Cold Steel Knives In Combat

[The Whip]

I don't want to detract from the military theme of this thread, but the photo below of a Recon Tanto on the thigh rig of a SWAT officer was just too enticing to exclude. Besides, high-threat law enforcement activities often cross into the realm of combat in every sense of the word!

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In the "Outside the Wire" column in the November 2018 issue of Knives Illustrated, Michael D'Angona interviewed retired Green Beret Mykel Hawke about the knives he carried while in uniform. Hawke responded with the following:

My fixed blade before 9/11 was usually a Cold Steel blade like the SRK or Recon Tanto, always black with a rubber handle grip, of course. After 9/11, I was in the second class issued a serial-numbered Yarborough knife. I decided there was no use putting it in a box or on a shelf, so that was my carry for the remainder of my service as an officer from 2001-11, and I carried it to war in Afghanistan, too.


Unfortunately, the article didn't contain any photos of Hawke as a soldier with his Cold Steel knives. So I'm including these pictures from his Man, Woman, Wild survival series to show that he actually is a Cold Steel fan.

Also, I'm throwing in this photo for anyone who might not believe that he really did use his Yarborough.

-Steve

 

[The Whip]

Berzerker's post reminded me of another Cold Steel that I helped to put into active duty. About a dozen years ago, I gave my brother-in-law, who serves in the Coast Guard, one of these.









I figured that the sheepsfoot blade might benefit him in his shipboarding activities, and that the serrated edge would work well cutting wet and dirty rope. Had I known at the time how rare that blue-handled model would become (I had trouble even finding those poor, blurry photos on the Internet!), I might have held onto it and given him one of these more common models instead.





-Steve

I saw my brother-in-law over the holidays. He told me that he still carries his Land & Sea Rescue regularly, despite being issued other folders over the years. He said it's his "under way knife." I thought that was pretty cool! Unfortunately, he didn't bring it with him, so I couldn't take a picture to share. I'll get one up here eventually.

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A 2016 SurvivalistBoards.com thread about knives carried by U.S. soldiers in Iraq generated some good Cold Steel content (including some from a couple of BF members). I've included the relevant posts here.

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These troops are with the 2nd Infantry Division. The SAW gunner is wearing an SRK on his vest.

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In his thread Knives Used By SEALs, Forum member WillB included this picture of the display of issued SEAL knives from the UDT/SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce, Florida. The knife at the upper right is a Cold Steel SRK.

I've asked Will to provide a better picture of the SRK. When he does, I'll post it here.

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U.S. Army MSG Sarun Sar, Special Forces veteran and recipient of the Silver Star and two Bronze Stars, in Afghanistan wearing what I'm fairly certain is a UWK (though it's possibly an OSS or ODA).

-Steve

 

[nephron]

Nice! Love this info./pix.

 

[The Whip]

The Recon 1 that I gave to my nephew last week to mark the beginning of his service in the Army. Needless to say, this is one knife that I pray never sees use in combat!





I truly could not think of a better everyday-carry folder for a soldier. I hope this one serves him well.


-Steve

My nephew's Recon 1 after his recent nine-month tour in Afghanistan. She fared well!

He returned with a Bronze Star, so his was not an uneventful assignment. I thank God he's safely back stateside.

At one point during the deployment, his convoy had a vehicle rollover and he had to extricate one of the occupants by cutting him out of his seatbelt. He didn't use the Recon 1 for that, though. Instead he used a Spyderco Moran that I had given him while he was in college.

There's a lesson in that, by the way. For any of you who might be reading through this thread while contemplating which knife to carry when the time comes to lace up your boots and strap on a gun, take heed: Pocket knives are fine in garrison and as a final back-up. But rugged, reliable, rapid-access fixed blades rule on the battlefield!

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Arizona Custom Knives recently had two Cold Steels for sale that, according to the write-ups, were carried by a Force Recon Marine Chief Warrant Officer. One was a Carbon V SRK in the early leather sheath, which I figured was worth including here but was hardly noteworthy.

The second knife, however, was quite remarkable! It's a USMC-issued, second-generation (no recurve), sterile Recon Scout supplied during Desert Storm.

There are two things that are awesome about this knife:

1) It's the first one I've ever seen that was confirmed to be military-issue. I never doubted Cold Steel's history of the knife, but it's nice to finally see one that was legitimately issued to and carried by a soldier.

2) It substantiates my long-held supposition that the units to which the original knives were issued were Marine Force Recon units. Obviously the knife's name was a flashing-neon-sign-of-a-clue, but Cold Steel has never publicly disclosed the identity of the outfits that received those first batches of knives. Now, almost thirty years later, we finally know at least one of them for certain.

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In that same vein, a 1991 Special Projects catalog introducing the Recon Scout specifies that the first batch offered for sale were overruns from those supplied to the military.

The Cold Steel portion of the same catalog contained this very interesting write-up about Cold Steel knives in Desert Shield/Storm.

Happy Easter! (Genesis 3:15)

-Steve

 

[MississippiRifleman]

Just received this one at mail call today. Drop Forged Push Dagger for my belt rig, mainly to be on hand as an anti-take-away weapon in case anyone tries to get hold of my handgun. I used 90 MPH tape to secure the sheath to one of the belt loops on my rig, but I will be looking to make a more permanent solution soon, maybe after I get home.

First impression of this blade is, it's a heavy SOB, but it fills the hand much better than I would have expected from a basically flat handle. I LIKE this knife!

 

[The Whip]

Just received this one at mail call today. Drop Forged Push Dagger for my belt rig, mainly to be on hand as an anti-take-away weapon in case anyone tries to get hold of my handgun. I used 90 MPH tape to secure the sheath to one of the belt loops on my rig, but I will be looking to make a more permanent solution soon, maybe after I get home.

First impression of this blade is, it's a heavy SOB, but it fills the hand much better than I would have expected from a basically flat handle. I LIKE this knife!

Nice setup and great choice in the Drop Forged Push Knife! I also like that blade a lot. I agree that its comfort in the hand (despite being a single piece of steel) makes up for the weight. While I'm sure your field-expedient tape solution will hold for a while, I'd hate to see it fail on you should you need it. You might check some of the attachment pieces available from KnifeKits to find a more permanent fixture.


If anyone doubts the usefulness of a push dagger in the role MississippiRifleman has chosen it for, those doubts should be allayed by a real-world battlefield example that I overheard Robert Vaughn relating to customers at the Cold Steel booth at Blade Show on Saturday. He said that Cold Steel had heard back from a French Commando who had used either a Defender I or II (Mr. Vaughn couldn't remember which) to kill an enemy in a close-combat scenario. According to the commando's account, a single chest punch finished the fight.

The commando was not unscathed, however. The force of the punch was sufficient to drive the soldier's knuckles into the rear shoulder of the blade, cutting him. Because of that incident, Mr. Vaughn said, Cold Steel redesigned its push daggers, lengthening the tangs on the Safe Keepers II and III to provide more room for the fingers and inspiring the improved grip/tang designs of the Safe Makers I and II.

The application of real-world feedback doesn't get any realer than that!

-Steve

 

[The Whip]

I recently found this interesting testimonial among the Cold Steel reviews section on Yelp (of all places!).

A Kraton handle would definitely be desirable in a frigid environment like Antarctica. I can't imagine a more taxing weather scenario for a knife, so the fact that his Master Tanto survived three deployments under such circumstances is remarkable.

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Rummaging through the Battle Blades with Greg Walker archive recently, I ran across some interesting Cold Steel content relevant to this thread.

It appears that Blade Forums' very own Spark carried Cold Steel during his service time in the Combat Engineers.

Also, the following noteworthy procurement history of the XL Gunsite was supplied by subforum moderator Greg Walker.

As an actively deploying Green Beret during the time period when he wrote this, Mr. Walker would have worked with numerous special operations units. I would love to know which team issued XL Gunsite folders.

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Contractor in Afghanistan wearing his Safe Keeper II.

[Photo copyright 2005 Matt Moyer]


Happy Veterans Day to all of you who have served America's Armed Forces in wartime!


-Steve

 

[The Whip]

In honor of this thread hitting the 50,000 views mark, I'm going to show you the Cold Steel knife that I carried during my last year in the U.S. Army (well, unfortunately not the knife, as I'll explain). It was an original Urban Skinner model in the leather sheath.

I loved this knife! It was very utilitarian, extremely comfortable in the hand, and easy to conceal. After I left the Army, I had a custom Kydex sheath of my own design made for it by those sheath-making artisans at Cutlery Shoppe's now-long-defunct Sheath-Tech. I carried the knife in this configuration for years.

Around 1992, I was wearing the knife while waterskiing with some friends on the Tennessee River. After many rough tumbles (I'm not very good at waterskiing), I discovered to my dismay that the river had claimed my beloved knife (along with a Tool Logic Credit Card Companion that I carried in the pocket of my swim trunks). The knife in the pictures above is a replacement that I bought as soon as I could afford one. It's a great duplicate that I continued to carry for years, but it can never replace my original.


-Steve

P.S. - If anyone drags or dredges the Tennessee River and finds a Cold Steel Urban Skinner in a Sheath-Tech Kydex sheath, it's mine!

 

[The Whip]

I recently ran across some interesting historical items to contribute to this thread.

Following the March 2003 initiation of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the below notice about SRK availability was included in Cold Steel's May/June newsletter to its dealers.

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Back when Tactical Knives magazine existed, fellow Blade Forums member @John A. Larsen used to contribute numerous informative articles to that excellent publication. In the January 2003 issue, he wrote a piece entitled "Knives to Kandahar," in which he recounted his observations of the knives carried by combat troops that he met during his 2002 training trip to Afghanistan. In addition to those knives the soldiers were carrying already, Mr. Larsen also discussed the knives, generously furnished by various manufacturers, that he supplied to his trainees. I've included the relevant Cold Steel content.

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A Special Operations soldier wearing his UWK somewhere in Iraq.

Happy Armed Forces Day!

-Steve

 

[Blue Sky]

That is quite the interesting load he’s got. I wonder how long it takes him to get it all ready.

 

[Hungryone]

No idea what that load out is intended for. Belly crawling would be a bitch

 

[Asher Sympson]

Not quite on topic (although he is in the reserves as an MP TSGT) My dad is a game warden in the state of Washington and I recently gave him a Cold steel Drop forged boot knife (the grey version) needless to say, he loved it and now carries it on duty.

 

[The Whip]

Back in 1990, Fighting Knives magazine approached multiple knife manufacturers with a request to donate knives for a supply package that the magazine would provide to various military units preparing to conduct Operation Desert Shield/Storm. Naturally, Cold Steel was one of the companies that answered the call.

In the magazine's Spring 1991 issue, editor Greg Walker inserted the following comment on Cold Steel's contribution to that effort into an article by Steven Dick reviewing the SRK.

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In early 2005, retired police officer Clint Thompson traveled to the Sunni Triangle region of Iraq as an International Police Liaison Officer (IPLO) to train Iraqi police forces. During his four-month tour there, he worked with fellow IPLOs, security contractors, and various U.S. and coalition military units. He recounted his observations of the knives he encountered in an article entitled "The Real Knives In Use In Iraq" in the December 2005 issue of Knives Illustrated magazine. I found the Cold Steel content interesting and thought I'd share it.

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The photograph below depicts members of two different French special operations units:

1) Commando Parachutist De L'Air No. 10 (CPA 10), which is comparable to U.S. Air Force Special Tactics Squadrons

2) Commando Hubert D’Actions Sous Marines (CHSM), which is the French equivalent of U.S. Navy SEAL teams.

The Marine Commando on the far right, a member of the esteemed de Montfort team, is wearing a Recon Tanto attached to his left thigh rig.

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The Recon Tanto in the following picture is carried by MSG Michael L. McNulty, a C Squadron operator in the U.S. Army's 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment - Delta ("Delta Force"). Among many other exploits, Master Sergeant McNulty participated in the capture of Saddam Hussein on December 13, 2003.

I regret to say that the reason we have this unobscured photo of MSG McNulty is that he was killed in action in Al Qaim, Iraq, on June 17, 2005, while raiding a known compound of terrorist plotter and founder of al-Qaeda in Iraq Abu al-Zarqawi. Also killed in that assault was McNulty's fellow Delta Force member, MSG Robert M. Horrigan, who was only two weeks from completing his final combat tour prior to retirement from the Army. The bodies of both men appropriately are interred at Arlington National Cemetery.

-Steve

 

[The Whip]

Time to revisit and update a couple of items in this thread.

In his thread Knives Used By SEALs, Forum member WillB included this picture of the display of issued SEAL knives from the UDT/SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce, Florida. The knife at the upper right is a Cold Steel SRK.



I've asked Will to provide a better picture of the SRK. When he does, I'll post it here.

I never heard back from WillB, so I went to the UDT/SEAL Museum myself and got better pictures of the Navy-issued SRK on display there. I have no idea why the knife has no accompanying sheath.

For those who are interested in such things, the UDT/SEAL Museum is a really well-done homage to our nation's maritime commandos. It's extremely informative, well curated, and contains a lot of knife material. The SEALs have a rich knife heritage that stretches back to their UDT roots.

In my opinion, that heritage is made all the more interesting by the fact that it includes Cold Steel.

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I wanted to add a note about something that I touched upon here many years ago now. When I displayed the following photo in my opening post, I mentioned that the Special Forces soldier shown must be a knife guy to have chosen a stag-handled Trail Master to go to war with.

Well, I discovered additional photos taken during that mission that add some weight to my original assessment. Not only did "Cowboy" (the trooper's nickname/calł sign) keep his Trail Master on when bedding down the horses,

but he even wore it when eating dinner at a safe house, while otherwise unarmed.

Cowboy is my kind of soldier--never unarmed and never under-knifed!


At the risk of raising the specter of the toy soldier topic again, I will mention that in 2009 a 1:6-scale doll outfit called Twisted Plastic made a custom Cowboy action figure based on the iconic photos of the soldier in Afghanistan.

So inextricably linked to Cowboy was his stag Trail Master that the toy maker developed a special replica to add to the figure for realism. You can see the handle of the knife in these photos.

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I don't like pulling quotes from other Forumites into this thread. I'd much rather that they find it and contribute on their own. However, I felt that a recent post in General Knife Discussion by OldHercDude was worth re-posting here simply because he carried such an awesome old Cold Steel blade--an original Recon Tanto--and he included photos.

Well, this has been an interesting thread to read.


I did 20 years Air Force, started as a C-130 crew chief, then moved into the C-130 Flight Engineer career field.

Picked up a Camper SAK as was going through FE training, and that knife was dummy-corded into my flight suit knife pockets for the next 16 years. Added a black oxide Leatherman PST about four years after getting the SAK, and it was either on the flight suit waist strap or in a pocket as an addition to the SAK. During Desert Shield/ Storm, our aircraft commander bought each of the crew an Explorer Stubby. Turned out to be an incredibly useful little knife. Still have all three.

Over the 20 years, I picked up knives here and there. Most came and went. A few stayed with me and were used off and on. Two I really liked and still have, are an original Cold Steel Tanto and an Al Mar SERE 30002-A. The CS should have some TLC to the edge. I spent some time working on the Al Mar, it was suffering from a bit too much pocket carry. Still has some staining on the blade steel, and I need to spend a little more time with some flitz on the pivot pins to remove the last tiny bit of surface rust, but it looks pretty good considering its age and that it was carried and used. The markings on the micarta won't be coming off without some time on a buffer, and I doubt I'll do that.

As for doing anything different? Might not get the Tanto, cool-looking very solid knife, but I could think of a better fixed blade for the aircrew thing.

I would never second-guess another man's assessment of his knife needs, but I'll mildly disagree with his assertion that the Tanto isn't suited to flight duty. I agree that it's not the best knife if off-the-land survival is your only consideration (e.g., packed into an ejection-seat SERE kit). But if a knife was all that I had available, I can't think of too many other blades I'd rather have than that Recon Tanto if forced to hack my way out of a downed C-130.

Contrary to what you may read in magazines or on the Internet, there were legitimate reasons why Cold Steel tested the Tanto on car hoods and oil drums. One of them was proving the knife's ability to survive extreme requirements, such as aircraft extrication.


-Steve

 

[OldHercDude]

<snippage>

I don't like pulling quotes from other Forumites into this thread. I'd much rather that they find it and contribute on their own. However, I felt that a recent post in General Knife Discussion by OldHercDude was worth re-posting here simply because he carried such an awesome old Cold Steel blade--an original Recon Tanto--and he included photos.



I would never second-guess another man's assessment of his knife needs, but I'll mildly disagree with his assertion that the Tanto isn't suited to flight duty. I agree that it's not the best knife if off-the-land survival is your only consideration (e.g., packed into an ejection-seat SERE kit). But if a knife was all that I had available, I can't think of too many other blades I'd rather have than that Recon Tanto if forced to hack my way out of a downed C-130.

Contrary to what you may read in magazines or on the Internet, there were legitimate reasons why Cold Steel tested the Tanto on car hoods and oil drums. One of them was proving the knife's ability to survive extreme requirements, such as aircraft extrication.


-Steve

I'm not going to debate the survival aspects. Or the fact that the tantos were suitable for puncturing metal (they were).

There is more than the ability to puncture aluminum to factor into exiting a crash in an aircraft without ejection seats. Not counting bailouts or ditching, or multiple other factors...

A survivable crash, landing or otherwise, could leave you severely burned or broken to the point of having to be pulled from the wreckage. And survivable is relative - sometimes people died in survivable incidents and only a couple made it out alive, and they may have been pulled from the wreckage by others. I don't recall any survivors during my years hacking their way out of a wreck. They got out under their own power through an existing opening or exit, or they were assisted/ pulled from the wreckage by others.

If you were mobile enough to easily move around and be able to hack your way out, it would be faster and probably easier to go out an existing opening or exit. Trying to hack your way through the aircraft while it was burning could take too long and you'd burn to death, or suffocate on toxic fumes and then burn. If you were capable of hacking through the aircraft, and there was no fire threatening to burn you alive, and there were no other openings and you were trapped, we had better tools than a tanto.

Part of the aircraft emergency equipment was an item called a crash axe. We had multiples stationed at various points of the flight deck and cargo compartment. They were designed to puncture and slice the aluminum at the marked egress points, much more efficiently than a knife (even the tanto) could do. Those egress points were marked on the inside and outside of the aircraft, for use by crew exiting, or by crash crews cutting in to get to trapped crew.

Is it possible a tanto could be your last hope of getting out a wreck? Sure. Based on probabilities, past crashes, and a whole host of other factors we had to consider, for me, the tanto wasn't the best use of available space and weight in my personal kit.

Just the opinion of an old Herc dude.

 

[OldHercDude]

Finally finished reading the entire thread. Quite the interesting read IMHO.

I doubt I or my knife deserve a mention here. I was the low speed high drag type, old school trash hauler aka "you call, we haul". My tanto wasn't carried a lot, closest it ever came to a combat zone was Desert Shield/ Storm. Never used in anger or defense.

As for awesomeness - I do agree. I still think the original Recon Tanto is one of the best Cold Steel produced.

 

[The Whip]

Finally finished reading the entire thread. Quite the interesting read IMHO.

I doubt I or my knife deserve a mention here. I was the low speed high drag type, old school trash hauler aka "you call, we haul". My tanto wasn't carried a lot, closest it ever came to a combat zone was Desert Shield/ Storm. Never used in anger or defense.

As for awesomeness - I do agree. I still think the original Recon Tanto is one of the best Cold Steel produced.

My friend, both your knife and your opinions/thoughts on knife carry in uniformed duty are welcome here! This isn't a thread about high-speed/low-drag or derring-do encounters with a knife--just a place to read about guys who carried Cold Steel while in the service of their country.

I would have asked you in the other thread about posting here, but it seemed self-serving. I'm grateful for your insights into escaping from downed aircraft. Just for the record, I wasn't attempting to imply that a knife (any knife) is a good tool for getting oneself out, but rather that if it's all you've got, you better have a knife that can do what needs to be done. To my way of thinking, Cold Steel proved that the Tanto was such a knife.

I'm glad that you liked the thread, and I thank you for your contribution to it. Out of curiosity, since you didn't think of it as an aircrew knife, what made you carry the Recon Tanto? In what role did you use it?


-Steve

 

[OldHercDude]

My friend, both your knife and your opinions/thoughts on knife carry in uniformed duty are welcome here! This isn't a thread about high-speed/low-drag or derring-do encounters with a knife--just a place to read about guys who carried Cold Steel while in the service of their country.

I would have asked you in the other thread about posting here, but it seemed self-serving. I'm grateful for your insights into escaping from downed aircraft. Just for the record, I wasn't attempting to imply that a knife (any knife) is a good tool for getting oneself out, but rather that if it's all you've got, you better have a knife that can do what needs to be done. To my way of thinking, Cold Steel proved that the Tanto was such a knife.

I'm glad that you liked the thread, and I thank you for your contribution to it. Out of curiosity, since you didn't think of it as an aircrew knife, what made you carry the Recon Tanto? In what role did you use it?


-Steve

Thanks.

IMHO, unless you have a leisurely amount of time, cutting through an aircraft with a knife isn't going to be fast enough.

My comments were simply to add info that might help you understand some of what went through my head (didn't even discuss the amount of stuff we had to fly with depending upon mission) when deciding about kit. I've found that when I don't have the knowledge, training and perspective of a group, it can be more difficult for me to grasp why a group makes a decision about stuff.

For me, the knife was mainly a knife guy purchase. I liked a lot of what CS was doing, but saw the RT and went "yep, buying that". It went along on certain missions as a backup/ emergency knife because I had it on hand.

 

[DangerZone98]

Just received this one at mail call today. Drop Forged Push Dagger for my belt rig, mainly to be on hand as an anti-take-away weapon in case anyone tries to get hold of my handgun. I used 90 MPH tape to secure the sheath to one of the belt loops on my rig, but I will be looking to make a more permanent solution soon, maybe after I get home.

First impression of this blade is, it's a heavy SOB, but it fills the hand much better than I would have expected from a basically flat handle. I LIKE this knife!

Holy schmokes, that’s a big ass push knife.

 

[The Whip]

OK, unfortunately it's time for me to eat crow. Followers of this thread will recall back in April of 2016 when I posted this.

SGM (ret.) William "Billy" Waugh: Legendary Special Forces veteran who served in the 187th Parachute Regiment in Korea and in MACV-SOG in Vietnam. Upon retirement from the Army, he went to work as an officer for the CIA's Special Activities Division, where he hunted notable terrorists like Carlos the Jackal and Osama Bin Laden. In October 2001, at 71 years of age, he was in Afghanistan for the CIA attached to Special Forces ODA 961, preparing the offensive against the Taliban.

What did Mr. Waugh carry for bladeware during his Afghanistan trek? Cold Steel Trail Master.

-Steve

P.S. - For the record, none of us will EVER be as tough or as cool as this gentleman!

There's just one small problem with what I wrote: Billy Waugh wasn't with ODA 961 and that picture isn't of him! The soldier gallantly wearing his Trail Master on horseback through Afghanistan in that photograph is MSG Richard A. "Dick" Smoot (a.k.a., "Bones"). MSG Smoot, a Weapons Sergeant in 2nd Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group, and the Team Sergeant for ODA 961, was 52 years old when he and the rest of his team hit the ground in early 2002 to take the fight to the Taliban and Al Qaeda. While he might not have been the 71-year-old hard charger that Billy Waugh was, Bones was legendary in his own right, having passed the SFQC at 43 and the SF Combat Diver course at 50. He served his country in three wars--Viet Nam, Afghanistan, and Iraq--before hanging up his spurs and retiring from the Army.

I regret to say that MSG Smoot is no longer with us. He was killed in an accident in 2015 while riding his motorcycle. By all accounts, he was a skilled warrior and a tremendous man. His home state of West Virginia named a memorial bridge in his honor last August.

Despite my mistake, I stand by my earlier statements about SGM Billy Waugh. He was in Afghanistan attached to ODA 594 (not 961) in November 2001. Here he is, on the far left in this photo.

What I don't have, however, is any evidence that SGM Waugh carried a Cold Steel knife. He appears to be more of a Buck folder guy.

I apologize to MSG Smoot's family, friends, and colleagues for misidentifying his photograph. (Try searching "Billy Waugh in Afghanistan" and you'll discover how I made my error.) I also apologize to the readers of this thread for my part in multiplying the mistake. The Internet can be a great tool, but much of the time it's a wasteland of misinformation!

MSG Smoot carrying his Cold Steel Trail Master in another configuration. I'm not sure whether this is also in Afghanistan or during his Iraq tour.

Trail Master-toting brothers-in-arms Bones and Cowboy, together again in happier times.

-Steve