What is the current USGI Entrenchment Tool?

[YoungCutter]

Howdy,

first of all let me say that I'm sorry, this isn't really a knife question, but I couldn't find any other forum that covered something like this, so I figured I'd post here and if one of the moderators knew of something better, they'd stick me there.

My question is simple: what is the current United States Government Issue Entrenchment Tool? who makes it? and if you know... where can I get one?

I ask this because my dad's cheap knockoff '80s taiwanese e-tool has given out, and he needs a replacement to live in his car trunk.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Kevan Taylor-Perry]

Probably the same POS we had in the army back in '87. The army tends to like to hold on to POS and phase out stuff that actually worked. Get a Cold Steel spade. Much better design. Of course, they stole it from the Soviets who stole it from the Germans. But it works, unlike a folding E-tool. Maybe someone had one that worked, but I never saw one that did.

 

[fishbulb]

I believe that the curent US issue E-tool is of this one. This particular one is not the real issue, but the issue ones are the same design. I have used a few (both issue and reproduction) and they suck. They are flimsy and fragile and don't really dig all that well.

I highly recommend that you get this shovel instead. It is somewhat bigger because it does not fold, but it is far stronger and is an excellent digger. It can also be used for general cutting, chopping, and brush clearing also. While it does none of these things as well as a real machete or axe, it does do a much better job at all of them than I expected. While the Cold Steel shovel is certainly better than any folding E-tool that I've seen, I find the Swiss E-tool to be considerably superior to the Cold Steel in terms of build quality and performance, and it is less expensive as well.