SF takes out 7 with knife in Afganistan

What is your source for the original story? Talking to the guys I work with, the last "knife kill" by a US SOF soldier (in particular a 5th Group guy in Asskrakistan) was pre-invasion, so circa 2001. It was two bad guys, and he had run dry on ammo. They were hitting a house, the fight ended up close quarters and he was unable to do a mag change, grabbed whatever knife he had and stabbed the dude that was on him and the other guy that was rumbling with him.

As far as what do SEAL's etc carry for fixed blades, most carry whatever is issued, if at all. Be it Strider, Emerson, Winkler, Ka-Bar, SOG, Benchmade, etc...

Hell, if I wanted to I could advertise knives I make as "Carried by Special Operations and EOD forces Worldwide." since several have been bought or gifted to members of the community.
 
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Yonose said:
SF could mean anything from an army ranger to a spec.activities.div. operator to a green beret and anything in between, including a SEAL, Delta, etc., but most don’t disclose operations ever or for many years. The last I heard somewhere in bf was a tac tool by Becker, but it may have been a marine for all I can remember: after using it to breach, it was the melee weapon on hand and killed several Taliban, not sure how many—but it was every hostile inside the small confines of the area. If seven was the actual death toll from edged weapon(s), I doubt that it was one, but at least two—a knife or two, a hatchet, and maybe the butt of a rifle. One hell of a motivated soldier though, I’d say!
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To get nitpick, not accurate. SF is Army Green Berets. People mistakenly refer to SOF, which included in your list. I point that out because if/when talking with anyone from said units, other than Green Berets, you best not call them SF ;)
 
pinnah said:
Is the point of this thread a desire to obtain or defend the satisfaction of owning and carrying the same kind of knife carried by the real high-speed operators?
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There seems an element of that sort of thing. But I interpreted the OP to be having a dig at the notion that most troops would find more use for a multi-tool than a fixed blade knife. I don't recall anybody on BF suggesting that a SEAL, or any other SOF, would particularly fit into that category. Still, an interesting thread, for various reasons...
 
mistwalker said:
I suppose it could be possible that having to cross train with so many different systems in applications where they are working jointly with other militaries or plausible deniability could come into play, which the SF guys do some of here and there from what I've read over the years, could lead to simply not caring about the nomenclatures anymore or even an inability to remember all of them, and learning to focus on the actuation and functionality? I know in herb lore and wilderness skills I cannot remember the names of all the plants from one area of the country to another, and sometimes just defer to looking for specific characteristics in some applications.
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I suspect this is probably true as well. I also forget the names of plants from one area to the next unless I refresh my memory with books. Hell, I sometimes forget them in MY area if I don't keep looking and using the information. The manuals are now the only books I buy in paper form versus for reading on my Kindle or the like. It is about a book a week purchase for me these days on average. I have yet to carry a "computer" in the woods for field identification use. Just too much damn junk to haul around.
 
mistwalker said:
According to Jim Behring SEALs carry Treeman Knives but I have never seen anyone who knew anything about steel and salt water carry a knife made of 0-1 for long exposure to salt water or salt air when it seems like it will rust sitting next to a sink just thinking some water might get splashed on it. According to Paul Basal most SEALs carry Dark Ops knives, according to most comments I've read about Dark Ops knives few take them seriously as a knife company. I've heard a few others tout their knives as being the choice of SEALs. I've come to the conclusion that apparently some knife companies just use SEALs as a marketing gimmick to sell their wares...
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Sad but 100% true. One SEAL carries their knife on one mission, and the company will market the knife as the choice of SEALs forever. I'm not a SEAL, but I am a tour/answer guy at the UDT-SEAL Museum and do interact with many a SEAL. SEALs are no different than the rest of us in that some of them appreciate a good knife, some don't care and will use what ever they're issued. Two, SEAL teams have discretionary budgets, and some times a SEAL team may arrange for a team buy of X knife. So what SEAL Team 2 is currently carrying may not be the same as Team 8, and so forth. Three, some may get their own knife they prefer being into knives and want something specific. Four, some times a group within a team with pool some $ and get a knife they want. The point being, it varies, hence why you keep reading about how X SEAL carried Y knife and it's all over the place. Four, SEALs like free shit, and some times a knife manufacturer will send them a bunch to test, which then allows the company to never shut up about SEALs having used their knife. Some may like and keep what what sent, some may find it a POS and dump it pronto. Watches are similar in that respect. Within a Team, there will also be knives on an approved list, such as the CQC7 for DevGru.

I'd have to ask if they require permission to go outside what's issued as it applies to knives, but I doubt it's an issue one way or another. Five, SEALs are no different in that they too are influenced by ads, or what other guys like, or what's hot new maker or brand, etc, or something they see at a arms show, etc and most not being "knife guys" may not pay that much attention to say steal used, or blade geometry, etc. The SEALs I have spoken with again, ranged from guys who had a specific knife made for them cuz they wanted something high quality made to their specs, to guys who could care less about what they carried as long as it performed as needed when needed and view knives, guns, etc as nothing but tools for the job and don't get hung up on brands, etc.

I think that covers it, those are my opinions only and do not represent the SEAL community, and I don't know of the above applies to SOF not SEALs.
 
navman said:
What is your source for the original story? Talking to the guys I work with, the last "knife kill" by a US SOF soldier (in particular a 5th Group guy in Asskrakistan) was pre-invasion, so circa 2001. It was two bad guys, and he had run dry on ammo. They were hitting a house, the fight ended up close quarters and he was unable to do a mag change, grabbed whatever knife he had and stabbed the dude that was on him and the other guy that was rumbling with him.

As far as what do SEAL's etc carry for fixed blades, most carry whatever is issued, if at all. Be it Strider, Emerson, Winkler, Ka-Bar, SOG, Benchmade, etc...

Hell, if I wanted to I could advertise knives I make as "Carried by Special Operations and EOD forces Worldwide." since several have been bought or gifted to members of the community.
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I meet that guy in Kuwait
 
22-rimfire said:
I suspect this is probably true as well. I also forget the names of plants from one area to the next unless I refresh my memory with books. Hell, I sometimes forget them in MY area if I don't keep looking and using the information. The manuals are now the only books I buy in paper form versus for reading on my Kindle or the like. It is about a book a week purchase for me these days on average. I have yet to carry a "computer" in the woods for field identification use. Just too much damn junk to haul around.
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Luckily smart phone technology is growing by leaps and bounds, service areas are expanding globally, GPS systems are getting more accurate and efficient, and data is getting cheaper. Someday we may not even need to remember how to get from point A in one city to point B in another. Oh...wait... But the point of that was actually that military tech is always way ahead of our's. With operators wearing live stream cameras and VOX communication to the rear, they can perhaps these days ask about anything they find but don't understand and have one of a team of support experts who watch in real time answer the questions?
 
b00n said:
And I imagine the knife might as well have been an M-Tech, it probably cut a few MRE's open more or less well, then was used to put holes into people, which you can do with a piece of plastic sharpened on concrete, so anything metal with a bit of an edge will do.
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I can't comment on what US forces use, but maybe a year back there was a news story I saw where some Western troops captured or killed some bad guys in some undesirable part of the world (I want to say ISIS but I could be wrong). The article had pictures of the weapons that were collected from the enemy after the battle, and the stash clearly included M-Tech knives. That got a chuckle out of me.

Still, irregular forces like ISIS are generally known for the using the cheapest, most available tools they can get theirs hands on, that will get the job done in nasty environments - Toyota trucks, Kalashnikov rifles, etc. Kind of makes you wonder if M-Tech falls into that same category - cheap but good enough.
 
navman said:
What is your source for the original story? Talking to the guys I work with, the last "knife kill" by a US SOF soldier (in particular a 5th Group guy in Asskrakistan) was pre-invasion, so circa 2001. It was two bad guys, and he had run dry on ammo. They were hitting a house, the fight ended up close quarters and he was unable to do a mag change, grabbed whatever knife he had and stabbed the dude that was on him and the other guy that was rumbling with him.

As far as what do SEAL's etc carry for fixed blades, most carry whatever is issued, if at all. Be it Strider, Emerson, Winkler, Ka-Bar, SOG, Benchmade, etc...

Hell, if I wanted to I could advertise knives I make as "Carried by Special Operations and EOD forces Worldwide." since several have been bought or gifted to members of the community.
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A website called defense.US.net. Dated a couple of days ago in Jan. 19. I don't know anything about the site's credibility so I was asking if anyone had heard the story anyplace else.
 
Searching for that site, it doesn't appear to exist.

On a happier note, the douche canoe responsible for the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 has been killed by an air strike, as reported by American Military News!
 
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The link sent to me by a friend does exist and opens for me. To clarify something, it stated a "Special Forces soldier", not a seal or any other branch of the service. SEALs are not Special Forces.
 
Got it. I had been searching for Defense dot US. The supposed action took place in November. That site is not associated with the DoD and is reportedly...less than reputable according to our PAO department.
 
I recall reading a story about SEALs that bought tomahawks with their own money. When one Navy brass saw a team in a bar one night replete with beards and long hair he said, "What the hell are they gonna do with those?" Among other comments.
 
If there's any truth to this , the story will come out PDQ . Too good not to . o_O
 
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