Simple question on military blades

Robert Hankins

Robert Hankins

Joined
May 19, 2003
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Simple question on Military blades...What is the allowable blade size for our troops to carry?
I should know this but regs change!
 
It depends completely on the unit's chain of command. There is no Army Regulation which covers knives.
 
In the field or in combat the sky is the limet. In garrison its usually up to the First Sargent. I had a buck folder knife Id had for ten years taken by a First Shirt, He was a real SOB but we hated each other and in the end I was compensated with cash and he probly gave it to his brat. As far as a combat carry knife 7 inches long and 1 and 1/2 inches of blade in a desert or urban evironment is getting pretty big. In cold weather longer may be justifieable to compensate for the thicknes of arctic clothes.
 
Aint that one of brainbugs to regulate size of knives on soldiers - they have issued rifles and issued KBar´s and lots of other things which can kill easy and fast.
If a command doesnt trust soldier with knife, he should never get his rifle....
 
I would agree with Whit, I have never heard of a reg saying anything about it. In my experience, any room on your kit is expensive real estate, as a youngster I would carry big conan swords on my LBE. You will find that most seasoned soldiers will have a knife, but normally a smaller blade 5" in or so, and used mostly as a utility. Alot of Infantry units will dictate what is worn, and were it is worn so all the joes are the same. Frank
 
Sometimes the limit is dictated by local laws other times the determining factor is need to have a large blade.

I have found units that have no limits in the field but at home in California,for instance, they have to conform with local laws in case someone forgets and carries the knife off base.
 
Blinker said:
Appreciate the input but, just interested in the blade size for now
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Ok, If you are looking for one number even that will not be the final awnser.

1. Garrison, or what you carry on your belt around the base. Leatherman or multitool is populer. Any belt knife including folders is pretty much frowned upon. Some Base Commanders have gone as far as outlawing even multitools. Every base commander can legislate this as he sees fit.

2. In the field, Not at war but camping or training in a designated training area. Any folded belt knife is usualy acceptable as it will hang under the BDU jacket in formation during inspection. Any non-folding belt knife should be approved for a Unit,Platoon,Individual, by the First Sargent. This is pretty much a geographical issue as what you would carry in Alaska would of course be diffrent from what you would have in Florida or Germany.

3. Afganastan-Iraq, In a combat zone. If you want to carry a samarai sword you probly could in some units but Im not aware of anybody doing this. Tomahawks have realy jumped in sales and are being carried. The hotest knife in sales in Fayatteville North Carolina home of the 82nd Airborne Division I understand is the K-Bar desert.

4. In the end anything you can talk the First Sargent into can happen. While he doesnt have the final say he has the most important say in what any soldier hangs on his belt or sticks in his rucksack. A specialized tool aproved for carry for specialized units will in no way designate aprovel for any other unit.
 
george tichbourne said:
Sometimes the limit is dictated by local laws other times the determining factor is need to have a large blade.

I have found units that have no limits in the field but at home in California,for instance, they have to conform with local laws in case someone forgets and carries the knife off base.
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Thats a good point about local laws and that starts getting you down to 3 and a 1/2 inches last I heard and 1 inch of automatic in California unless they changed that again.
 
dekdek said:

Ok, If you are looking for one number even that will not be the final awnser.

1. Garrison, or what you carry on your belt around the base. Leatherman or multitool is populer. Any belt knife including folders is pretty much frowned upon. Some Base Commanders have gone as far as outlawing even multitools. Every base commander can legislate this as he sees fit.

snip
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On the belt nothing is allowed by regs. or at least it used to be that way. By the regs the only non-issued items allowed are watch, rings (up to i think 2) and/or religious medallions (and that can't be visible). So technically no mutlitool or any sort of belt knife, not that it ever stopped me.
 
As far as bayonets go, it was decreed that a standard blade length of 6" would incapitate a combatant by damaging major internal organs with that combatant wearing a Russian army greatcoat . The size of a blade between 6" and 7" in length was adopted by the USA, UK, Russia and Europe. The same consultation ended the issue of saw-back blades as being 'inhumane'. Decreed by Warsaw Pact and NATO in 1949 I think. All my bayonet books are in storage.
 
A US Army Reserve Officer On Life In The Military

Craig A. McNeil, an officer in the US Army reserve who spent time in Iraq, has an interesting essay on life in the Army which includes the absurdity of regulations for people who are warriors.

When we were coming home from Iraq, before we boarded the most beautiful airplane I have ever been on in my life, we received a briefing from an Air Force sergeant. "Federal regulations prohibit you from carrying certain dangerous items onto the aircraft. You may not transport knives or other cutting instruments, firearms, or explosives. Of course, this does not include your assault rifles, pistols, or bayonets." I stood and watched while a kid who was carrying an M-249 squad automatic weapon (a light machine gun) and a 9mm pistol put his pocketknife in a box. Let's think about this for a minute. If one of us were to hijack that plane, how would that have gone?

"Take this plane to America right now and no one gets hurt!"

"But we're already going to America."

"All right, then."

Has America grown too large and too regulated? Has it become too formalized? Think about that Air Force sergeant. He and his superiors who order him to read ridiculous regulations to a bunch of guys carrying their guns back from a war wouldn't think to just decide that reading the regulations should be skipped in some circumstances. I see this as a problem. The mentality of respect for rules can go too far and that is unhealthy for a society.

More troubling is that so many rules and regulations exist in the first place. Worse still, there will be more rules next year and more each year after that into the foreseeable future.
 
mlovett said:
I had several of my Combat bowies and Fighters convscated when the arrived in country during desert storm. Bummer. Some got through though. One took an head, in a hand to hand. So at least my knives did some good. http://home.earthlink.net/~michaellovett/
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Realy nice website, I like the way the pictures expand so you can see the details of the knives. Lovely knives by the way! I linked one of your pictures to Thaiblades.com so the guys could take a look and talk about it in Thai.
 
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