Question regarding uses that a Spec Ops Soldier has for a fixed blade

T

Troll Bait From Hell

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Nov 3, 2005
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I've been wondering what realistic uses most Spec Ops type soldiers have for a fixed blade. My only exposure to such has been from books and movies, so this is a sincere question.

I'm assuming that the soldier will also have either a multi-tool or a SAK as well.

If the main use of the blade is for slicing up whatever vegetables or critters that have been procured for food, then it seems to me that a Frosts mora in stainless might be just the ticket. Very light, very rust resistant, and very effective slicer, all for about ten bucks. (Swedish Army issues these things to their soldiers, right?) I'd have to think that weight is an issue.

If splitting/prying of firewood, prying open doors/windows, or eviscerating/beheading bad guys is a possibility, then I can certainly understand why one would want something much tougher and larger than a mora.

Can some of you folks with more first-hand knowledge than ol' Troll Bait chime in?
 
OK. No spec ops soldiers replied (no surprise here, I guess).

I am now soliciting input from the masses on this, including the mall ninjas.
 
Well first of all I am not a Spec warrior. Unless you count being section leader of a combined anti armour team(think Hummvees' with 50 cal machineguns and 40mm grenade grenade launchers) However despite that fact I have worked closely with Force Recon, Scout Snipers, Dev Gru..ect and guess what? No huge rambo knives. For a real operator a knife is just another tool in the tool box. You know,cut 550 cord ,90mil-an-hour tape and most important, open Mre's but they mostly carry what there issued. and trust me,they get issued some pretty sweet knives.
 
Damn man give some guys a few to get to the post!!! This thread hasn't been open very long. However, there are plenty of mall ninja that will tell you they are for great knifefights that happen like in the movies.;) I am not Spec Ops, but am a ground pounder and proably as close as you are gonna get around here. I have operated with Para Rescue, Delta, and Force Recon, in the big sandbox. There is opening ammo crates, prying open stuff (depending on the knife), hacking notches into branches or small saplings to make support for expedient shelters. Field cleaning animal for food. Cutting 1000 mile an hour tape. Cutting webbing, and other course materials such as rope. Opening MRE's and whatever else you do when you are bored. Oh, and I guess as a weapon, but bullets are prefered. Like Last Chance said. No big Rambo knives. You are probably going to get some really interesting replies now.
 
Tactical covert deanimation and COM-Bloc armor piercing ;) :eek: :D




On a sober note... Spec Ops use their knives as much (or a little) as regular soldiers. Usually as a cutting tool.... rarely as an edged weapon.
 
I was 25th Infantry in Nam, and I don't remember anyone having a knife. Someone had sharpened a bayonet, but it was more of a curiosity than something useful. In '68, we had the old style M16s (the ones that didn't work) with open-prong flash suppressors. That's what we used to break the wires wrapping C rations. Build shelters? We just slept in the dirt or in a bunker.

I can hardly imagine going to war these days without a knife, but back then, it was never an issue.
 
USAFSP said:
Damn man give some guys a few to get to the post!!! This thread hasn't been open very long.
Click to expand...

I know. I tried to avoid that, but when it got relegated to page 2 without any posts, I reluctantly hit it again to get it back to the top, and then encouraged anyone to respond, since my original entreaty to just Spec Ops guys seemed in retrospect to be a bit too restrictive.

I appreciate your answers, guys! And a big thanks to you all who are serving now and have served in the past!
 
Troll Bait From Hell said:
I know. I tried to avoid that, but when it got relegated to page 2 without any posts, I reluctantly hit it again to get it back to the top, and then encouraged anyone to respond, since my original entreaty to just Spec Ops guys seemed in retrospect to be a bit too restrictive.

I appreciate your answers, guys! And a big thanks to you all who are serving now and have served in the past!
Click to expand...
We are here for you bro.:thumbup:
 
I'm not even in the military yet- Army ROTC, enlisting in the spring ROTC-SMP option, but whenever I'm out on exercises I carry a mid-sized fixed blade and a Leatherman, the former for, mostly, opening MREs in the dark, and the latter for the tools.
 
Good luck with the ROTC SMP program. I did that many years ago then branched Armor and went on active duty for 4 years.

In my my field experiences I never really needed more than my Leatherman, 110, or Endura. Often times the chain or command will frown upon large folders and fixed blades.
 
I was in Combat Engineers in Viet Nam. Knives were not a big issue, but seems like everyone had one of those all stainless steel scout type knives. They were standard in our tool kits, and supply always had lots of extras. Also in our squad tool chests were two machetes, and an ax. On most of the construction projects we worked on those pocket knives were pretty much it. Used them to cut open C-ration packs, cut twine, sharpen stakes for survey and fountation lines, cut tape, stuff like that. But then we were construction guys- carpenters, equipment operators, dozer drivers, electricians and such.

The most popular private purchase knife was the Buck folding hunter. EVERYONE and thier brother had one of those! They were sold at the PX for something like 12 dollars. Sometimes you saw the Camillus pilot survival knife around. And in about equal number to the Camillus was the Buck Special, also sold at the PX.

One thing I never saw in my whole tour- a custom knife. I don't know where all those Randalls and other's the knife magazines are always talking about were. We helped build a base for some Special Forces types one time and alot of them had the bigger Camillus, the MK2, and Buck specials.
 
I'll give you some second-hand info from a dad who's son and daughter-in-law were both stationed in beautiful Baghdad for 18 months with 1st Armored Division. He is an army ranger captain who led a recon scout battalion stationed in Sadr City. She was a captain stationed at the airport. She almost bought it when jogging one day at the airport and they got mortared. That was the closest call they will talk about.

Anyway, he and his troops carried the basic army issue knife-bayonet. It is far more knife than bayonet. It isn't real big and it has a wire cutter built into it and the sheath. It is similar to the AK-47 knife-bayonet in that respect.

He told me it was good for opening doors, car and house. He wasn't "special ops" (whatever that is) but saw way too much action as far as I was concerned. He told me all his troops carried pretty much identical equipment so everyone knew how to use all the gear properly. It seems from his discussions with me that most of what they carried went "bang" and they carried all they could.

I sent both of them a Microtech MSE-SC automatic small folding knife with belt cutter and window breaking button. Of course I would have sent him anything he requested.

Here are some links FYI.

http://www.m9bayonet.com/

http://www.1sks.com/store/microtech-mini-socom-elite-automatic-seatbelt-cutter.html

I don't think you can generalize about what gear any particular unit is equipped with as each seems to have their own set of rules. I was asked to try to obtain some very good rifle scopes for their M-4's which I was able to find for them. They had some sort of special fund to pay for such things.
 
The "value" category is key. A $50 knife that does the job is a lot better than an exotic $250 knife that's only slightly better (but gets destroyed/lost).
 
No Spec Ops here. But Grohmann #3 belt knife was quite common in the Canadian military at one time. Real good all-rounder for anyone , but it's a long way from tactical.Come to think about it, so is our military!:D
 
As far as issue knives, the only stuff I ever got issued was a Gerber Gator, Gerber multi-tool, and auto BM Stryker. I destroyed all of them. We don't get the bayonet anymore, because they don't sharpen well, and are a bit clumsy to carry. I brought a Strider EBLT with me last time I went over, and I have an SNG now, but I have a Darrel Ralph custom on order to replace them for just about everything I do. I don't nessasarily think that more expensive knives will outperform a good Benchmade, but I like to have them as something to play with when I have down time.
 
flipe8 said:
I'm a Canuck, by the way.You know, kind of like Americans without the guns!
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And the biggest deer I've ever seen (or was that a moose?)! When are you going to throw the bums out and get back to your national heritage?
 
DGG, since hunting season has started, I bet you there have been no less than eight deer "camping out" in our neighborhood. My wife took the dog in the backyard and came face to face with a good size buck.It didn't move, just blew a bit to let her know he was there. I bet some of them would come right into the garage with a little coaxing!
 
I carried a cheap Buck 110 and an issued bayonet in the 1st/75 Inf. I don't consider that spec-ops though. Whatever spec-ops is?:confused:
 
Hi

I'm new here. Have been interested in knives for a while and found the forum while I was poking around the net. I have a couple of SAK's, (One each Wenger and Victorinox) and two Leatherman tools a Wave and a PST II. I've also just ordered a Cold Steel Recon 1 because I liked the look of it. It's the plain clip point one, I would have preferred the spear point, but it was only available half serrated. It seems a lot of people here have a low opinion of Cold Steel, but the site I ordered from offers a full money-back guarantee if you're not happy so I figure I'll see if I like it when it arrives.

Sorry if that's off topic, but didn't want to just jump in without an introduction. Anyway, one of my friends has just left the army, he wasn't "spec ops" but was infantry and was in active service in Iraq. They were issued with a bayonet, and a basic Leatherman. The bayonet was junk, but it did make a reasonably effective wire cutter when clipped onto the sheath. It wasn't even sharp when it was issued, and the general feeling was that it wasn't worth the effort to put an edge on it. The Leathermans came in far handier than the bayonets, which were mostly used to lever open crates etc.

As for special forces, I'm currently reading "Eye of the Storm" by Peter Ratcliffe, a major in the SAS. He mentions fighting knives, and is of the opinion that there is no such thing, at least in the British army. SAS soldiers are not issued with them, nor are they trained in knife fighting. Apparently a lot of them carry Swiss Army knives or Leatherman type tools though. If they need to "deanimate" someone they shoot them. The last example of a fighting knife to my knowledge was the Sykes-Fairburn dagger issued to SOE during WWII.

Chris
 
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