What's the most carried blade among "Operators"?

I guess IF they needed a silent kill theyd use whatever they had. Im not saying that they never use combat knives, but Im told theyre not generally carried. Troops issued with Fairbairn-Sykes daggers during WW2 used to stick em in a tree to break off the needle-like point & then regrind a stronger, broader point onto them. Incidentally, the term Operator is (or was!) also used in reference to members of "the Det" in Northern Ireland, though most of those guys now form the new Special Recconaisance Regiment.
 
robertmegar said:
Isn't an operator the one that drives a crane or digger?
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Dispatcher are also called operators. And this operator carries a Spyderco Native and an old gerber multitool. :D
 
Over here, an Operator is someone who works fo British Telecom! LOL

I remember reading in the book "Blackhawk Down", (before the movie was made) that a girlfriend of one of the Delta guys thought HE worked for the telephone company when he told her he was an Operator.
 
The question has been answered but I'd like to put in my two cents worth anyway...If at all possible, one never...ever...gets close enough to get wet if at all possible. Yes, one encounters situations where hopefully one can move and act under "controlled circumstances' (hopefully with your swim buddy covering you with something quiet on a moonless and windy night) but more than likely, one leaves the surf zone after a longer than expected swim, moves up breathing hard under load and comes around a dune only to meet Mr. sentry taking a whiz. In the real world, Mr. sentry has just come on duty, is bigger and not happy. If you want to play Rambo, be my guest....
Training includes these scenarios and most guys do carry something usually it's short. Weight, straphangers etc...stay on the ship. I used to have a Gerber Guardian 4" on swims but it stayed in the sheath.Some guys had the Gerber MK II or a Kabar but it was because of availabilty not size.
 
my friend who was with airborne rangers (early ninteys) carried gerber gator and a gerber tac ll.
 
DaTrueDave said:
Why would anyone care what kind of knife telephone company employees carry?:rolleyes:
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Heh - I know a bloke who was both. Had such a horror time in Somalia in the early 90's that he quit and joined Telstra (our main phone company in Oz). Now he's a linesman and loves it. Doesn't carry a knife though......
 
I'm an operator. I carry a Lonewolf T-2 Harsey, and a SAK most of the time. Ocassionally I carry a Puukko I made myself or a Bark River.

I operated DH-4s, 660s,580 Backhoes,and the ocassional front end loaders. I might run a Dozer if it's got the nice forgiving hydrostatic controls....


Oh....you mean a different kinda operator...


Beats the hell outta me what they'd carry....:p :D
 
Esav Benyamin said:
I don't know about Navy SEALs, but I bet arctic seals don't like ulus.
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You should see they way they run from my custom Dark Ops Ulu that's complete with tiger stripe camo, and green paracord wrapped handle!:D
 
I know/knew several SEAL's and Army RANGER's and a Marine Sniper,only one carried a custom knife,Mark II's for the most part,a Buck 110(yeah,seriously),Ka-Bars,one had a Ka-Bar sharpened so many times it looked like a Rapala filet knife,it had to be re-sheathed.:)Edited to add a Randall I had forgotten about.

Doug

God Bless you Jimmy Lynch.
 
I don’t consider myself an operator but I did some cool stuff when I was in the army, and I now work with the government doing other cool stuff. I still carry my K-Bar and I have found that many guys carry a knife such as that. The reason being that guys who pay hundreds of dollars on a knife never really cut stuff with them. The reason is that they are worried they are going to scratch the blade or make them dull. With a K-Bar you can sharpen it on a rock if you have and it only cost a few bucks so if it is damaged you can run to the P/X and buy a new one. But that is just my two cents.
 
I let this thread run a little before jumping in... seems to as ripe as it's going to get.

I am not an "operator", but I pretend to be one when I answer the phone (knuk-knuk-knuk). hehe... sorry for that...

Operators and the knifes they carry vary every bit ass much as the knives all of you carry. But without a doubt, the BM 9053 and 9100 are the most popular. This is because they are readily available thru the Government supply system. The same is true for the civilian contractors who supply security for high visability US Government personalities.

Not so long ago, the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army was in "town", and of the 4 earpiece-wearing-pistol-toting civilians he had with him, 3 had the BM 9053SBT. The last had a Spyderco Military.

The plain vanilla units such as the one that I am in don't see alot of these knives because they just don't fit into the budget. But the "special" units tend to be a bit better funded for that sort of thing.

Just like any community of people, some are going to be more knowlegable in certain areas than other people. Knives are no exception. Those that know either scheme to get their hands on a freebie, or make the investment in a quality knife of their own. But anyway you slice it, for better or worse, Benchmade has the inside track on mid-highend military knives.
 
I remember seeing some Ontario Spec-Plus Ka-bars being carried by some Force Recon Oh-3's when they took off on a training mission. Then again, this was 10 years ago, on the USS Fort McHenry.
 
My friend photographer been to Iraq and brought Applegate-Fairbairn combat folder (with smth like LAWKS). Got it at military shop about $80, commented that everybody bought them, probably of coolness.
 
Thanks for some very interesting responses, I figured Kabars would be fairly popular, as many have said theyre quite inexpensive & easily maintained. I often use one myself,as my out-and-about knife strapped to the side of my bergen & for a large-ish(fighting) knife it doesnt really look too "offensive". With the state of knife laws here in the UK, if you upset any sheeple whilst enjoying the great outdoors you might find yourself being chased by some real operators! LOL
I know from experience how strong the blade is as I put the frighteners on my sisters no-good ex-husband by punching it through the panel of his car door. No discernible damage to the blade but it F&*%ing hurt my hand as it bashed against the crossguard.
Thanks again to all who contributed
 
StuToffee said:
... & for a large-ish(fighting) knife it doesnt really look too "offensive".
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It shouldn't look too offensive. :)

While we now connect it with the military version, the Ka-Bar originally was copied from the Marbles Ideal, a hunting/camp knife, which is still in service.

The military picked up the design because it would be useful to soldiers in the field, camping out and living off the land, to some extent.

It is actually more of a butcher knife than a combat knife.
 
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