Military Knives:

Marines are issued the benchmade 5000 auto now, some of them not sure about all of them, and the army, some are issued the gerber 06 or the benchmade afo?? Not sure if that's the name of it, I had a friend in marines so can't speak for surely on that he just has the benchmade 5000, however I know for certain that certain units in the army got either gerber 06's or the benchmade afo, I ended up with 2 of the gerber 06's during my time in the army, and I hated that knife, so I traded a guy both of those for an emerson cqc 7, I had no idea what an emerson was worth at the time, and he ripped me off, but man I loved that cqc-7 I still have it put up that little knife got beat to hell and back and never failed me once, I'd still be carrying it if it didn't mean so much to me. Sorry to get off track I just went down memory lane a little bit there.
 
ADDICTEDD said:
Hey guys! I've been wondering, what knives do other countries militaries (china, uk, germany, etc) use? Do they use knives, or do they have bayonets? What countries have standard issue knives, and what are they? Thanks for your help guys!
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Try buying Homer Brett's book "The Military Knife and Bayonet." It covers most of the worlds armies.
 
Do not american units buy whatever kit they want to issue to their members, as each unit sees fit? So, wouldn't any issued kit vary widely from unit to unit? My understanding is that any knife or tool or plate carrier with that government stock number thingy can be 'issued' to members - can anyone shed some light on how this works?
 
Dorito Monk said:
Do not american units buy whatever kit they want to issue to their members, as each unit sees fit? So, wouldn't any issued kit vary widely from unit to unit? My understanding is that any knife or tool or plate carrier with that government stock number thingy can be 'issued' to members - can anyone shed some light on how this works?
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Most of us in the Army were never issued a knife of any kind. I carried a Al Mar SERE 2000 for about 5 years before it got stolen. Then I upgraded to a ZT 0300. End of the day the bulk of the Army buys it's own knives.
 
In my experience it does depend on the unit. I have been issued two Gerber autos, a Benchmade Auto Stryker, and several different brands of multitools and right before I deployed once I got issued a Benchmade Nimravus. That spans 11 years and for the most part Longtrang was right, the AF guys usually buy their own dependent upon their needs, I just got lucky with those.
 
while i was in the army (US, infantry 1988-98) i was issued a Gerber multi tool, an early Spyderco Endura and the standard M9 bayonet (not sure which mfr).
 
Times change!When I was in the Marines(80 to 84),we were issued a Kabar and bayonet when in the field.
 
Most of my Marine buddies say they are still issued Kabars. The only two types of units I have seen with issued folders (with my own two eyes) are Military Police and a Sapper unit. I would assume that Rangers would get a knife and I know SF used to be issued the black knife. Aside from that everything else is second and third hand info. Seems every manufacturer has a "military" knife or a "special forces" knife. My former CO bought a bunch of Gerber multi-tools for his guys and I have heard of similar pre-deployment donations and knife buys. I think some of these get misinterpreted as "issued" items.
 
I was an 0861 fire support man (artillery forward observer) in the Marine Corps from 2004 to 2008 and I was issued a Ontario OKC3S bayonet and a Gerber multitool.
 
I think its a good question.:thumbup:

In my last tour in Afghanistan what I saw was this:

British Gurkas have an official issued Kukri.
Gurkas contractors (private guards) all carried a Kukri also.

French Foreign Legion Officer carried a Cold Steel Fixed knife (personal) and he wanted a Randal (made in Flordia).

Every British Soldier and British Commando I saw had a Gerber Multi-tool (many from US PX).

American Infantry carried what ever we wanted in my Infantry Brigade.:thumbup:

My new Colt M4 did not have a bayonet lug so we got no bayonets.:eek:
 
how soon we forget.

swiss-army-knife.jpg
 
My oldest son is Marine infantry and currently training at 29 Palms for his second deployment to Afghanistan later this year. As a rifleman and now the SAW gunner for his squad he is issued in his words "a crappy Ka Bar". He plans on taking a CS Spartan and some sort of Kukri on this next deployment as he says the locals are much more intimidated by large blades than rifles, etc. He had also purchased a Gerber multi-tool which he used last time.

The good news is he was just issued a new H&K IAR to replace his SAW. It's basically a M-16 but will be used as a squad auto weapon. I don't know if it's the model 416 or not but it's part of the recent contract H&K won from the USMC.
 
Bama Joe said:
My oldest son is Marine infantry and currently training at 29 Palms for his second deployment to Afghanistan later this year. As a rifleman and now the SAW gunner for his squad he is issued in his words "a crappy Ka Bar". He plans on taking a CS Spartan and some sort of Kukri on this next deployment as he says the locals are much more intimidated by large blades than rifles, etc. He had also purchased a Gerber multi-tool which he used last time.

The good news is he was just issued a new H&K IAR to replace his SAW. It's basically a M-16 but will be used as a squad auto weapon. I don't know if it's the model 416 or not but it's part of the recent contract H&K won from the USMC.
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I had a new Colt M4 Carbine Rifle, used Beretta M92FS Pistol w/Crimson Trace Laser (Army issue, made in Oregon), and a couple of knives (private owned). I think the Afghans were more scared of the the pistol (Soviet execution history) and the laser was a great communications device.:D
 
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AfghanWarrior said:
I had a new Colt M4 Carbine Rifle, used Beretta M92FS Pistol w/Crimson Trace Laser (Army issue, made in Oregon), and a couple of knives. I think the Afghans were more scared of the the pistol (Soviet execution history) and the laser was a great communications device.:D
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As long as they are scared! Anyway as you know, the Marines use the M-16 A2 with ACOG sights but usually don't get the quality stuff you Army grunts do. Still, they both take care of Haji, right? I appreciate you taking care of business for the USA!!

My son was in Marjah, Helmand province December 2010 through July 2011. It took him 2 weeks to get shot... Luckily the AK round was fragmented after hitting his rifle so he was back in action in a couple of weeks. He told me part of him never wanted to see that stinking (literally) wasteland again but a bigger part couldn't wait to go back. Well, he's getting his wish.
 
Bama Joe said:
As long as they are scared! Anyway as you know, the Marines use the M-16 A2 with ACOG sights but usually don't get the quality stuff you Army grunts do. Still, they both take care of Haji, right? I appreciate you taking care of business for the USA!!

My son was in Marjah, Helmand province December 2010 through July 2011. It took him 2 weeks to get shot... Luckily the AK round was fragmented after hitting his rifle so he was back in action in a couple of weeks. He told me part of him never wanted to see that stinking (literally) wasteland again but a bigger part couldn't wait to go back. Well, he's getting his wish.
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I admire your USMC son as all Marines do a great job. BTY, I do disagree that the Army gets better stuff than the Marines. The ACOG is a better sight that my Aimpoint (Sweden) which I did like. The M16A2 shoots longer and is more accurate than my Army M4 rifle. The USMC camo uniform is much better camo than our Army ACU's.
 
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Okay I'm going to clear up some misconceptions I've read on this thread about marines. Because I was one until recently, marines carry garbage. Cheap gerbers and crappy leathermans they bought at the px. If the unit issues a knife its almost always a benchmade and if its a multitool its a gerber. Benchmade consists of autos for folders and the nimravus for fixed. Multitools were usually the gerber det with the blasting cap crimper and the c4 punch. Now you can get the leatherman det or the armors one. The only time I know of anyone getting issued striders were the friends I had that were scout snipers. A far as the IAR weapon replacing the saw. Its a piston driven m16 variant similar to the h&k 416. Marines stopped getting issued the m16A2 back in 2009. Everyone is issued an m16a4 or if you are anofficer/SNCO an M4. ( if you have friends in the armory you can get an m4 too ;) ). And it was made mandatory toissue everyone RCOs ( rifle combat optics ) at the end of 2009 beginning of 2010. Even though
They weren't making it mandatory to actually go train with it like they should have.
 
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