world. Some may take issue with that statement, but they will lose that
fight if they so choose to carry it forward. My experiences in the
Corps have always had Marines doing more with less than the other
branches. When I went to Vietnam, the 105 artillery howitzers we had
were all WWII vintage. The army had the new equipment. However, the
Marines always had the "warrior ethos" which seemed to make up for any
deficiencies we might have in equipment.
I remember as a child, my dad had brought home some of his equipment
that he carried in WWII in the Pacific. One of those items was his
fighting knife. It was known in the Marine Corps world as the "KABAR"
fighting knife.
There have been numerous versions as to how the name came about. The
most accepted one is where a fur trapper used this knife to kill a
bear. He wrote a letter, in very rough English, and sent to the knife
company. He indicated that his gun had jammed and he had to use this
knife to kill the wounded bear that was attacking him. He was thanking
the company for the quality of the knife they manufactured, but all that
was legible was the scrawling "k a bar" which they took as "kill a
bear". The company felt so honored they created the trademark "KABAR".*/
I grew up carrying around my dad's old KABAR. Then, one day, I joined
the Marine Corps myself and after a short period of time, found myself
heading off to do battle. I got permission and I took my dad's KABAR to
Vietnam with me. For some strange reason, it gave me a degree of
confidence to know that this knife had made it through WWII and maybe it
would help me, in some small way, to make it through Vietnam. The only
thing that I know for sure is that we are both still around.
There were many different knife manufacturers that made the knife for
the Marines and some Navy personnel. In fact, the knife that I have was
made by Camillus out of New York, but I still refer to it as a KABAR.
This knife has been the standard issue since at least WWII. As many
remember, we not only had the KABAR knife, but those that carried a
rifle, also had a bayonet. In my mind, this would be a bit of
redundancy, or at a minimum, extra weight.
Anyway, around the end of the 20th century, a solicitation for a "USMC
Improved Bayonet" was sent out. Part of the criteria was:
"The USMC Improved Bayonet shall be used primarily to engage in hand
to hand combat with the intent of killing, maiming, or disabling the
enemy through a thrusting blow while affixed to the M16A2 rifle or when
used separately as a hand held knife. Secondary uses of the Bayonet
will be for slashing, cutting, prying (windows, crates, etc) cutting
wire (chain link, barbed, concertina) and sawing (plastic, wood and
light metal). The bayonet must be able to work and withstand all
terrestrial extremes and in all weather conditions."
In early 2000, the Marine Corps started looking into the idea of coming
up with a better more effective bayonet/fighting knife. This time they
allowed Marines to have input into the design. First, they wanted it to
be a bayonet, second a combat knife and third a utility knife. The
Marine Corps used black-belt Instructor Trainers who staff the Martial
Arts Center of Excellence as their testers. They utilized experts like
Homer M. Brett, (USMC class of '70) MCMAP (Marine Corps Martial Arts
Program) Subject Matter Expert, Edged Weapons. With his support, The
Marine Corps Martial Arts (the MACE) working with MARCORPSYSCOM
cooperatively drew up the general design specifications it wanted for
the new Marine bayonet. They offered it out to private industry and the
responses resulted in a competitive "knife off."
Seventeen bids were received and then they went to the testing phase.
The bayonet was tested in many different areas. They were tested by
live fire to see what effect they had on the rifleman's ability to
shoot; they were used on the bayonet assault course; and then they were
then tested to see how they would function as a fighting knife. An
evaluation report was made out by each instructor. In the end, Ontario
Knife Company, Franklinville, New York, won the competition and was
awarded the contract.
It was named OKC3S: Ontario Knife Company, "3" third version, "S"
serration. Some of the specifics about it are as follows:
The OKC3S has an 8 inch blade made of high carbon steel; 1 3/8 inches
wide 3/16th inch thick and 8 inches long; the rear of the blade has a 1
¾ inch section of serration and 3 ½ inches of the false edge is
sharpened. It has a grooved Dynaflex handle is 5 inches long and is
ergonomically designed to reduce hand fatigue and blister points. The
overall weight is 14 ounces and the overall length is 13 ¼ inches. The
sheath and handle are a polyester Elastomer in the "Coyote Brown"
color. There are 2 retention straps, a stainless steel retention spring
and a ceramic-coated aluminum rod on the read to fine hone the edge and
serration.
Bottom-line, this bayonet/fighting knife is the top of the line for all
military issue equipment issued for its' purpose to date. It is
designed by Marines for Marines. It exceeds all capabilities that the
KABAR had. It is bigger, heavier, more durable, more functional and it
gives you a feeling of confidence. It has eliminated the need for an
additional weapon that the Marine has to carry. All in all, it is a big
winner!
As a side note, there is a civilian version available to the public
because it was "required" to be identical to the military version. I
would highly recommend owning one of these knifes. In fact, I own
several of them.
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Jim Vinyard joined the United States Marine Corps and took the oath on
December 15, 1967 on the campus at Truman State University and went on
to attain the rank of Captain. Jim is a feature writer for Guns & Patriots.
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