Did/Do you carry in the military? Story time... ;)

I "helped myself" to the electrician that was in a big bin full, couldn't help myself.
And the 119 I think I may have bought soon after I enlisted in 1980 (-1994).
USNMCB for 14 years so these were useful.
The TL was my edc and the 119 was for field duty seeing as it was considered out of uniform most of the time.
I found them all beat up in my dad's shop semi-recently (he mis-appropriated them from my gear that was shipped back after my separation ) and cleaned them up.

 

I joined the Army in 86 (16S) and I had a Bucklite 422, Vic Tinker, and a Gerber EZ Out.
Usually the Tinker was what I carried most.

 

Buckshee!

 

Indeed.
But our motto required less translation, "Freebies for Seabees".

 

Hello there, I was in the Swiss army. As a recruit ( 1983 ) I was issued a soldiers pocket knife model 61 ( AKA Pioneer ) and a bayonet for my Stgw 57. Most recruits quickly bought a second pocketknife, one to use and a second one to present at inspections. As an artilleryman ( M 109 )the bayonet stayed in the locker but the pocketknives were always handy for opening tinned rations ( mmm, compressed meat ) and to take apart our rifles or zero them in. I also had ( and still do ) a Gerber Guardian 1 because if you have to shimmy up a tree to cut the ropes holding the cammo net a double edged blade is a lot faster. Interesting fact: on the inside of the Stgw 57 bipod there are graduations. You pass a length of string through the hole in the pocket knife. open the blade, dangle it from the bayonet lug, and determine the trajectory for rifle grenades.

 

Surface Warfare Officer (1977 - 1997) - I was one of the few Naval Officers I knew of that carried knives. My EDCs were a no-name stainless steel "Made in Japan" lockback in my RFP, a Kabar yacht knife in my LFP, and a Buck 110 in its leather pouch on my belt at 3 o'clock.

 

C-5 Galaxy aircrew here, late eighties to late nineties. Carried a Leatherman on the waist strap (most of the flight engineers and loadmasters did), along with the issued switchblade (Camillus, IIRC) in the flight suit thigh pocket. Also kept a small Buck folder in my gear bag, to carry when in civilian clothes while in foreign countries.

The orange switchblade went back to the AF when I left, the Buck was given to the son of a good friend. I broke off one side of the Leatherman’s pliers, so I left it on a picnic table in a state park, with the hopes someone could make use of what was left. I would have liked to have kept the switchblade.

 

I was gifted a SAK Monarch when I graduated basic by my Dad. I was issued a Gerber Multitool. I carried both for 7 years until I left. I was a 19k M1 Armor Crewman. I still have both!!

 

'72 to '76-Commo- Never without a TL-29.

 

It varied over the years I was in. Ka-Bar, Swiss Army Knife, and a Gerber folder (I don't remember the model) for a while. Then I moved onto various Benchmade folders... and lost a number. The CQC7 designed by Emmerson and a 710. For a while the AFCK but that was one that was lost. I also carried a Gerber multitool and before that a Leatherman.
I also carried a SOG SEAL 2000 for a bit, then finally a Cold Steel Outdoorsman along with the 710 in my pocket and the Gerber.

 

I think the first few years I carried a Spyderco dragonfly full serrated.

Later I moved to the DLC Delica with combo edge. Lost one, bought another.

Light and relatively inexpensive was key, cutting tasks mostly were opening MREs and cutting 550 cord. There aren’t a lot of opportunities to stab terrorists so big ol’ fixed blades can quickly become an annoyance.

 

During an onsite visit during my current job a contractor borrowed my original PST (gifted to me by my foster family when I was an exchange student in the US like 22 years ago or so) and he broke one jaw of the pliers. I cursed in all the languages I knew at the time and bought a Leatherman Charge XTI for a replacement.

Once I received I somehow recalled that Leatherman had a limited lifetime warranty to the original owner for their tools and sent it to the main distributor here in Spain. Surprisingly I got it back fixed, adjusted and sharp as new! I only had that happen to me in a similar fashion with a Victorinox knife. Both brands have a customer here for life.

Mikel

 

Spyderco Mariner in the late 80's. They gave me a first generation leatherman as well. Used both daily.

 

This thread is full of WIN.

I served a stint in the Army Reserves in the mid-late 90s.

I smuggled my Victorinox Tinker in with my stuff for Basic Training, I wasn't technically supposed to have it, but it was damned useful. One time in Advanced training, an instructor didn't have the tool he needed; I think it was a screwdriver. He asked if anyone had one. I brought out my Tinker, deployed the needed screwdriver and gave it to him.

He said thanks and used it. When he handed it back to me, he smiled and said: "You're not supposed to have this, you know..." I kind of smiled and shrugged. I didn't want to mouth off and ponder the fact that it's OK for me to have an assault rifle (with bayonet), throw grenades and possibly die for my country, but I couldn't vote, drink or have a pocket knife.

That was literally my EDC for the next 10-15 years. One day, in my job as an electrical technician, I accidentally cut into a live extension cord and burned a nice little dent out of the edge of the main blade. "Amateur welding" we used to call it... That dent was just the right size for stripping 8 and 10 gauge wire, but it was a mark of shame every time I opened it, so I gave it to a colleague. I never cut into a live cord again after that, so maybe the mark of shame did its job. ;-)

 

I served in the Marine Corps infantry from 2004-2009.

I did a rotation guarding nuclear missiles for the first couple years, during which time I carried a partially serrated Kershaw Blackout. When I got to a deploying unit, they gave us all Gerber Mini Gators if we wanted one. They didn't hold an edge very well and were basically junk. My Lieutenant ended up giving me a Benchmade AFO (the original model) and that's what I ended up carrying for the rest of the deployment while in Ramadi. As far as combat knife we were all issued the Ontario Marine bayonet if we had a rifle with an exposed bayonet stud. If we carried a SAW or M16 with an M203 attached we were issued the Ontario version of the Kabar. I personally carried a standard Kabar that I bought at the PX before deployment, and carried it through two combat tours in Iraq.

 

Army Medic - served 2 years in a Reserve Hospital Unit, 4 years in an Active Duty Infantry Unit. 1993 to 1999.

Victorinox Huntsman
Spyderco Delica
Spyderco Remote Release
Benchmade/Emerson CQC-7
Kabar
Ontario Spec-plus Pilot's Knife
Dozier Agent
Gerber Multi-plier
SOG Multi-tool

Couple others at various times, but the above were the main ones I remember.

 

Most of the troops I know carried something cheap. Gerber or CRKT, what ever the PX carried.
Some carried SAKs or traditional folders.

My Basic and AIT were combined into something called One Station Unit Training (OSUT). Righ before I left for Basic, my father reached in his pocket and handed me a small beat up folder and said, “Leave your good knife here. It will only get stolen.”

He was right. Near the end of AIT, I found my then missing folder being used to clean someone’s weapon. I got it back after I threatened to beat the person senseless with an M16 barrel. It is amazing how quickly the NCOs got involved. I still have that knife somewhere.

The CRKT knives I usually carried are now all gone but, I replaced the Prowler for sentimental reasons.

The CRKT M16 Tanto I recently gave to my SIL and a Prowler is in my tool bag as a beater knife.
I also have another LNIB Prowler somewhere.

I started out as a 12B in 1976 and then later cross trained as a medic in the Guard. I got out in 2002. During this time the regular army and the guard shifted from Demo knives to multi-tools. For my units, multi-tools were issued by MOS and MTOE. Of course I did not rate being issued one.

It is my understanding that pretty much everyone carries a multi-tool now.

 

Oh, I can believe it...in 1958 the Army had an "idiot drop" while I was in Korea... We lost some long-time enlisted men (mostly sergeants) who had been serving honorably for many years. When they had enlisted around the time of the Second World War, the "reading and arithmetic" minimum requirements were not given much attention...
But, in 1958, the ruling came down, and many of these honorable soldiers were tested and systematically "relieved of duty."
The "low-performers" were kicked out of the Army without being able to fulfill the next few years of service... (twenty years being necessary to secure their military retirement.)
Not a source of pride for the Army...as I perceive it...

 

Any idea what year that came from? Assume WW2.

 

WW1.
http://www.fergusmackain.com/p/tommys-life-at.html?m=1