KA-BAR, The Corps, a Bear, and More!
I grew up in a Marine Corps family. My father spent 26 years of his life as a Leatherneck. He did just about every cool thing possible a man could do in the Corps. He was a paratrooper, a Huey pilot, fixed wing pilot, a Desert Storm veteran, a diplomat and probably about a thousand other things I’ll hopefully get to hear all about over a beer as I get older. It wasn’t just him, however, that made us a Marine family. His father was a grunt that had just as amazing of a tenure as a Devil Dog. He served in World War II (Pacific Theatre), Korea, and somehow was still around for Vietnam. He was a decorated American hero. Even our dog (a bull dog) was in dress blues for his picture that still hangs proudly in the hallway of my parent’s house. Like I said, I grew up in a Marine Corps family.
In my formative years I became fluently bi-lingual before I could tie my own shoes. I learned the language of my home country; English as well as the language of my people; Marine. I knew it all, inside and out. I could speak in acronyms, I could understand my dad’s Drill Instructor-esque barks, and I even had a grasp of all the random Corps jargon and colloquialisms. The bathroom was “the head”, dinner was “chow”, and “go to bed” became “rack out”. All the terms were interchangeable except for one; a big-ass knife was always, always, a “Ka-Bar”. To be perfectly honest, up until recently I thought KA-BAR was just the Marine term for a knife.
When KA-BAR, the company, came by and dropped some knowledge on us here I found out that I wasn’t wrong. Mike Baron from KA-BAR showed us some of his products and began telling the newer people (myself included) about their companies history. It turns out KA-BAR is truly an integral part of the Marine Corps culture. In World War II there was a need for a strong, reliable knife for our troops to use in any and all situations. Many were used but KA-BAR was head and shoulders above the competition. The Corps kept using the weapon throughout the years and knife itself has become synonymous with them ever since. KA-BARs are given to Marines as weapons, for gifts, and even as ceremonial pieces. The KA-BAR -Marine Corps link makes the company interesting enough, but Mike went on to tell us even more about their history that added a whole new level of intrigue to their already awesome past.
The legend of the distinctive name “KA-BAR” is probably one of the best stories about a company I have heard. The original company got it’s start in 1898 when a group called the Tidioute Cutlery Company started producing knives. By 1909 the company was now owned by Union Cutlery in New York and began to do quite well. The quality and dependability of the knives was such that it garnered the company some fan mail over the years. One particular letter came in from a fur trapper out in the middle of somewhere-rugged, USA. The story goes that he carried one of the knives on him while he was out in the woods doing what fur trappers do. One day he was out when he came across a bear. He took a shot at it with his gun and wounded it, so then it was just pretty ticked off at him. What makes it worse is that right there in the thick of things his gun jammed. So there this guy is, out in the Wild West, face-to-face with a pissed off bear, with nothing but his knife and his wits to keep him alive. The final score that day was Fur Trappers: 1, Angry Bears: 0. This guy took down a freakin’ bear with his Union Cutlery knife!
No Problem for a KA-BAR
Pretty cool, huh? I think so, anyways. It just solidifies KA-BARs reputation even more. KA-BARs are for tough people. The U.S. Military, the strongest military force in the world, uses them. The USMC, the toughest, meanest, most lethal branch of the U.S. Military swear by them. Even bear killing, fur trappers, thank their lucky stars that KA-BAR makes such great knives. Us here at Moteng International are just proud to be able to carry the line and watch their legacy grow.