Proven Military knives

[CBennett]

When I was in I carried a Gerber Parabellum and a Standard Ontario Knife Kbar. Also had a small pocket knife of unknown origin lol(grandfather gave it to me) it was just a simple tool steel jackknife.

 

[Art_Vandeley]

I had my victorinox spartan a victorinox swisstool(that one was issued) in my vest and a mora.

That was before I got into knives.

I got by very well. If I could choose again I'd take a spyderco military and a puukko.

 

[kaosu04]

Got a work buddy that just got back from deployment, he was issued a crash axe/ tomahawk, slip in sheath.

My company (aircraft mechanics) got 4 or 5 tomahawk/crash axe things. Can't remember who made them but they were short, maybe 12 to 15 inches overall with a very long blade. Idea was to take them on dart missions. Always thought they would make so much more sense for a pilot to carry than those shitty break out knives they get. If I were in a burning aircraft I'd certainly pick an axe over a knife. The kind of things you can order with even minor justification is pretty crazy. As a mechanic and saw gunner (saw gunner means I was called the saw gunner because 2 people in the company had to be qualified, they never left the connex) I had a thermal scope for the saw. Who authorizes the funds to give a brand new thermal scope to a mechanic? Spend that money on armor that you don't have to constantly reassemble or something useful

 

[Torm]

My buddy who's served with the French Foreign Legion in combat zones in Afghanistan and a few other locales around the world over the past 7 years has used a variety of blades, from mid-sized fixed blades, to machetes, to an assortment of folders of varying quality (depending on whats available). When his brother and I were recently planning to buy him a custom engraved fixed blade he said to wait until he retires since he would be too worried in the field about losing something with sentimental value to bring it along and too worried to leave it on base for fear of it getting stolen. He also said he and most of his squad go through a few dozen knives each per year since they get broken or lost when on missions or training and, because of that, they usually just buy easily and cheaply replaced Gerber or Smith & Wesson folders since they're readily available and use issued or locally made machetes when in the jungle. Their blades will either perform the task they're needed to or break and be thrown away without another thought. That utilitarian view seems to be similar to a lot of the current or former military folks who post here too.

All of that said, he also mentioned using things like tomahawks and prybars when sweeping urban areas since they were useful as a tool more than as a weapon (much like a firefighter uses an axe). The only time they carried large fixed blades around though was for intimidation when they were holding the peace between two warring groups in east Africa and, of course, they were essentially on guard duty and those blades were never used for more than show. For him and his fellow Legionnaires, its the task at hand and the environment they're serving in that determines what they carry.

 

[BladeScout]

If I was a soldier, my knife would be a Mission Titanium knife.
John Moore, who came up with the idea for a Ti combat knife, was a WW2 infantry soldier.

Amen to that.
Huge fan here.
Had I been allowed to take and bring back mine, I would have (brought one of these):

it is a not bad choice for GI , cause gi tanto is very cheap and 1055 carbon steel with lower HRC made it tough .
glock bayonet is a better one i think .

i like busse HG55, and think it really suit for you guys need, if bugget is not tight.

The one you most likely is thinking of is a field knife - not a bayonet. But its a common mistake.
(I assume you are not referring to the small dinky BudK sold bayonet, that goes on the end of a Glock pistol and is sold to mall Ninjas).

 

[BladeScout]

No, I don't. If you want to get in a philosophical debate regarding "evidences" then you should know that his statement doesn't mean much. It is simply a speculation/assumption and overall opinion with no evidence to support its structural base, as opposed to the tomahawk makers that were interviewed in the article who have actually received testimonials from real troops commemorating their products in real life use.

You want some evidence to support my statement? Stick this in your pipe and smoke it.

A Tomahawk vendors promo pic doesnt really prove anyting, if you'll permit me to say so.

Theoretically, it could be some guys who just got handed some hawks for the occasion of the pic.

BTW Im not saying that Tomahawks are or are not carried in combat - just saying that this particular pic dont prove much with no background info present.

A hawk might be useful, but as the guys usually say in the sand box: "If it dont go bang, boom or can be eaten, we dont carry it."

Too hot, to much equipment already to bother about non-essentials. Especially with troops already laden down with 'carp.'

Another factor to reconsider; if you find yourself in a situation in Afghanistan, where you have a sudden need to use a tomahawk in close combat, you or somebody else seriously miscalculated the situation.

(Again, not saying that there wont be an occasion, where a tomahawk might come in handy).

 

[Charlie_K]

I'm a little surprised that the rules and regulations don't forbid such a diverse assortment of personally owned knives among the troops.

 

[kaosu04]

I'm a little surprised that the rules and regulations don't forbid such a diverse assortment of personally owned knives among the troops.

Its all just unit discretion. Really no reason to bw telling people they can't have a knife. Though on my last rotation I was amazed that the battalion allowed personal optics

 

[CBennett]

I'm a little surprised that the rules and regulations don't forbid such a diverse assortment of personally owned knives among the troops.

Techincally they do but in a combat zone all that goes out the window pretty much. I saw everything from knives to hatchet looking things to optics that were NOT military issue and yes obviously tons of different knives. Id heard of guys even having their own personally owned side arms(pistols like Glocks or what ever) but never saw and evidence first hand of this.

 

[scouter27]

Techincally they do but in a combat zone all that goes out the window pretty much. I saw everything from knives to hatchet looking things to optics that were NOT military issue and yes obviously tons of different knives. Id heard of guys even having their own personally owned side arms(pistols like Glocks or what ever) but never saw and evidence first hand of this.

I saw an HK USP 40 that the guy said was personally owned. Saw him toss it in an incinerator before leaving, so he may have been telling the truth. I also ran with a couple UCP-ed up HUMINT (supposedly Army, but I wasn't sure) guys who were carrying M4s with 6x ACOGs and Glock 19s.