Question for military or ex military personnel (soldiers)

Spectre said:
1. I have a custom blade modified by Sam Owens that I would wear if back in a combat assignment. I would also wear either a Shirley-Owens Daily Kiri or a Spyderco ARK.
The knife in question is immediately to the left of the sand-colored handled knife.
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It's on my body armor in this 2011 picture:
https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7341/12662542885_6faff4156e_z.jpg

That's a nice collection Specter,Your selection covering every possible demand for knife, into every environment, thanks for photos
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The Whip said:
My pleasure, sir! I, too, am glad to see that the conversation is returning to civility. It seems that some people aren't able to distinguish between fact and opinion, or to respect opinions and experiences that differ from their own.



Nice pic, Royce! Is that fixed-blade one of your own?

Oh, and I'm guessing you didn't get the memo, but modern soldiers don't need pencils on the battlefield. They have computers and GPS and drones and cellular and satellite communications; pencils are obsolete now. At most, all you really need is a stylus....


Here are some more photos of soldiers who didn't get the memo about their knives.

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-Steve
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:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup: Great post Whip - thank you
 
Airborne 1 said:
OP one last thing...Read Col. David Hackworth's book,About Face, and you will see where alot of us are coming from. There is a Big difference between Professional soldiers and folks that were "there". A Pro learns his trade the rest do their part and get the "F" out.
Stop the debate and Read what the Pro's have to say...if you need a list, speak up.



2 Panther
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Airborne1

There is no doubt in me you are 100% correct with: "A pro learns his trade".

However,I suppose-we mutually shall refrain from quick judgment of others.Perhaps, this will help to justify some of my "fantasies" as few has called it that way...I am not wondering about your view of others, who hasn't served long enough or are not veterans and were not deployed into particular warfare,,,,or those like myself with only mandatory service - calling them condo commandos or variety of other names - I am not going into dispute about this, as if you are genuine veteran,you most certainly gathered knowledge and particular military skills, that can be learned only gradually and over long period of time, this is called expertise.Expertise of someone who is doing something for 20 years for example, would be naturally much more developed than the one's, who does the same thing only for 2 years (but only if their physicall and brain capacity equally match each other).Military , as you underlined - was your trade....

My past military service, can not be in any way compared to yours, because within military - you are master of that particular trade...

HOWEVER

There is existing "trade" - that I have, - like yourself in military - very extensive background and knowledge, where you could be and probably would be considered newbie, despite your extensive military background.

My trade is surprisingly complex, but globally very small and rather rare.I can assure you - trade i come from and learned extensive way for most of my life on professional level - gives me knowledge and experience,based on which I feel credible enough to raise some of my opinions or reactions I did in this debate

To mutually share knowledge, opinions,etc or even to have some arguments and hassle, is always a good thing,because there may be somebody, who can benefit from diversity of it....maybe once,he ll made correct (over fatal) decision thanks to it...


I
 
Airborne 1 said:
Ya the Army takes offense when you tell them their full of Crap and then prove it to them...the Col.'s C/M was trumped and all of Us that severed under him know it. The Military hates to be proven Wrong.


2 Panther
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Well then you just keep on worshiping your hero. He didn't show the Army anything except that he couldn't follow orders and liked to instigate his own little battles. He was a moron who thought he walked on water. He didn't. The Army was much better off without him.
 
Seriousbladeno1 said:
I d like to get involved military or ex-military personnel from arround the world that served or still serving on active duty and ask them following questions :

1.) How many fixed blades do you usually carry on various assignments in the field and what exactly they are or (were)? brands /models
none: prefer folders so I can carry outside of field exercises
2.) Do /did you prefer to invest significant amount of money for desired premium knife of your own choice,even investing a lot of money or - rather relied on affordable option of average knife,or army issue only?
Army has never issued me a knife, I tend to buy knives in the $100 range with good steels and made in USA.
3.) What knife surprised you very much and never let you down and what knife failed and let you down when needed?
Closest thing to a failure I've had was slicing my thumb open on the spine of my skeletool cx, fixed it by filing the corners of the spine smooth.
4.) What "all around" fixed blade would you recommend to other soldiers based on your own experience? (here you can also specify weather and climate conditions if any in particular)
no experience with fixed blades
5.) How do you maintain your edge /knife in field, if you do? (sharpening /oiling etc)
Generally a wetstone to touch it up. water to clean pivot, any oil i have handy to keep pivot action smooth.
Thanks for all replies.(doesn't need to go necessary from point 1 to point 5) please post photos of your military knife companions - if possible!
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answered in red

Army, 2010-present
 
Danke42 said:
I'd place a small bet that your organization was a spearhead/tip of the spear one and maybe the tasks you had to perform were a lot more outside of the box than a typical modern soldier.
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ha... depends on how you look at it i guess, but ya gotta remember i'm canadian so it's like our dollar... with the exchange i'm not worth as much. lol
 
yep, i agree totally... and as long as we follow your guys around with your logistical support network and aircraft, we are pretty handy, lol
 
Probably not what you're looking for as you're asking for Soldiers, but I'll do my best here (10 years in, planing on the full 20 and then some, AD Coast Guard, or "the red headed step child of the DOD")

1: not for me, but it isn't uncommon to see a Boatswains mate carry a fixed blade. 5 years ago, it was a Myerchin. Today an H1 Spyderco.

2: again not Army, but the Coast Guard has issued me some great knives and flashlights: Benchhmade: full size Griptilian x2, 940. Spyderco: Rescue (Think it's the name? It has a whistle on it), Endura, Pacific Salt.
Several Gerber Gators. They're pretty terrible as they rust quick. Numerous multitools from Gerber
Victorinox: their multitool, forget the name but boy is it sleek. Lives in duty go-bag.
Leatherman: numerous models. I swear, open up any drawer on any Coast Guard base or cutter, and you'll find a leatherman or similar multitool, they're everywhere.

For work, I rely on issued gear. Hell, I'm usually the one requesting it, and I generally heft lucky and they order what I ask for myself and the unit.

3: I always thought Spyderco were ugly before I was issued one. I've learned to get over that and they're not my favorite brand...but they're still ugly. They work so well. The Axis lock is great, but not reliable with cold wet gloved hands. You just can't beat that Spydie hole. For those that disagree: cool. But you won't change my opinion as I've seen the difference first hand multiple times. H1 is also amazing.

Myerchin is a sailors knife. When I first joined, they were the go to purchase. Their locks failed a lot. It's what drove me to Spyderco. I saw a guy at my unit beg someone to trade his Myerchin for a Gerber Gator. The fact that nobody would do it spoke volumes because the Gator sucks.

4: not much to do with fixed blades. Folders are so much more useful in how we use knives.

5: the guy that got me into knives, a fellow Coastie, showed me how to sharpen free hand. But let's face it, we rarely go in the field, so it's generally a non issue.

Hope this helps!
 
leghog said:
Excepting when it came to Operation Iraqi Freedom. Jus' sayin'.

Still, I love the Canadian Forces.
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Real friends don't jump from the bridge when we do. They try to stop us instead. Thanks Canada!

Bad friends however would try to get us to jump with bad intel. Though we can't really blame the Germans for their shady Iraki source since they've been very open regarding his reliability.
 
Seriousbladeno1 said:
I d like to get involved military or ex-military personnel from arround the world that served or still serving on active duty and ask them following questions :

1.) How many fixed blades do you usually carry on various assignments in the field and what exactly they are or (were)? brands /models

2.) Do /did you prefer to invest significant amount of money for desired premium knife of your own choice,even investing a lot of money or - rather relied on affordable option of average knife,or army issue only?

3.) What knife surprised you very much and never let you down and what knife failed and let you down when needed?

4.) What "all around" fixed blade would you recommend to other soldiers based on your own experience? (here you can also specify weather and climate conditions if any in particular)

5.) How do you maintain your edge /knife in field, if you do? (sharpening /oiling etc)

Thanks for all replies.(doesn't need to go necessary from point 1 to point 5) please post photos of your military knife companions - if possible!
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I was a sailor. on the ships i was on, no one carried a fixed blade except for aircrew as part of their survival equipment. folders were 4" or less, and on the last ship i was on, these had to be registered. in my shop, we had some box cutters and exacto knife. and just to keep the pot stirred, i have been told by numerous decorated soldiers, marines, and members of special forces that if you ever use you knife for anything other than opening a can or cutting some rope(in other words as a weapon) you done f*****up.
scott USN(Ret.)
 
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Esav Benyamin said:
Lets keep the conversation on the knives.
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lol. thanks for that Esav... saved by the bell. i didn't want to get into the politics of the why's and who's... i just go where i'm told and drag a knife along to play with. it's someone elses problem to figure out a reason why.
 
scott.livesey said:
I was a sailor. on the ships i was on, no one carried a fixed blade except for aircrew as part of their survival equipment. folders were 4" or less, and on the last ship i was on, these had to be registered. in my shop, we had some box cutters and exacto knife. and just to keep the pot stirred, i have been told by numerous decorated soldiers, marines, and members of special forces that if you ever use you knife for anything other than opening a can or cutting some rope(in other words as a weapon) you done f*****up.
scott USN(Ret.)
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What folders did you carry and what fixed b.has been carried by aircrew if I may ask?

Also, was that a battle or cargo ship? I assume battle ship, when you reply to this thread? Depends on what were your exact duties and code of conduct,,,,equipment would vary from one to another, but - everywhere in every situation you are allowed to use every possible form of defence (Included knife ect.) to eliminate threat to your life, this is common law across the globe, therefore non of the decorated personal could give you such an advice, unless you was on cargo ship and they were privately hired guns (contractors) to protect the ship (maritime security) and guys ment by it - not to mess arround with knife for security reasons, or were just boosting their egos over other personal on ship... There is a particular chain of command on each military vessel and nobody can prohibit you from any way of self-defence, especially in any life - threatening situation, such as pirates,etc... Thank you for your comment, interesting addition
 
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