Off to Quantico...

Joined
Nov 2, 1999
Messages
2,805
...got a big meeting in the morning...could be great for ATC and our customers.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers tonight. ;)
 
Do it Andy..run it up and make it good....
You guys make it good, and these guys(us) should recognize that and pay for it.....your stuff is worth having......**** (i'm a taxpayer)....cut the price if you can, no don't cut the price 'cuz you deserve it....but they deserve your product........**** I don't know.....do what you gotta do, if anybody knows best (and I guess we're talking about the USG buying your hawks) about this stuff you do.... So, having said all that, I hope we win.....? I'd like everyone in the service to have one of your hawks...I don't know that everyone whould appreciate it, but if they need one, they should have one.....
Thanks for your support Andy,
Best of luck,
Steve
 
I wish I were in Quantico...:D :barf: (too much brass ;))

I, too, support the idea of the tomahawk being an "issued" item, but with the way today's military is, your lucky to get k-bar issued to you (they don't like the idea of today's "warriors" having weapons they could use on eachother!).

My prayers and thoughts are with you, Andy...Good luck, God bless...GIVE 'EM HELL!:D

Sgt. Horse
 
Besides what the USG gives you, what do you get to carry, and what are you not allowed to carry......and do they tell you how and whereto carry it?......Don't know nothing about it.....
Thanks,
Steve
 
Sarge,
I think it was your wife, but whoever sent you the Gemmel series did you right....anything you can get by him is great.....Druss the Legend, Waylander, etc....these are great....Raymond Feist's books are about the same.....
I'm very,very, impressed that anyone (especially your wife) knows you well enough that she would recommend these books to you....
She would'nt happen to have a sister would she?
Thanks,
Steve
 
Alright...for you first question, gryphon46, the USG does NOT issue what I think it needs to issue!
If you are issued a 9mm (beretta 92F) pistol, you get a K-bar as a knife. If you are issued a M16A2, you get a bayonet (no knife).
The quality of these, as everyone who has ever used "goverment issue" knows, is LOW quality. I have broken only 1 bayonet in my time, but seen plenty others broken...
There is no "fighting" knife issued to the average "grunt." However, the Marines are experimenting with a new "fighting" knife/baynet with a 8" blade, serrations near the choil, and the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor on the handle. (Every service wants to sign their new gear issue -new cammies, new knife, new packs and for each service too...waste of tax payer's dollars IMO!)
As for the what you can carry: I mentioned this in another post, but if you have a knife with a blade over 3" (even if it is a folder!) you are required to check it into the armory and get a "weapon's card" for it (in order to check it in and out of the armory).
Do a majority of Marines do this?
:rolleyes: what do you think?!

Most Marines buy and carry their own knives.
I carried a Busse SH on my first deployment (outstanding knife) and I most recently carried a ATC Brend Hatchet with me in Iraq (met and overcame ALL obsticals!)

The "higher ups" were back and forth about me carrying a hatchet, too. First I couldn't, then I could, then I couldn't again...finally convinced them by showing them the blade was LESS than 3"...(like it matters with a spike on the back! ;))

IMOH, the "warrior attitude" that all fighting units should have has taken a back seat to the "PC" issues that go out the door during a war anyhow...don't get me started! :mad: :barf:

As for Shelly (my wife), she DOES have a sister, but her sister is only 18...but she's a hottie! (Shelly's sister is a little taller than my wife too! I'm a sucker for the tall ones!:D Don't tell my wife I said that!) :p
 
So Jess,
As you said the higher ups made all kinds of decisions as to whether or not you could carry the Brend....but did anyone really get on your case? Threatening and like that....how did they know?, just by looking at you with an ax strapped to your chest?
Attitude?
Guess I don't know what they all look at...I'd like to think, that whatever I think I need to survive, I'd like to think I'm allowed to have on me....But, HORReRS...I may be wrong, and I thought it might be funny, but as I think about it it's not really funny at all......
So,
Thay realy enforce what they tell you can carry?
Andy,
When you did your stuff, you had to follow this......
Justin,
You and Andy as Ranger types....
And if I asked Greg.....
All of you guys were supposed follow regulations as to weapons carried when your life as in danger?
Ar those higher ups ****ed up or what.....
This is not right.....unless you guys can tell me different.....but that's just me...No LOLOOOLOLOL......are we not me but(the politicians putting you at risk?)
for nothing?
Thanks,
Steve
 
The Marine Corps, more than other branches, wants its ranks to look "uniform." Everyone needs to look the same, carry the same thing, and know the same stuff. This idea has its benefits: everyone has the same stuff on their body and knows where to find it. (good in combat ops).

The big problem is letting the individual carry what he feels he needs vs. can he carry it (weight makes a big differance after moving and shooting for 10+ hours!)

The big problem too is the fact that, as Marines (and Rangers, SF, and other soldiers) we feel we are the "warriors" of today and want to carry knives ALL the time (or at least have them in the barracks room (where they are not authorized!) This poses a problem: do you enforce the rule and have the man resent the policy (multiple write ups for this could ruin a career!) or do you ignore the policy and have a possible "accident" happen (a few years ago one Marine killed another Marine with a K-bar! Beer muscles and fighting over women only lead to disaster!)

Either way, the policy is flawed, but I see no way to resolve it (at least until the young men realize that, in being the "warriors of today" they need to grow up and be responsible for their actions!)

I wish it were easier to explain...:(

As for what to carry during combat...my philosophy is: "better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it...especially in today's military with all the "mobile" ability! (HMMWVs, AAVs, TRAKs, and so on...)
 
Thanks for following up Jess....
I'm just an average citizen, well not quite, I follow the military stuff more than most I guess....but now I'm pretty concerned. I can see where it might be nice on paper to keep folks with beer muscles and knive separated...but when you folks have to fight for your lives and in a region where you don't know friend from foe, on duty or off,..I can't believe we don't let the guys (persons if you will) who are there and have to protect themselves, have the final say...ok, put your first aid kit in the same spot, and at least one magazine pouch in the same spot and your helmet on your head whenever....but if you think you need a knife on you somewhere or an axe somewhere...well I guess you should be able to have it....is there someone we can write to about this? Like I said, I'm just a citizen, but I don't think the rest of the citizens know anything about these policies...andI think they would be concerned too.....
Thanks,
Steve
 
I look at it like this:
The military today wants it people (as you mentioned, we are all "PC" now! :)) to be "warriors," but only when it suits their needs. Today I have to go through "Warrior Transition Training" (a class to help us come down from the war fighting mentality and prepares us to be fathers, brothers, sons, and husbands again). I love the idea of the class, but IMOH, there was no real training to cultivate the warrior attitude. I shouldn't say this, but it is true. Most Marines just see what they do as "their job" and leave it at that. If you look at the Corps as a buisness, it is amazing that there is a retention rate. I love "the Corps," but the small $#!* you have to put up with is amazing! (I have seniors that are over 35 years old and they have to sign out and in, and check in every morning in order to stay out over night in a foreign port. (I know of no other "company" that would require their employees to do this were they to travel overseas). I understand why it is done, but I don't see why they constantly stress the "you are not responsible enough" issue.

Back to the issue: carrying of knives, swords, axes, tomahawks, whatever...while in Iraq, we have some Marine bring their own personal side arms (pistols) and use them for the first few days (up until the point when the higher ups found out!) They took the weapons away and, last I heard, were going to throw the pistols overboard (talk about a waste!) I don't know how the issue came out, but it is acts like that (when a sidearm which could end up saving the Marines life!) gets taken from them because the higher ups see them as more then a "threat" to the Marines than to the bad guys!
Same for knives and axes...the only reason I got to keep mine (IMO) is because I am a Sergeant and, since I work in the Ops Shop, know almost everyone in the BLT. My officers are excellent, but those outside my chain of command see me "get away" with carrying what I want and, since they can't do anything about me, they decide to show their "power" by not letting someone else carry what they think they may need...the "power" issue is a real problem and, even though rank authority is set up for a reason, there is a time when the Sgt. or SSgt. needs to step up to the officer and say 'hey sir...what the hell?!?'
anyhow...nothing you as a civi can really do except support the members of the military anyway you know how. One tool that EVERYONE should have is a Leatherman Wave or Gerber Multitool. Used that a lot, but (as we all know!) it isn't big enough to do ALL the chores...and nothing is substitute for a good fixed blade (Busse, Strider) and/or a hawk...:D

pray, too...I am learning more and more how much prayer can make a differance in an individual life...:)
more later
Sgt. Horse
 
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