Switch Blade Story

[textoothpk]

I hesitate to post anything political or to do with the war but this was too good and I thought of LT and his defense of those 'banned' tools. From the AP, So I have every bit of confidence it's legit:

"(AP) NAJAF, Iraq - One of his friends was dead, 12 others lay wounded and the four soldiers still left standing were surrounded and out of ammunition. So Salvadoran Cpl. Samuel Toloza said a prayer, whipped out his switchblade knife and charged the Iraqi gunmen.

In one of the only known instances of hand-to-hand combat in the Iraq conflict, Toloza stabbed several attackers who were swarming around a comrade. The stunned assailants backed away momentarily, just as a relief column came to their rescue."

Schrade content: Well, they did make some great switchblades.

Phil

 

[lt632ret]

You may have noticed I have not regressed lately regarding veering from our supposed topic ( ie Schrade knives ). However your story made me glow a little so here I go . I used to have a friend who carried a 38 revolver wherever he went ( he not only did not have a pistol license I do not believe he even had a drivers license ). This was in NYS the land of Hillary, left wing liberals and licenses for everything from guns to pussycats. It is just that this fellow never let things like licenses stop him from what he felt was logical. Now I do not condone the violation of any law ( even the bad ones the law is the law. ) When asked what he would do if he was caught with an unlicensed weapon, his reply was that he would only be caught if he had to use it ( since otherwise no one would know about it ) . He then added that if he had to defend himself he would rather be charged with using an unlicensed gun to defend himself than being dead and not having had access to it. This philosophy is further proven since it is known that if you are dead there is no conditional release date, parole date, or other possibility of a loophole. ( which if you are in jail there is ) This fellow had another interesting expression that always stuck in my mind he used to say that the only thing better than having a gun on you when you go out on the town is to be with a friend who has one. It is like having a gun to protect you and you do not need a license.

Keeping all this in mind I remember in 80 or 81 Sing Sing B block went up. It was quite a riot our teams made the front page of the NY papers as we CERT Correction Emergency Response Team marched in to repatriot the facility. I will not go into the details except to say that hundreds of home made as well as regular store bought buck ect shanks ( knives ) were taken from the inmates. Yes they did have regular knives ( It is a big secret shush don't tell but in the real world of prison there is a lot of contraband inside the walls ).
Now I promise this is true because you may not have noticed but I have a well known proclevity for steel and knowing this I was given the job to collect all these non existent tools and make sure the were secured.

The reason I mention all this is because of the original point ( long thought lost ) that I began this overly long dissertation to make. You see in a riot inmates are expected to have weapons often these are sharp steel objects ( ie knives, shanks, ) . There are of course others some of which are quite innovative and colorful. ( weight bars. ammonia and clorox bombs, among the many ). However the good old shank is mostly the method of choice. Now that being said. The officers on the other hand are not allowed to carry knives in fact doing so can result in charges. It seems that society feels that since the officers have right on there side knives are unneeded. We did have batons. Of course to keep it fair the inmates had weight bars tools ect.

After we had completed our mission we assembled in the gym where the red cross had brought coffee and ( Drakes coffee Rings ) Iced nut ring cakes ( ever eat one they are great if a bit messy ) . They are rather sticky if pulled apart and really need to be cut in pieces. Our team leader ( LT ) came over and was handing out the cakes and thanking us when jokingly he asked if anyone had a knife to cut the cake. Suddenly and to my chagrin I reach in my pocket and much to my surprise I found an italian 13 inch switch blade stilleto which glistened as It flew open and gave that reassuring click ( that I love ) when locking open, which I must have accidently left in the pocket of my jump suit before we left on the mission. OH GOLLY WAS MY FACE RED I had accidently bought a knife with me I am sure glad it was an accident Or I could have been in big trouble. The LT's face was a bit red as well . He was a friend of mine in fact some years later I lead the honor guard at his funeral ( only the good die young ). To conclude this story I was told not to make that mistake again ( Of course I was told that over a cold beer when we got back. )

The moral being I would rather be caught by the man ( authority ) with it than to be caught with out it if I need it. By the way I wonder if they punished or at least dressed down that soldier for having a weapon which was not military issue. LT

 

[glennbad]

They probably charged him with using too much force.

Anyways, great story, LT.

BTW, oiled up my brain cogs last night and traced out a pattern for a sheath. Won't be too long now.

Glenn

 

[Don Luis]

That knife in Iraq was probably just a lock blade with a stud or thumb hole, a lot of people think of any one hand opener as a switchblade.

Another fine story LT, you´ve had an interesting life indeed.

The law in Mexico prohibits carry of "white weapons" which are supposed to be objects that are pointy or sharp, and it mentions that it includes anything that can be used to cause a wound, so strictly speaking it is illegal to carry a pencil. I don´t know but haven´t seen any specific mention of switchblades, they are probably there somewhere. I recently read an article mentioning that machetes have been expressly exempted and are classified as working tools, so maybe I could start carrying one.

I don´t usually carry an automatic knife, though they can be found without much trouble, back in the mid 70´s I was working at a bilingual high school (I taught math to English speakers), I walked in my empty classroom and there was some string hanging from the light bulb, left over from some decoration, I pulled the chair to reach up, took out and flicked open my Boker auto and cut it off, just then a couple of 11 graders were walking in and one said "hey, you´ve got a switch", I just answered yes I do, I thought that I would later be called for a talk with the principal or something but nothing happened, I did stop taking that one to school though.

Edited for spelling/grammar.

 

[textoothpk]

Great stories, guys. My own is more like Luis', than LT's, in that no riots are involved.

Xmas this year at dad's house, all the family and wives and such. Just for fun, I tucked one of those classic Italian jobs into my back pocket, and everyone loved using it to open their presents. Yeah, I know, strange family. It was fun. You couldn't just hand it open to anyone, as they wanted to here that great sound of it opening when they pushed the button.

Phil