Vets, tell us about your fighting knives.

I took a Randall #15 with me, also carried a Buck 110 on my belt, multi-tool, SAK, and a large toothpick in my boot which carried surprisingly well. We had issues in OEF of the enemy trying to drag guys across the border when injured, thus the odd one in my boot as I hoped they wouldn't strip me too far. It's not paranoid if they are out to get you

Pic of the #15, handle tapped up to hide the shiny parts and to keep it from getting stolen as yours did sadly. Carried on the left side, horizontal, of my armor for a cross draw or I could get it with my left had if needed.

Not exactly "fighting" knives but this is what I carried in the sandbox. Cold Steel Voyager, Knives of Alaska Alpha Wolf.

Gerber Mark II. Got my first one in the Ft.Sill PX in 1976.

bikerdoc said:

I could open a C-rat can faster with the knife than most guys with a P. - 38 can opener

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Old news friend. I can open an MRE faster than a knife or can opener.

Gerber MKII, long since gone.

Here’s my old friend. We’ve been around the world together and both made it home.
I kept it on my right side on my cartridge belt.

Back in the day, I (like a lot of guys) kept a Gerber II on my web gear, off side, upside down.

I tried to go all out once ordering an expensive hand made knife from Mike Irie online while in Iraq. It came in the mail, and God was it beautiful. Fit my hand well, good long recurve fighting blade. I loved it. Took it on a couple missions, but after getting a nick in the handle, I got scared, and left it in the tent... It did come in a crappy sheath. Ended up sending it home... Sad thing was I got blowed up later in the deployment, couldn't work when I got back, and sold it on Ebay. Now I'd pay through the nose to have it back...



Then I ordered another... This time the MOD Mark V ATAK, from the Bkaclhawk website... (hey, Blackhawk was big back then) D2 tool steel, so it was gonna be tough. First off. The handle was, and is the most comfortable knife handle I've ever had in my hand. I just want to walk around with the damn thing in my hand all day. The little prongs on the hilt for prying, and "combat" are gimmicky, but they never really got in the way. The blade was tough as hell, and I used it a lot, though more as a utility knife than anything else. I just didn't see a lot of "hand to hand" combat, though I did shoot people. I will say that the company did stand behind their product. I was in my 40s on my last deployment. Done with tanks, and Infantry... I was a section sgt of a transportation unit. (88M... yes, a truck driver)

So on one mission I had a pallet of water leaning way over the side of my trailer, and my driver couldn't see the gun truck behind us in the mirror. I had to climb out of the truck, onto the trailer, and cut it loose, as we ran down MSR Tampa. When I was coming around the catwalk behind the cab to get back on the truck, the knife sheath (on my body armor) just let go, and fell off. (with the knife I had just used in it) Of course we couldn't stop, so Haji gets the blade... I emailed Blackhawk, and Michael Janich emails me back. They don't put locktite in the screws of the sheath so the end user can change over to left hand if they want. From now on they will. He sent me a new knife.



This one I carried around a lot. I picked it up at the PX after I lost the Mark V. I never got a Kabar before because they were a Marine thing, and I was Army, but I needed a fixed blade... Guess what? This one said U.S. Army on the sheath. I took the little retaining strap off the sheath, then stuck the blade into my right pants pocket, and with the belt loop through the sheath my DCU blouse would cover the handle. Nobody could see I was walking around with a 7" long fixed blade. When I sit down, the sheath could bend since the handle wasn't strapped to it. The TCNs wouldn't be afraid of your weapon because they knew you wouldn't shoot them, but you whip out that blade...they'd quit stealing ****. I can still carry like that today with jeans, and a big T-shirt if I want.



These days, for my fighting knife, I have went back to my roots and gone to a smaller dedicated dagger style fighting knife. I keep a Boker Applegate Fairbairn on my 1st line belt in a custom Kydex sheath I had a guy make for me. Being older, and half crippled... I doubt I'll ever need it, but hey...



I still do love the feel of that handle on the Mark V though. Nothing like it. Very tempted to cut off the little wings, and get a custom sheath made for it...

The Evangelist Cowboy said:

Old news friend. I can open an MRE faster than a knife or can opener.

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Hell, my Kabar opened C-rats and MREs.

bikerdoc said:

When I was an E-5 I got a brand new medic fresh from the school. Quiet timid kid and very fearful. He didn't have a knife so I bought him one. A cheap PX Gerber fixed blade. Not sure why but that knife gave him enough confidence to become a hard charger.

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May have been his new NCO that gave him confidence the knife was just a bonus.

I wore a George L Herter knife copy of the Grohmann Canadian Knife strapped onto my left calf for the last half of my RVN tour in 1970.
I never had to stab anyone with it though. I did butcher an NVA goose with it when we got to Cambodia and stabbed a whole bunch of 100 kilo rice sacks before we spread the contents on the ground so all in all, it aided the war effort. GarryOwen!

I'm USMC from back in 1970. My Ka-Bar style fighting knife was made by Case. No way to tell the difference except for the tang stamp. Right side of cartridge belt carry. Hanging in my shop right now.

My brain must be fried. Just went and looked and my Case USMC knife somehow made itself into a Camillus.

I mentioned on the Bayonet thread that I carried a Gerber Guardian on my ALICE suspenders, not for fighting, but for general utility.

Regarding C-Rats, I didn't mind the Eggs & Ham, since they could be eaten cold, and who ever has time to heat food up in the field? I never had any trouble trading whatever I received for the Eggs & Ham. We were still eating Korean War rations, including the little packs of cigarettes.

bikerdoc said:

Not sure why but that knife gave him enough confidence to become a hard charger.

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It was probably the source from which it came from.... the proverbial passing of the torch.... the confirmation that another sees potential of what's inside him.

Good job for going one extra step. It can make a bigger difference than you'd ever think it would/should.

Being in the Air Force, I deployed to remote location just before the war (Iraqi Freedom) started. I carried my Schrade Knife with that attached to a belt loop and dropped into your pocket. Not overly expensive, but it opened MRE's with the best of them. It the saw teeth were great at cutting zip ties in the data center. We had an active mission in the war in real time so yes its a war knife.

My son is a Marine and he got deployed to Iraq. When he got there they issued him a Bench Made Knife with auto opening. As Marine and youngsters with new toys they spent the evening opening and closing their new knives. One Marine decided that opening and closing the knife wasn't fun enough so he cut himself between the thumb and forefinger. My son was already on his way back to his hut when somebody yelled for him. When he got there two Marines were helping with the wound. Another Marine ordered him to clean up the blood. My son smacked him in the face and knocked him on his butt. The other Marine had two weeks time in service over him. They were both Lance Corporals. Needless to say my son didn't clean it up. The other Lance Corporal got a lesson in passive aggressive violence from my son who at 230 pounds can handle his own. The Gunny Handed the other Lance a straw and said suck it up. You deserved it. You abused him the entire deployment. The moral of the story is that Dad (me) has the offending knife since it was left on the floor after the accident. My son picked it up and brought it home.

A couple years later he was in Afghanistan. This time there were no knives issued. Heck he got there and didn't have one. I ordered him a bench made fixed blade and sent it over to him right away with a pair of boots. The souls on his pair melted from an IED attack. The Marines didn't have replacement boots. I couldn't imagine going to the field without a proper knife.

GunnyUSMC said:

Here’s my old friend. We’ve been around the world together and both made it home.
I kept it on my right side on my cartridge belt.
View attachment 859118 View attachment 859119 View attachment 859120

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I totally get it with the staples. SFMF.

A Marine friend of mine carried 2 Spyderco folders and a Kabar during his time in Afghanistan. The Kabar was used for sharpened crowbar duties involving brute force. the Spyderco blades were for everything else, including MRE pouches. He swears by Spydercos warranty as he could break an anvil with a rubber hammer. (great guy, just don't let him have any precision tools)

I had my fill of MRE pouches after Hurricane Katrina hit my hometown back in 2005. I truly hope to never have to eat one again by choice. Tabasco only helps so much, and it does not do anything for mac and cheese.

I got a Randall #1-8 in O1 in 1967 from Bo Randall while in an Intelligence school in Arlington Hall . I carried it first tour on my pistol belt with a 1911 68-69. I also carried it 70-71 second tour and have it to my oldest son in early 1990s when he became a Hiway patrolman . In my first tour RVN in I corp with 101st.I had to use it on a crazed mess Sargeant who attacked my Lt. With a bayonet on an m14 . I disarmed him by severing his arm tendon as he lunged at me while the Lot had his back to him and was sitting. The CO returned it to me after MPs confiscated it, got no medal for that but the Lt later during an attack of a fire base we were at made sure I got one .