What do you use your USMC for?
- Thread starter Semper Praesidio
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Awesome. Thanks for your service.
Circa 2006.
Circa 2006.
:thumbup: Thanks for your service. Nice Camelback Hydration Bladder. :thumbup:
Thanks Seems like a life time ago.
Here are some pics from that knife from yesterday. It as seen some heavy used and abuse.
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- Aug 7, 2003
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My USN version is sticking out from the mattress as the go to if I had to deploy it. One of its original missionsseeing you through the night.
Used a 1271 to remove all of the carpet and the tack strips in my house. The flat pommel made it the perfect tool for that job. I struck it innumerable times with a rubber mallet and the end cap stayed put.
Used a 1271 to remove all of the carpet and the tack strips in my house. The flat pommel made it the perfect tool for that job. I struck it innumerable times with a rubber mallet and the end cap stayed put.
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So you guys convinced me. I actually went to my local gun range last night to make this purchase - and they were sold out! I was pretty bummed. Maybe next time.
The USMC didn't choose the KaBar for decoration. It's a tool and a good one at that. I'm not buying the Mark 1 for the name.
Welcome home, joe0121. The stark difference between theatre and stateside duty is so profound, I'm sure it feels as if it were a lifetime ago.
Semper Fi, from an old salt.
Welcome home, joe0121. The stark difference between theatre and stateside duty is so profound, I'm sure it feels as if it were a lifetime ago.
Semper Fi, from an old salt.
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OK guys, time to resurrect this thread with my 2 cents. I'm not a big poster but I just couldn't resist, and I blame y'all for it. I'm a self admitted 1219C2 pattern lover no matter the manufacturer as long as its American. But after owning Camillus, Ontario's and Ka bar versions I like the Kabar the best due to the comfort of the oval handle,as well, at least in my experience edge retention. I also don't have an issue with leather sheath. My one and only wish is that Kabar would start parkerizing their blades. Something that I'm sure lots of other USMC F/U knife lovers wish too.
In the years before the Kabar 1217 magically woke up made out of glass it was the most privately purchased knife in the American armed forces that were not issued them. I personally bought my first one in the spring of 1986 at General Jackson surplus store in Fayetteville, NC for the grand sum of $27.00 when I arrived as a new cherry assigned to the 3rd brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division. The great thing about being an Airborne Infantryman in those days was that tactics still called for battlefield training expecting that combat would take place in the countryside rather that the urban warfare of today. The Soviet Union was our competition,and central America our playground. Stateside training dictated that the infantry spend 185 days out of a year afield in maneuvers. Basically I signed up for a 4 year camping trip. During that time my USMC Kabar (yes, the only model available at the time so we paratroopers had to swallow our pride) performed so many tasks that are too numerous to mention. Some that come to mind were things like cutting enough paracord to wrap around Oprah Winfrey, cut and make pegs for our poncho shelter (hooch. Our only mode of shelter during my time in), cutting open the waxed cardboard covered tubes that mortar rounds came sealed in, opening MRE boxes and bags, opening cans of tuna to enhance our ramen noodles, peeling sugarcane,pineapples and coconuts in Panama, Honduras and Puerto Rico, drawing field expedient maps in the sand for a quick team briefing, cut t-shirts into wraggs for toilet paper in the field, dug thorns and splinter from self and unlucky buddies,popped blisters and scraped toe jam, cut webbing straps, cleaned fingernails, stirred coffee and cocoa powder mixed in a canteen cup for a great government issue Mocha latte, extracted jammed brass out of weapon's chambers, Scraped up battery terminals, cut detonation cord, open letters during field mail call (no cell phones or internet in those days), probing exotic flora and fauna too intimidating to touch, clean fish during our time off duty fishing trips, whittled during boring lulls. These tasks are only the ones that come to my mind after 30 years, I'm sure if i really think hard enough I could think of a few more.
Sorry folks, no batoning. No fires allowed even during the most miserable conditions. Not very tactical. Even in my civilian life I've never subscribed to the batoning club. I've only heard about it about 7-8 years ago. Saw people destroying knives on purpose to see if his chosen knife will split a telephone pole. Like if all of a sudden nobody would be able to make a fire without batoning. Ever! The pre Columbian Indians didn't have Becker's or Swamp Rats or Esses, etc. In fact, they had fragile flint and obsidian blades hafted to an antler and were able to have fires for Thousands of years before the first steel blade was traded to them. I respect other people's approach to their survival philosophies, but I don't envision myself in a survival situation in which I must split logs to build a log cabin. I do however believe that sometimes splitting wood to get to the dry insides is a good thing. I know for a fact that not all wood going in the fire has to be split, so, a couple of pieces no thicker than my wrist will suffice to get the fire going, and the 1217 can surely handle that size stick. And like my grandpappy used to say "if the fire is hot enough it'll burn anything" so additional wood doesn't have to be split.
So there you have it folks. The confessions of a self imposed USMC Kabar user. I have several and carry them to this day with confidence. Never broke one splitting a sensible size stick, nor I ever broke one in the line of duty doing utility chores. 54 parachute landing falls and my Kabar didn't even bend. The leather sheath got replaced for a black hawk like one (can't recall the brand in those days but resembled a black hawk) when the knife tip finally poked through the leather. the 1217 is still my favorite fishing, canoeing, camping, hiking off the beaten path knife. It's always paired with a Swiss army huntsman that's always in my pocket and I've never felt the need for anything else. And between you and me, here is a little secret: .... It's really not made out of glass. Shhhhhh....!
In the years before the Kabar 1217 magically woke up made out of glass it was the most privately purchased knife in the American armed forces that were not issued them. I personally bought my first one in the spring of 1986 at General Jackson surplus store in Fayetteville, NC for the grand sum of $27.00 when I arrived as a new cherry assigned to the 3rd brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division. The great thing about being an Airborne Infantryman in those days was that tactics still called for battlefield training expecting that combat would take place in the countryside rather that the urban warfare of today. The Soviet Union was our competition,and central America our playground. Stateside training dictated that the infantry spend 185 days out of a year afield in maneuvers. Basically I signed up for a 4 year camping trip. During that time my USMC Kabar (yes, the only model available at the time so we paratroopers had to swallow our pride) performed so many tasks that are too numerous to mention. Some that come to mind were things like cutting enough paracord to wrap around Oprah Winfrey, cut and make pegs for our poncho shelter (hooch. Our only mode of shelter during my time in), cutting open the waxed cardboard covered tubes that mortar rounds came sealed in, opening MRE boxes and bags, opening cans of tuna to enhance our ramen noodles, peeling sugarcane,pineapples and coconuts in Panama, Honduras and Puerto Rico, drawing field expedient maps in the sand for a quick team briefing, cut t-shirts into wraggs for toilet paper in the field, dug thorns and splinter from self and unlucky buddies,popped blisters and scraped toe jam, cut webbing straps, cleaned fingernails, stirred coffee and cocoa powder mixed in a canteen cup for a great government issue Mocha latte, extracted jammed brass out of weapon's chambers, Scraped up battery terminals, cut detonation cord, open letters during field mail call (no cell phones or internet in those days), probing exotic flora and fauna too intimidating to touch, clean fish during our time off duty fishing trips, whittled during boring lulls. These tasks are only the ones that come to my mind after 30 years, I'm sure if i really think hard enough I could think of a few more.
Sorry folks, no batoning. No fires allowed even during the most miserable conditions. Not very tactical. Even in my civilian life I've never subscribed to the batoning club. I've only heard about it about 7-8 years ago. Saw people destroying knives on purpose to see if his chosen knife will split a telephone pole. Like if all of a sudden nobody would be able to make a fire without batoning. Ever! The pre Columbian Indians didn't have Becker's or Swamp Rats or Esses, etc. In fact, they had fragile flint and obsidian blades hafted to an antler and were able to have fires for Thousands of years before the first steel blade was traded to them. I respect other people's approach to their survival philosophies, but I don't envision myself in a survival situation in which I must split logs to build a log cabin. I do however believe that sometimes splitting wood to get to the dry insides is a good thing. I know for a fact that not all wood going in the fire has to be split, so, a couple of pieces no thicker than my wrist will suffice to get the fire going, and the 1217 can surely handle that size stick. And like my grandpappy used to say "if the fire is hot enough it'll burn anything" so additional wood doesn't have to be split.
So there you have it folks. The confessions of a self imposed USMC Kabar user. I have several and carry them to this day with confidence. Never broke one splitting a sensible size stick, nor I ever broke one in the line of duty doing utility chores. 54 parachute landing falls and my Kabar didn't even bend. The leather sheath got replaced for a black hawk like one (can't recall the brand in those days but resembled a black hawk) when the knife tip finally poked through the leather. the 1217 is still my favorite fishing, canoeing, camping, hiking off the beaten path knife. It's always paired with a Swiss army huntsman that's always in my pocket and I've never felt the need for anything else. And between you and me, here is a little secret: .... It's really not made out of glass. Shhhhhh....!
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- Jan 1, 2009
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h minus,
Excellent post. Capable knife.
Excellent post. Capable knife.