I am the Greatest

Submitted by Eric Daniel

The first multi-tool I started using was the Swiss Army Champ. It was big and it was expensive and I did not need 90% of the tools that it came standard with, but what it did have, and what made it simply indispensable for me as an M1A1 gunner was a tiny jeweler’s screwdriver.

For those of you in the armor community, you know a jeweler’s screwdriver is an absolute must for adjusting emergency mode drift (yes yes, adjusting emergency mode drift is a organizational-level maintenance function (which is why tank BII doesn’t come with a jeweler’s screwdriver) but when was the last time a mechanic actually came out to the gun line to adjust your drift??)

You could always carry one in the pen pocket of your CVC coveralls, where it would tear a hole in the sleeve, or you could put it in the TC’s oddment box under his armrest, where it was a pain in the butt to get to, or you could stick it into the foam pad on the spent brass box, where you’d bend it getting in and out of the gunner’s station.

OR…. you could go out and get a Champ and do your E-mode drift in style.

By today’s multi-tool standards the Champ, though a precision piece of equipment, is a bit spendy and not as stout, it is still indispensable for that one job, which is why I still have mine, 15 years later.

Buy a Swiss Army Champ here

Comments

[akuhn]

Wow, fat baby! Compare to this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Couteau_suisse.jpg

which is what you get as a Swiss soldier, the real knife of the real swiss army.

[SGT T]

I would stick the screwdiver into the front of the gunners seat. "Hell on Wheels"

[doctordoctor]

i get your drift . the other day , an imitation swiss army knife simply broke off during the removal of a wine cork . cheap imitations are no substitute for the original genuine Swiss Army knife . bit of ah drift y response but so was the needless syringe invented by a Sydney Doctor . the real Swiss Army knife is a tool you can use . appendectomy ?

[Paul Johnson]

"You get what you pay for" is usually true! If you want a quality Swiss Army Knife, make sure it is either a Wenger or Victorinox. I have owned several of each, and prefer the Wenger, but you will not go wrong with the Victorinox.

On another thread discussing knives there was a lot of discussion about multitools. The advantage of the Swiss Army knives for multitools are that they have smaller tools for finer jobs. That is also where the quality of the metal will show up if you buy an inferior product.

Buy the best you can afford, and KNOW HOW TO USE IT. While a multitool is field expediant for a lot of things, it does very few of them as well as a primary tool (screwdriver for example) would.

If SOG made one, I for one would like to try it. God bless all.

[David V. Chevalier]

I faithfully carried my own Swiss Army knife throughout my tour of duty, 72'-75'. I can not tell you how many times that utility device came in handy when every other piece of equipment I carried just wouldn't do the job. Sawing, screwing, sniping, filing, opening... you name it, it did it. I even let a guy use it to field treat a wound wherein he used the short knife, tweezers, and scissors to complete his work. Amazing tool every soldier should be carrying.