I have a lump in my throat right now. The knives were never intended to be lifesavers, although that thought was always in the back of my mind.
Each knife gets about five minutes of "quality time" with me, where I loctite the screws, check their tightness, and strop the blade. Along the way, I say a little prayer that the knife is only used for its intended purpose of providing convenience and utilty for its new owner. It's really a prayer that the recipient experience nothing more than boredom and mundane tasks in his military duty.
Obviously, that's not always been the case. That's why a GI carrying a folding knife where it can be seen has an advantage over someone who just has a rifle. They bad guy now thinks, "he won't shoot me, but he might CUT me". The Afghanis snickered at our troops who carried "Hollywood knives", those big fixed-blade knives usually worn on the web gear or body armor. Unless you're a trained expert with one of those big knives, you're just wasting money and effort to haul it around, while announcing that you're a greenhorn.
On the other hand, a small knife that's visible and easily accessible leaves a different impression with a potential bad guy. "This guy has a knife that is easy to get to, and he probably uses it a lot for all sorts of things. If I start trouble, he can slice me with that knife a lot quicker than he can get his rifle into position to shoot me."
I think carrying a small knife like the HHD Special gives a GI an extra aura of expertise and professionalism. If that helps deter the bad guys, so be it. It just saddens me that Uncle Sam can't figure it out on his own, leaving this job to us humble Hobbit Hole denizens.
And I'm totally humbled by the praise for our little souvenir.