(ETA; I had a problem loading the first picture. Mal finally got it working, but I found some additional pics to add.)
In the first picture, I am carrying a recurve 5" bladed custom by Shane Justice. It's on a Mountain in Kapisa Province in early 2007. Never went hand-to-hand with it, but did use it during actual combat several times, chopping through the steel bands that were on our ammo pallets, and using it at one point to actually pry a frozen 120 mm out of its "tootsie roll" container.
After using my Justice on a fire mission.
Here is a compact combat knife I've been working on for about 8 years. It's designed for real operators who don't have the free space or weight to carry a big blade..
Notice how my knifemaker decided to add a "skull smashing" impact pommel to the first one, ruining the dynamics and making the GE dangerous to carry in many places on the SM's body.
Here's a real combat knife in my hands. Used in many conflicts for at least hundreds of years, the kukri is wickedly effective at close range. I carried one some of the time as a mortarman at Fort Lewis, and used it to cut sight lanes instead of our TO&E machete. Also in this picture, deceased former moderator Byron Quick, moderator Kaylee, and former moderator and gun writer Tamara Keel.
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Here is my Spyderco Native. I used it during several fire missions, to cut open old 60 mm mortar rolls to shoot at the enemy. In this picture I had just found it again after it had been stomped down in the mud during a night fire mission and lost for several days.
In this picture, I'm wearing one of Don's Combat Sharks, modified a bit by Sam. it's not 5 in, sorry, but it is again a real, useful knife for real people who might see real combat.
John