Went to the recruiting office

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lamech

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May 2, 2007
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My youngest son turned 18 this passed Sunday and on Monday he asked me to go to the recruiting office. Since he was 7 years old he has said he was going into the Marines. He wants to be a mechanic and work on diesel engines.

So I'm contemplating on what knives to give him for this journey;
Case 12031LH
TL 20
Case stockman (he likes the blue handled ones)
Leatherman Wave
These are some of my thoughts.
Any suggestions are welcome.

God Bless
Tracy
 
Congratulations to you both...

...I suggest two...one which is tool based for his work...one smaller (pure cutter) that he can pocket at all times (even while off base or on leave) to keep thoughts of you near.
 
congrats - sounds like you raised him right.
I vote stockman and wave.
 
Whatever you choose to give him, you might hold it for him until after he's finished boot camp. Don't know if things have changed in this regard since I was in the military a LONG time ago (Navy), but I know that 'personal' items like this were confiscated as soon as we arrived there. It was just part of the process, I think.

I won't make any specific suggestions as to what you give him. They all look like good, SAFE choices that won't get him in trouble; it'd be doubly bad to jeopardize a military career path for such things. I think Elliot's idea is a very good one. One for work, and one for his precious & well-deserved time off. I do think the Leatherman is always a good choice as a work tool, one that will definitely get used. :thumbup:

My best regards. I wish the best for your son and for you. You have every reason to be proud of that young man.
 
Not sure about the Marines, but the Army gets issued a multi tool before we go over seas, usually a Gerber. So, I think I would pass on that.

A classic pocket knife is hard to beat, something small that he can carry all the time is a good idea. He'll get a lot of use out of it and it will never be an issue about being a weapon. Even in the sandbox a small very sharp pocket knife is a great tool!

As others have said, give it to him after graduation, or leave it at the house.
 
When I enlisted in the USAF I was guaranteed a "mechanical" type job, I thought maybe ground equipment and motor pool type stuff, as it turns out they made me a jet engine mechanic working in a test facility and I got to run the damn things! Blew my mind at first, and I'm still doing it in the civilian world 20 years later. A Case scout knife or SAK would be a pretty good choice IMO for any mechanic.

Best of luck to him!
 
Be a little careful with what you get him. In boot camp, they are permitted nothing in the way of a knife. They are all taken when you go in, and not returned.

Once he's actually stationed someplace as what they call permanent party, he can carry whatever the regulations allow. Here again there is a weird caution needed; too often the regulations on a military base can be actually stricter than the surrounding county or state it is located in. So any knife should be a low profile non weapon appearing tool. As a mechanic, he will be issued a tool bag, and chances are there will be a mulit-tool in it. A family member of ours enlisted in the navy, and she was issued a Gerber multitool in her electricians mate kit. Off duty she carried a basic sak and it raised no eye brows, even on shore leave in Japan. She did say that knife laws in Japan were very stiff. Just a side note, as your son may end up stationed anywhere there's a navy base. Many times the choice of knife is determined by what the commanding officer will allow. And that can vary.

A medium stockman, sak, or jack would do well.

Carl.
 
I agree with Elliott too: a multitool (Leatherman) + a pocket knife.
I guess you would like to give it to him before he goes to the boot camp...still, it would be better to wait until he's finished, and then see what they give him.
Fausto
:cool:
 
Thanks for the replies everybody.
Now that I think about it when I went into the Army many years ago the D.I. did take a very nice pocket knife that I had taken with me and it was never returned.
He carries a small saddle horn religiously now that he has had for 3 or 4 years. Interestingly he put away his Spyderco for this little knife and says he doesn't need another knife when asked about a new one.
I'm leaning towards the medium stockman and the wave for now.

God Bless
Tracy
 
a multitool and a knife are the perfect combo
the one I'd take if I had to go somewhere, talking about trads wouls be a 4"/4,5" stockman or cattle knife or a 4"+- trapper AND a Victorinox SwissTool
what's actually what I carry all times :) the ST and a slippie

(non trad choice if possible would be Umnumzaan and SwissTool)

Maxx
 
My Son graduated boot camp at MCRD San Diego last Friday. Once thing is for certain, they don't let recruits have knives. In fact, I was advised not to take a knife on base when we went to the graduation. That being said, I always had one in my pocket. Anyway, for his graduation present, I offered him any of my knives. He choose my Benchmade mini Griptilian.
 
You can't go wrong with a multi-tool but wait until he's out of training. As others have mentioned, wait until he reaches his first duty station and you find out his unit's policy on "edged weapons" before you buy him something. My first duty station had policy in place allowing only manually operated (not even assisted open) blades of less than 3" in length. They had no problem handing me an M16 or SAW, but I couldn't be trusted to carry something bigger than a peanut!
 
lamech said:
He carries a small saddle horn religiously now that he has had for 3 or 4 years. Interestingly he put away his Spyderco for this little knife and says he doesn't need another knife when asked about a new one.
I'm leaning towards the medium stockman and the wave for now.

God Bless
Tracy
Click to expand...


Tracy, take heed of this, it's a flag waving.

For whatever reasons, sometimes a person really bonds to something in particular. Either it really fits his hand, or it has value because it was a gift from a loved one, or has a powerful memory of something. Whatever. When this happens, it can be a lifetime event. They know they love it, and everything similar from then on is second rate. That object becomes THEIR object, and no other will do.

I saw this happen with my own father. His mother had given him a small pocket knife when he was going away to school. He was the first one in his family to go off to a university, and it was also the first time the family had been apart since leaving Ireland. For those and whatever other reasons, dad became extremely attached to that little Case peanut, and wouldn't carry another knife. Over the years people gave him a new pocket knife now and then, but they all ended up in his sock drawer completely untouched and unused. He carried that little Case until his passing. After his funeral we found a brand new small stockman and a brand new Swiss Army knife in his sock drawer, along with a very lightly used two blade jack. None of them could replace his little peanut because of the powerful bond he had for some reason to that knife. He told me of the morning on the train platform when his mother gave him a small package as he was boarding, and I can only guess at the emotional sentiment that the knife held.

If your son has developed anything like that bond with his saddlehorn, any other knife given will just end up in the bottom of a duffle bag. And it does sound like some kind of bond has taken place. By your own account, he has abandoned his modern one hand Spyderco in favor of the saddlehorn. That's a notable event. Something to take heed of.

Maybe have a talk with him about what he desires, and is important to him. If he really loves the saddlehorn, maybe a medium trapper is more needed. Or another two blade design like a barlow or jack. Or maybe he just wants a multi-tool. With a saddlehorn in the pocket, a multitool on the belt will be a nice combo.

Carl.
 
Jackknife it's interesting that you would bring this up because when he asks me to sharpen the knife for him he sits in the chair across from me and watches like a hawk until I'm finished. I've tried offering my own knife to him but no go, he wants his knife back and it better be shaving sharp.
I will ask if there is anything he would really like but I would bet the saddlehorn is the go to knife.

Thanks once again for the replies they are appreciated.

God Bless
Tracy
 
Maybe a compact sharpening kit would make a better present, for the knife he already likes! :)
 
Leatherman mut.

My brother is a Sgt in the Marines on fixed wing aircraft tech. He spent a few years in Japan and they couldn't carry crap over there. Now that he's in San diego(Miramar) it has to be a small pocket knife if they're allowed anything at all because drunk morons get in fights.
 
ohen cepel said:
Not sure about the Marines, but the Army gets issued a multi tool before we go over seas, usually a Gerber. So, I think I would pass on that.
Click to expand...
I got out of the marines in '05 and they hadn't started issuing multi tools at that point. I usually carried a pocket knife while I was in but I always had a multi tool.
 
Just what the world needs....more jarheads. Semper Fidelis to all you Marines. I got out in 91 and can't say enough about the Corps. This one is way too easy... a USMC Kabar fightin' knife! I don't think it matters what MOS he has in the Marine Corps...he'll be a Marine and they need fightin' knives! Is he going to Parris Island? I wish him well.
 
You never know he might also be stationed on a ship. Pleanty of stuff to work on there. When I was in the Navy (and we had a Marine detachment aboard the ship) we all had to carry a big knife. I carried a Case 6165 SAB. It was mandatory and it had to be sharp, very sharp. No one ever got into a knife fight. We all knew that some one could get killed and it hurts when you get cut. I only saw one fist fight aboard ship and the punishment was severe. 2 guys got into the fight. They were tossed into the brig. They both got bread and water for 3 days. When it was time for bread and water they were marched to the chow hall with a metal can on their head. Every time they came to a new compartment they had to hold hands sing anchors away and then the guys on brig watch beat the cans on there heads with hammers. So if he happens to get aboard a ship, things just might be a little different. I wish him well and hope he is safe. Thanks for serving.
 
Whatever you get him, wait til he graduates from his first formal MOS school. He has a better chance of keeping it that way... Mike
 
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