I have to one in my collection is a Blackjack that has the stacked leather washer handle and similar Bowie-style blade. One of these days I may try to get something that more closely resembles a real SOG knife. BTW, thank you so much for your service. My family and I love and appreciate all veterans, especially those of you from the Viet Nam era.

"As far as I am aware the Cold Steel SRK and SOG Seal Pup are used by USN Seals BUDS. I suspect that you may be thinking of the Seal Pup.
The Gerber Silver Trident is one of several knives used by SEALS but not in BUDS."

My bad, I said Gerber but I was actually thinking of the Ontario MK3. I thought I saw somewhere that BUDS students got issued those during some phase of the training. I wasn't sure how long they had been around as a military issue knife and it doesn't seem like they'd make much of a special award, although they look to be good stout knives and I'd like to pick one up one of these days.

BTW, the documentary that I have been referring to is the one done by The History Channel and narrated by Tom Selleck..."Special Ops: Recondo School". It's very good if you are interested and haven't seen it yet.
Click to expand...
If you want to go the custom route, I think Greg Covington makes the best SOG knife out there. I've owned my share of the real ones and I have one of Greg's. Really hard to tell the difference.
 
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Sidehill Gouger said:
I'm a grad of the MACV Recondo school. July 68. In my class (it was one of the guys on my school team that won it) it was an engraved SOG knife. The real SOG knives, not the modern company that appropreated that name. They later switched to Gerber Mk-II's. I know a serious collector that has both models in his collection. There may have been others I don't know about but there weren't all that many honor grads from the school.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your service.
 
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