Take A Knife To War!!

I am surprised that nobody here has recommended the Chris Reeve Neil Roberts Warrior or their Green Beret in either 5.5" or 7" blade. The Neil Roberts has a 6"+ blade and no serrations. If you might be interested in the Neil Roberts Warrior, then get to me via an email as I have 2 of them and 1 is still new in the box.

Contact me at:
rccassel1@comcast.net

I will sell this knife to anyone going to that shithole sandbox for less then I paid for it.

Ciao
Ron:eek:
 
As I've posted elsewhere, I know two fully satisfied warriors with Neil Roberts blades in the sandbox.

If you don't want to spend that much, the Scrapper 6 mentioned earlier or the Mischief 6 from a sister company are both excellent blades that will not fail under the toughest conditions.

All three of these knives are of the highest quality. They're not cheap -- the Scrapper 6 being the most reasonably priced.

You get what you pay for.

New: Busse is now offering the excellent Badger Attack Tactical...though hard to say when it will be delivered.
 
I would seriously just consider taking your Scrapper 6, instead of some lower quality production knife.
 
I still find it amusing that the most famous knife engagement of Iraq was accomplished with a cheap Chinese switchblade.

For those who didn't catch it the first time, Salvadoran solider Cpl Toloza ran out of ammo and charged a group of insurgents with a switchblade knife back in 2004. Best of all, he lived to tell the tale:

http://www.glennbeck.com/picoftheday/05-03-04-pod.jpg

You can find various coverage by Googling up "Toloza" and "Iraq".

-MV
 
What about a spade? I myself never was in real ground combat action but I have a story about knives in combat.

When I was 14 or 15 I saw a cheap bajonnet knock-off at an army surplus store and bought it for 10 bucks. I proudly wore it at my belt at home. When my Dad got home from work he asked me what "that thing" was. I said I was going to carry it on my bike in case I'd get jumped by a group of people at night, so I could at least defend myself.

My Dad started laughing, he laughed so hard it wasn't funny any more. "Boy you are one stupid idiot", he said.

My Dad had first hand experience when it came to killing people with bare hands. In WW II, from age 16-18, he was a German "Panzergrenadier", i.e. the infantry that protects tanks. He had been in several of the large trench battles, like Monte Cassino, until his unit got anihilated in Poland in Spring `45.

He said "boy, you going to get yourself hurt with that thing. You better bring it back. If you get jumped by a group of people you need a trench spade, that's gonna do the job."

I brought the piece of junk back and got a used folding spade. My Dad showed me how to use it, and it kind of made sense what he said.

Fortunately, I was never forced to use the spade other than for digging but I still have one under the seat of my truck to this day.
 
The M9 is a great knife and tool, but its big and heavy. most of the time theres not a lot of room for it either. it does have to have its edge reprofiled though. I took one out to the field one time, and i found it very durable.
 
SOG SEAL pup. Small enough but still decent sized. It's gotten good feedback and is relatively cheap.
 
+1 on the trench spade ,I have a CS spetznaz shovel in my car and it has dug me out of a snowbank as well as given me some peace of mind. It is virtually invisble to law enforcment.
 
In Iraq I presume you will mostly be in urban areas, or arid desert type terrain? What do you need a knife for in this scenario? Cutting saplings for making a shelter or an improvised stretcher? Probably not, since there are not that many trees around to begin with. Any kind of wilderness survival use? Probably not. Taking care of game and fish? No. There simply will not be any possibility to use it for what you often use a knife for in North America or Europe. What will you do? Cut various packaging material on food, ammo, and other supplies. Cutting rope, string, fabric and other such things perhaps. You probably don't need it for chopping, and if it will be any good for chopping it can be too heavy and cumbersome anyway. I would suggest a good, simple and rugged knife with a blade of around 4 - 6 inches. I like rubber grips, they give a secure grip under most circumstances. Something along the lines of the cold Steel SRK, Fallkniven S1, and so on. A knife with a partly serrated edge might be good for cutting rope, fabric, leather and so on, but make sure the serrations are not in wrong place of the edge. This will do as an emergency weapon, as long as it has a reasonably sharp point for stabbing. While you are at it, I suggest that you in addition to your main knife get a plastic/rubber grip Mora knife, like the KJ Eriksson 711 (I think that was what it was called, get a stainless one anyway) they are cheap, sharp, very lightweight and very good for all sorts of mundane soldier chores. You will probably end up using it more than any other blade.
 
What about a spade? I myself never was in real ground combat action but I have a story about knives in combat.
Click to expand...

I would assume that everyone still gets issued e-tools ("e" for "entrenching"), so that base should be covered. The previous (1980s-1990s) e-tools had some kind of tubular folding handles, so presumably not as good for fighting as the old ones. The new ones (at least in the Corps) have polymer handles. Nice and light, but probably even worse for fighting.

I have an old West German folding e-tool in my trunk, solid steel and hardwood. Haven't used it much, but very glad to have it just in case.

MajGen Smith (USMC) was nicknamed "E-Tool Smith" from his time in Vietnam. The story behind that is really gruesome...


Nord makes a ton of good points. I'd avoid the bowies and tacti-cools, and bring a Leatherman/Gerber and a 3"-4" utility knife. Moras are very cool (and cheap), but not good for stabbing due to lack of crossguard.

-MV
 
After reading the previous responses I would not take a knife that would upset you if you lost it!
I would just take a strong cheap blade like a Buck Nighthawk!!!
 
Nord makes a ton of good points. I'd avoid the bowies and tacti-cools, and bring a Leatherman/Gerber and a 3"-4" utility knife. Moras are very cool (and cheap), but not good for stabbing due to lack of crossguard.
Click to expand...
There is some Mora's with cross guards. They are traditionally used by Swedish youth- the guards to protect them while they gain experience.

40.jpg


That image is from Ragweeds. I learned on the same model of knife.
 
Well, everyone and their grandmother has chimed in, so why shouldn't I?

I did two tours in Iraq with the 173rd Airborne and the 1/509th Airborne, one in a relatively rural setting and one in Baghdad.

The most useful knife I had (and for the life of me I can't remember the brand name) had a small, one inch blade, give or take. It was a folder with a clip that I kept attached to my belt loop. It was always at hand, and 99% of the time was all the knife I needed.

I tried a ton of different blades and tools over the course of my time in that country, depending on whether or not I was doing a mounted or dismounted patrol.

For fixed blades I recommend either a glock field knife or a seal pup, for the afore mentioned reasons. Fighting with a knife is just stupid when you have a rifle. If your rifle is out of ammo, retreat. We're American's for Pete's sake, and bullets are cheap, go get more.

If possible, wear all your gear on your chest, as stuff hanging off of your sides tends to snag on things when you are trying to get in or out of a HUMVEE or door in a hurry. That leg rig looks cool, but you feel like an ass when you try and exit your humvee, it snags, and you end up face first in the mud (that anecdote is from personal experience).

If you have the luxury of mounted patrols, get a bag full of hand tools to include a small sledge hammer, a wrecking bar and some screw drivers, then throw it in the truck. You'd be AMAZED how useful little things like that are during day to day operations, and equally amazed at how few people actually have them. Yeah, the hallagan tool sure looks cool, but it weighs about 10lbs and isn't fun to carry.

Tomahawks look cool, are a traditional American weapon (more or less) and don't weigh a lot (relatively speaking). Get a good, solid one like a VTAC, or something from Bear Mountain, and you may even find a use for it other than scaring Iraqi children and showing it off to Fobbits.

If you really want a big "LOOK AT THE SIZE OF MY PHALLUS" blade that you might get some use out of in a rural setting (I used mine for building hide sites and cutting away vegetation to look for weapons caches) look into a Woodsman's Pal. The overall opinion of them on this site is pretty low, but they look cool and mine did it's job.

And finally, try not to wear so much gear that you look like the mannequin at CIF. One folder, one fixed blade, and a multi tool is all you need. Don't look like the 5'3" girl guarding the phone trailer at Camp Victory. She had a pressed uniform and, I kid you not, 5 knives on her that I could count. I was tempted to hold her upside down and shake her, so I could give what fell out to the Iraqi cook at our little base of operations so that when we got a goat for him to cook he could actually butcher the thing.

Oh, and the Artillery 1SG with the sword (yes, an actual sword) strapped on his back and the razor blades sewn under his patches looked like an idiot too.

Well, that's my long winded reply to your post filled with opinion you didn't ask for on subjects you probably don't care about. The funny bit is that since I'm on page two or so of this thread, you probably won’t even read this. That's okay, however, because if I save just one person from looking like a jackass with what appears to be a bladed agricultural implement strapped to their leg, then it's worth it.

As always, this is just my opinion, and your mileage may vary.
 
yep. airborne has it right on. all ya need is your leatherman, a small folder, and a small fixed blade. something simple, and not too expensive. most of the guys carried cold steel srk's, or some sort of smaller spec plus's. thats all thats really needed. especially if you have other stuff in the track/humvee.

And Nord. theres alll sorts of reasons to carry a good knife there. 80% of all my missions were in a densly wooded terrain. i had to cut a nice little miniature patrol base many many times. theres a decent amount of vegetation along the tigris, and im presuming the euphrates as well.
no, he wont be skinnng game (well, ya never really know what some of these units do when theyre out on a very secluded outpost, ive even heard stories of barbeques goin on) but the guys that are kickin doors in the urban areas use a lot of different tools. but never rely on your unit to provide those. lol. a lot of supply sergeants are pogues, and dont wanna order shit for the men. ive seen it a trillion times. just make sure of this. make sure its cheap, in case you lose it. make sure you can bring it back thru customs, as you may grow very very fond of this knife, and want to keep it in a trunk as a momento, and if you cant get it back across, youre going to be mad as all get out. and make sure its practical, but not too crazy and spacey, like a mod or strider or tops. if your squadleader has a bad day, and feels like being a dick, because he got a bad letter from his wife, and sees you unsheath this silly ass lookin 'starship troopers' knife from your interceptor vest, he may just tell you to go ahead and leave that thing in your room next time. now you got a 300 dollar 'operator' knife holdin your door open back at the barracks cuz the generator went out..and so did the air conditioner....
 
I'd look into a USMC Kabar, the short version. They're pretty nice! If you're looking for smaller than that, I have a Stiff Kiss from CRKT that's pretty cool. Real lite, thin. Cool cord wrap. But i'd trust my kabar more than anything. Never leave home without it!
 
From what I've heard, you're never going to use a large fb in the sandbox. A 4" blade, like a Howling Rat, would be a good choice. I love mine, but it could use a better edge.
 
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