Well I am starting to come round to those inclined to ask for some evidence of this "off the cuff"....spent $5000 ( of their own money!!!) Recon Marines buying spree which resulted in the Gamekeeper being the last man standing.

Firstly...one poster pointed out that there is no government procurement contract arising out of this. My understanding is that all government equipment purchases are and have to be public domain records...so it is checkable. If it is not the subject of an awarded contract number then the credentials on which the knife is sold are very questionable....there is a lot of implication in the marketing of the knife that it is or has been properly validated and passed a selection for the Recon Marines issue kit.

The guy who hits the nail on the head is Cliff Stamp. Not a popular guy with some but you can understand why...firstly...there is a huge history of knives selling solely on the public's expectation that they have passed rigorous military testing.

The first of these was the "Bushmaster"...the people who designed it sold the design to Buck to make on license and were saying it has undergone Navy Seal Selection etc....which turned out not to be the case and if you Google the knife name there are articles to this effect. Buck eventually dropped the knife but not until it had cashed in and been bought in huge numbers.

Then there is the SOG SEAL range of knives as Cliff points out...I would be interested to see if they have any government procurement contracts for this knife....

Then we have the Bravo 1 and now a second Bravo 2...all based on a marketing hype which is officially "untraceable"...

I have doubts on some of what is said because getting any soldiers to "pool" $5000 which would be say £3000 of "their own money" to "buy knives" to test for a year....is highly impossible to organise in my view. Soldiers have a hard time agreeing on anything...whether it be the Pubs to go to for a "session" when back from exercises or "what is the best "buy" for private kit" of any description. Getting a "pot" of £3,000 out of a single Unit would be really hard to do IMO over here. Divorce, kids, cars and all the other main expenses in life usually have our guys living from hand to mouth. For that reason and certainly the current batch of guys...they all expect to have kit issued which works.

Those who do opt for "gucci gear" are like as not buying different bits of kit deliberately...I have seen loads of arguements as to whether "Danner Boots" are as good as "Matterhorn" boots ( they look virtually identical/ same specification and are very popular private boot purchases ) and since the guy who writes as Chris Ryan walked out of Iraq in a pair of Lowe Boots these are now also seen on a good few feet...and Boots are a bit of kit which truely does make a lot of difference to your day to day comfort. They are also an area where the issue kit has improved a lot as well...as a result of complaints by guys who could not afford private purchases...

A Good example with knives over here is the Survival Machete designed by the guy who writes as John Wiseman or Lofty Wiseman...this guy was the Survival Instructor for the SAS for 20 plus years...a "legend" in what he knew within the Army before putting some of it in his SAS survival book...even his knife has not been picked up as issue kit...why? To "expensive"...I guess...but it is infact quite a cheap knife compared to others...although dearer than the Martindale Goloks that still get issued....and I doubt it is seen on many Spec Forces kit belts...because whilst pay is better...they are like everyone else...AND if you want a good belt knife better than a "Treebeater" Golok...most go for an Issue Khukri...cos it's free. So if your Recon Marines are in the same boat as our Soldiers I am amazed a pot of $5000 would be do able. Our guys would insist the money came from Regimental Funds...which is like a back door quick procurement fund for gear...and I think most QMS would bust a gut laughing if you asked for £3000 to buy some survival knives...they would ask if bets were being taken on who could get theirs on Ebay the quickest...

So all told the story when you actually get down to it...sounds "Bull$**t" to me...is there any confirmation existing from the Marines that they did this testing?

As to the knife itself...I have one and wish I had ordered the model without that Ramp...it really spoils the way I want to use the knife which is the same as I use all my small knives..I have'nt used mine because of this being uncomfortable and in the way...but I would sell and buy one without this feature...the Knife is a "Good" knife.