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I like Cold Steel knives.  I own, have owned, and have given away quite a few of them.  I have even lost a couple in fairly extraordinary circumstances.  They have served me well.  About 15 years ago, I settled on the Cold Steel Voyager XL.  It is a good sized pocket knife with a blade about 5.25 inches long. I used it, among other things, as a sort of “worry beads”, manipulating it, opening and closing it with one hand, trying different angles and grips, and essentially, getting to know the blade rather intimately.  Over the years, changes have...

COMBAT OUTPOST CARVER, Iraq, July 30, 2009 – After five long days of intense training and battling a pair of fierce sandstorms, more than 20 Iraqi soldiers graduated from the “Cold Steel Training Academy” here yesterday. Army Spc. Cesar Lopez gives pointers to an Iraqi soldier attempting to apply a pressure dressing on a simulated wound during a training exercise in the midst of a sandstorm July 29, 2009, at Combat Outpost Carver, Iraq. U.S. Army photo by Pvt. Jared Gehmann  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The academy was established for 82nd Airborne Division paratroopers of Company A, 1st...

A HERO soldier who led a bloody bayonet charge on Iraqi rebels was yesterday recommended for a bravery award. But Corporal Mark Byles, 34, insisted: "It was me or them. "I don't believe I'm a hero. It was second nature. I'm just glad I did my job and did it well." Mark was with his men from the 1st Battalion, Princess of Wales Royal Regiment - known as the Hampshire Tigers - when rebels fired rocket grenades at their armoured vehicle between Basra and Baghdad on May 14. He ordered them to fix bayonets and led four men charging the...