Not to imply anything but seems like a lot of folks were SF or seals or something. I didn't run into many and most of them don't talk about it. This is not a flame or to piss anyone off. Just an observation.

Yes, there are a lot of imposters out there. I'm not one however. One reason no one talks about it, except to each other, is because it is just too hard to explain... the jargon, the geography, etc. And the questions that get asked are pretty boring and predictable.

My twin brother served two tours with SF in Vietnam, '66-67, and most of '68. His second tour, '68, was with MACVsog and overlapped my tour. Below is a picture of the two of us taken in 1968 in Kontum, and another exactly 40 years later. I'm looking for pictures of either of us with our Randalls in Vietnam ... by the way, I do not know many SF from that era who did NOT have a Randall.



But about Randalls. Gene still has his Randall model 14. He is taking pictures to send to me to post... but actually it was his second Randall, therein lies a story.

In April '68 his spike team, Delaware, was lifted out of Laos on strings (ropes). Riding his rope, his belt broke and he almost fell... saved himself but his Randall model 14, carbon blade, teethed, fell 3,000 ft into the jungle.

Upon receiving his letter, Randall immediately rushed him a replacement, I think for free... amazing given the wait time for knives then. For the replacement, he got a Solingen blade, model 14 stainless, without teeth. Why? I now remember the intense discussions we had at the time in SF. The carbon blades would rust in a heartbeat in Vietnam. You could not keep them rust free... no way...

Second, the raw leather sheaths would attract mold in about one week. Mold would propigate visciously. Hence just about all the SF used black shoe polish on their sheaths.

I just about soaked mine (the one stolen from me) in neatsfoot oil until you could almost squeeze drops out of the leather, which turned dark dark almost black-brown and still the mold would try to appear. This is one reason you see so many "black" sheaths on Viet era Randalls. I even almost think that a Viet-era Special Forces Randall that has a sheath that is NOT black polished, was not actually a SF knife, or was not actually used in Vietnam.

I will post my brother's second knife, model 14, Solingen blade, circa 1968, survivor of many SOG missions, here when he sends me pictures. Regards.

Never doubted you. Great pictures. My brother was a draft dodger but I still love him. Actually the draft had ended but I wanted him to go in and grow up some. Do you ride a Motorcycle?
VNV MC
Nomad

Oh yes welcome to the site. I forgot being the skeptic that I am.
Hope you stick around, love to see more of your Randalls and the stories behind them.

Welcome Aboard. Great pictures and thanks for sharing your stories with us.

As promised, here is Gene’s second model 14 Randall, acquired after his first was dropped from a harness into the mountains of Vietnam. If I recall, Randall sent this Solingen blade replacement, for free, immediately, in May, 1968 directly to him in Vietnam. As you can see, it has seen 40+ years of rough service.





This Randall has also seen interesting times in Africa on the Congo River, in Pakistan, in Afghanistan, and lots of places in between. I doubt that very many Randall 14s have trekked through five continents and numerous small and large conflicts from Vietnam to Afghanistan.

He has several intercontinental-overseas “action” and/or "situational" pictures involving this Randall through the years that I might post later if they seem germane to this subject.

Looks great please more pic's.

Close-up of Gene's Model 14 (below).


Below - Picture of twin-bro with Randall model 14, 1966, near A-233 Ban Don. This would have been the teethed Model 14 that he lost when it fell from a Maguire rig in April ’68. Typical of SF, he had a "D" ring attached to bottom of the sheath



I’ve gotten him interested in documenting his Model 14 from Vietnam to Afghanistan, Might add some additional pictures to this post using "edit" if anyone is interested. If you are interested in Gene's MACVsog tour, here is an account... the reference to losing his Randall is in footnote 8... but a Randll was on all of these missions.

http://macvsog.cc/spike_team_delaware.htm#Spike Team Delaware at FOB 4, Kontum, Apr 68-Nov 68

This picture (below)shows me with my Randall attached upside down to my harness ... rumor-control scuttlebutt had this way of carring it to be easier to access. I learned through experience not to do this. Looking for a better picture with clear shot of knife.

I would love to see more pictures, im sure everyone else would too. As well as many stories as you feel like typing!

I love it! More please! This is the sort of thing hat made me love Randalls to start with.