Folding knives

[Mortblanc]

Ajax, YOUR folding knife might be only a fire lighter but I have several that are a bit more versatile, even the small ones.

If you take a look at Charles Harris's avatar you will see one such model. It is a government issue pocket utility knife. It has been our standard since about 1900. The main change in all those years was the switch from black bake-lite handles to stainless steel back in the 1960s.

Every year each new US Air Force combat crewman, and people from out other service branches, go through the Air Force survival school. It is a requirement for some MOS. It is a two week school and over two million people have completed it over the years. Each one of them was carrying one of those utility knives through the course.

For the course it is paired with a US Pilots' Survival Knife, which was designed by the Marble Company back before WW2 and modified for military use during WW2, and is still in use. Until a few years ago it was packed in the survival kit under the seat of every US military plane and helicopter. They have now changed to another form with more modern plastic grips and a slightly changed blade shape.

I have carried the utility knife for much of my life, and carried one for two years in combat. It's primary use was opening C-rat tins and cutting bits of paracord for stringing shelters and hammocks. There was also the occasional turning of a screw on some weapon or piece of kit or poking a hole in something with the awl. It was used almost daily.

So was the AF Survival Knife I carried. That was used a bit more stressfully for rough work that would damage the utility knife. It was also a loaner knife for those times when some fool went into the field without a functional blade. It was always returned in rough shape since most fools consider a knife nothing more than a crowbar you can cut yourself with.

I also carried a dedicated combat knife.

It is a beauty with 20cm blade, Stag grip, brass guard and pommel, set up in a left handed sheath for my needs. 50 years wear on that knife and good as new. It has hardly been taken from the sheath.

You see, in combat the knife is the one thing still considered a personal weapon and status symbol. E-men get the issue stuff but officers often sport expensive edged weapons, judged by brand and quality.

I received a couple of days dedicated knife fighting training from some very qualified people and they agreed with me that knife fighting was down their list of ways to survive a close quarters fight. Hand to hand unarmed combat was not in their scope of comprehension. Anything you could lay hands on was a weapon and that was their focus. We worked a whole morning on how to kill with an entrenching tool.

I still have the combat knife, 50 years down the road. In fact I still have a model of all three. There are 4 of the utility knives floating about, two AFSK knives in some box, and the old combat knife in the sock drawer.

Now if I hear a thump in the night and open that sock drawer it will not be to fetch the combat knife. No, there is a S&W .40 caliber M&P in that same drawer.

The knife is in there to remind me that as long as I have one bullet left, hopefully, someone just brought a knife to a gunfight!

The hand-to-hand experts taught me that.

I know that you don't believe in guns but I assure you, they exist, even in your culture.