military/law enforcement EDC?

Being a pilot I always have a leatherman wave in my bag, BM adamas and strap cutter on my flak, infidel in my breast pocket, glass breaker pen in my shoulder pocket, and my pm2 in my leg pocket.
 
I'm active duty Air Force. Through the years I've been issued a few blades including a couple of Gerber 06 and Benchmade autos and a couple of Leatherman tools. I work in a heavily joint environment now with all branches, even one token Coast Guard person.

In my experience:
  • Regardless of branch you'll mostly see cheaper folders (lots of Kershaws) and Leathermans in use. That is if the person even has a knife which is no more common than in the civilian world, maybe less so.
  • The most commonly issued knives I see are Benchmades (widely admired) and Leathermans.
  • Most service members are not "knife people".
  • I've only met one other person who had even with heard of Emerson knives, an Army female who had a Combat Karambit.
  • The military did not change my knife lifestyle; I was into knives before joining. I don't think military service will get you into a hobby like this. I usually have on me a SAK of some kind, a small folder (small Sebenza, Griptilian, ZT 0450, etc.), and maybe a larger folder (large Senbenza, Griptilian, ZT 0620).
  • You can pretty much replace knives with firearms in all of the above. Military service definitely does not equate to gun/knife enthusiast.
 
Here in NYC most guys on the job carry cheap knives. Not to say that there isn't anyone who carries recognizable brands but even those who do are not really into brands or follow manufactures like us. Majority of my guys (fire side) carry cheap stuff that are being pumped out on the market for under $10 labeled as first responder knives. Easy come, easy go, no crying if you loose it. Most who carry Benchmade or Spyderco couldn't tell you which model it is. As far as the multitool goes Leathermans are the preffered brand. It is always nice to find a fellow knifenut working and strike up the conversation althou others think we are weird.
 
US Army 88-91. They issued the M9 Bayonet for field exercises (sometimes) and combat, which everybody promptly put in a box somewhere, because they weigh a ton. I had a TL-29 in my toolbox, and carried an Leatherman PST starting about 89. I was a mechanic, so the PST got about 90% of the jobs.
 
photoman12001 said:
  • The most commonly issued knives I see are Benchmades (widely admired) and Leathermans.
Click to expand...

This is my experience as well, except that the issue multitool was always a Gerber instead. The Benchmades were pretty widely viewed as coveted souvenirs, because a lot of units order NSN Benchmade autos with deployment money, and somehow Supply never gets around to asking for them back or they get lossed off on return. I suspect they're valued because they're expensive and good quality, but also cost more than the average non-knife person would ever spend on a knife.

And of course there's the "I used this all through OIF/OEF" memento aspect.
 
Navy guys: leatherman (lifer tool)

Currently LE on road patrol I carry a manix 2 lightweight black on black. I can't even remember the steel CTS pd1 maybe
 
I've been a LEO for close 25+ years. I've done everything from uniform to plain clothes and just returned from S. America working with US SF in the jungles. I can tell you that there is no standard knife that is carried. Since I'm a knife guy, I always tend to ask what my cohorts are toting and I've pretty much seen everything from $5.00 convenience store knives to customs. As a general rule, the most competent guys I work with usually carry Spyderco or Benchmade. That being said, one of the SF guys on my team recently who was pretty much as "tactical-ninja" as they come, was carrying a Gerber Applegate. I can assure you, he was very proficient with it. Another on the team was carrying a Cold Steel Recon and had more real war stories (afgan) than anyone I've ever known but wasn't a knife nut. Another carried a Spyderco Native. Me, in uniform, I carry a Spyderco Karambit non-gun side, Spyderco Matriarch waved in a cargo pocket and a Spyderco Dragonfly in my shirt pocket. Plain Clothes I usually carry a Spyderco Endura with the Emerson Wave. Off duty it can be several but usually the Spyderco Endura Waved, my Hinderer XM-3.5, or ZT 0560. Hiking, any of those three and one of my bush craft knives. Bottom line, some LEOs care what knife they carry but most just grab whatever strikes their fancy or end up carrying what one of their coworkers carry because it looks cool.
 
Army Corp of Engineers, 1976-2002.

In all my years of service, I mainly spotted cheap S&W brand knives being carried by the officers. I don't know why. We had one Lt that thought his S&W was the best knife ever. Most of the NCOs and enlisted were not much better. Lots of Gerber and SAK knives. Also, you could also tell what the PX carried because that is what most of the troops had. Gerber, CRKT and the like.

You guys know that this is an old thread from 2009, right?
 
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In my off side pocket I carry a Microtech ultratech II that is just to use in a weapon retention situation and thankfully I've never needed to use it. In my right pocket I carry an XM 18 for general use. In my patrol car I keep victorinox farmer food when I'm too busy to stop. I also carry an RMJ shrike in vehicle that has proven to be a great asset, I've used it to break windows and pry on stuff as well as pop masterlocks and open doors and cut small to medium limbs away from wrecked vehicles and cutting small limbs up that have fallen out of trees during storms. I live and work in a very rural and I keep a busse in my SAR bag.

I'm not a high speed knife fighter and my knives are more tools except for the Microtech. Being a knife guy I lean towards nicer knives that I enjoy but the majority of other officers I know carry kershaws and gerbers, a few cold steel, a few benchmade and emerson
 
I've known a bunch of cops, and carried a shield myself for a few yrs early on. Cops I have known are fond of Gerber, Benchmade, Spyderco, CRKT folders. These are generally cheaper knives, as many get lost at a crime scene or from someone's desk-top, or lost out of the pocket. My SWAT son-in-law loves his CRKT M16, and carries a fully-serrated waved Endura in his lt back pocket for insurance. I've seen a few ZT's also, although cops prefer the cheaper knives that can be more easily replaced.
 
My Army service was a long time ago, BL (Before Leatherman). My rifle was an M1, to give you some idea of how long ago. The only item of gear I carried that wasn’t GI was an Imperial Schrade Kamp King that I had bought as a Boy Scout at age 12 and carried for the next 15 years. I used it mainly to open C-Rations cans and other non-tactical purposes. We were issued “demo knives,” but I never liked them and didn’t carry mine. At some point it disappeared, and I didn’t miss it. Would have made a nice souvenir, though.
 
When I was in the Army (1977-81) we weren't issued knives. I was a radar technician (24Q), and during that time carried several small stockman knives, mostly Old Timer and Buck. Stripped a lot of wires with the sheepsfoot blades. The short drop point was mostly used to scrape out my pipe bowls back when I smoked. (Can't do that anymore, I developed asthma in my 30s and can't smoke.) The main blade did every thing else.
 
In over a decade working with local, state and federal LE circles I've only met a hand full of people who carried knives and most carried no name or Smith & Wesson brand Walmart/gas station crap, only a few carried quality knives.

Long story short, the most prevalent good knife I've seen is the all stainless Spyderco Police due to the "police" markings and it being all stainless it's easy to engrave for gifting purposes. ZT 0350 is well represented and I've seen multiples of those. Kershaw Leek has been spotted too and some random Benchmade, CRKT, Spydercos. Most of the good knives being carried were admitted received as gifts and most LEOs carrying them did not purchase it and are not knife people.

I've personally gifted away multiple Benchmades, Spydercos, Byrds, Bucks and CRKTs, but people generally don't understand the cost/quality of the knives they received.
 
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Whether they're male or female has nothing to do with it. Women can be just as into knives as men, and most men spell knife wrong.
 
I was in 92 to 96 and carried a spyderco worker during that time, Iwb at 1oclock to keep my pockets empty and to keep from losing it. Used the etool quite a bit to break banding on crates and to relieve 81mm mortar rounds from their cardboard canisters. My bayonet was bent from prying on something or another.

I was in Kuwait (95) and saw a first lieutenant carrying a Randall and commented on his knife. Most the guys I was around carried something cheap or nothing at all, always wanted to borrow my knife.

"Tactical" "assault rifle" and "baby mama" are overused dreadful terms and hopefully fade from our language
 
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