Spyderco Forums

John Shirley wrote:Oh, also, I have seen a few prohibitions against deployed SMs carrying "large" knives. These have all been issued by regional US military leadership, say 3rd Brigade, and have obviously been aimed at maintaining a good PR image. I have seen no prohibition against carry of any small knife.

John,

I've been surprised at the...I don't know, backlash really isn't the right word, but negative discussion regarding the ARK on a variety of forums. I just wanted to say, kudos on consistently calmly explaining your design, intent, and goals.

It's a deplorable situation that this stuff occurs, but it is what it is. If this knife helps to keep people safe (and really, who the **** is stupid enough to argue that a handy blade isn't going to increase one's odds), then you, Sam, and Spyderco have helped improve the world. I hope the ARKs never get used, but if even one does, I hope it carves the **** out of a gremlin.

I echo Studey's sentiments. If this knife prevents even one incident, its inception was a resounding success. Congrats, and thank your for your service and your part in bringing this design to production.

I am not sure why people have such a hard time understanding the concept...foreign national contractors, usually from Middle East or Africa, have been known to sexually assault males in the shower. Is that clear enough? This is not SM's assaulting other SM's.

tvenuto wrote:I echo Studey's sentiments. If this knife prevents even one incident, its inception was a resounding success. Congrats, and thank your for your service and your part in bringing this design to production.

I agree as well but I can't help but shudder every time I hear the "if it saves just one life" comment. The anti-gun/knife folk love using that phrase while trying to ban whatever it is they're banning at the moment.

Studey and tvenuto, thank you. I really haven't understood why anyone could possibly be upset at giving our troops additional protective options, but I guess it's easy to misdirect the natural revulsion one feels when hearing about these attacks. It's exactly like being angry at local firearms instructors for offering self-defense classes when there's a mugging epidemic.

Cobra, I don't think the ARK will prevent a single attack, but I do think it can certainly stop one.

Bingo! Well said John.

I like the design John and i'm a customer, I wont be using it for it's original intended purpose but I can appreciate the reasoning behind the design. I'll be interested to see what other tasks this little guy will be used for? I think that this community gets pretty creative when it comes to finding multiple ways to use their knives.
Stay safe and thanks for your service.

Dan

Dan, thank you. I meant for the ARK to be a size-efficient slicing machine, so it's great if no purchaser ever needs it for defense, but finds it handy otherwise. :)

John

Hey, John:

Thank you VERY much for joining the Spyderco forum and for sharing your reasoning behind the ARK design with our members. It's an honor to have you here!

Also, echo the sentiments thanking you for calmly explaining the situation that inspired the ARK. Like all real self-defense, the first step lies in clearly understanding and accepting "the problem."

Stay safe,

Mike

I would offer the opinion that knives of this sort are primarily functional tools designed for a particular need, hence, aesthetics take a far back seat to function and useability. FRN is a better choice here than G10.

Mike,

Thank you very much. One of the troops from my last deployment, a Senior Chief Petty Officer, commented on my Facebook page that she really liked the ARK. She then mentioned that she was deploying again soon. I promised I'd make sure she got one, but I wonder if Spyderco would be willing to create Soldiers Arms fund that would accept donations that would in turn go towards making sure deploying service members had Natives or ARKs.

John

John Shirley wrote:Mike,

Thank you very much. One of the troops from my last deployment, a Senior Chief Petty Officer, commented on my Facebook page that she really liked the ARK. She then mentioned that she was deploying again soon. I promised I'd make sure she got one, but I wonder if Spyderco would be willing to create Soldiers Arms fund that would accept donations that would in turn go towards making sure deploying service members had Natives or ARKs.

John

Count me in.