[osagebowman]

Ramius; true enough, carries over to a lot of fields, same when I was a Forest Ranger and double the same when I was in the Police Reserves, still you'd think a sheath knife with a 3 inch blade would get a pass from the brass when there are unpleasant people about.

[Ramius]

You'd think. I think at my time it was a policy change, because many of us had carried them until then, and we all had to go out and get folders.

We made the argument (and I think rightfully so) that a fixed sheath knife is substantially safer than a folder that -almost- always locks up. Not to mention that they're inherently stronger... blah blah blah...

My guess is that they made the rule because the rank and file were getting a little out of hand with the size of their sheath knives. As Winmag said... the tendency to go to the "hollywood" knife had affected too many. To change to a folder inherently limits the blade size, in most cases. I'm guessing it was something like that.