Use of primitive tools

I saw an interesting event on Jay Jeno last night: Memebrs of the five armed services were trying to open a can of cranberry sauce using a Swiss army knife. It was horrible. None of them seemed to have a clear idea how to use the can opener attachment, in fact I am pretty sure some of them used the wrong attachment. Four of them managed eventually at a cost of some injuries and the cans were mangled. One failed to empty the can in the alloted time.

I wondered about the implications: Is this a reflection on general population's unfamiliarity with a can opener? Is this a reflection on basic training? Is it because the knife was *Swiss*? It cannot be because the knife was *Army* as I believe it was the Army guy who failed. I hesitate to cite stress affecting the performance of members of fighitng forces.

Would members of the Special Forces have done better? One of the guys made a creditable effort to rip the can open with his bare hands but with a minimum result. How would the US Armed forces stack up against, say, the Brits or the Russians?

Is this something to be concerned about? Do I have too much time on my hands?

Reply to
Michael Koblic
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We all probably have too much time on our hands so I'll let that slide.

Any pre-gulf war vet would have used a P-38 to open his/her C-rations and would be able to figure out the knife. I hope.

I was shocked to learn that some of my daugher's high school friends were never allowed to use kitchen knives.

I'm guessing that the whole concept of tool-using is slowly bleeding out of a large portion of the population. Cars neither need nor are easy to repair. Most products are cheaper to throw away than to fix. How many *hundreds* of old collected sets of tools end up at the flea market, presumably because their new owner had no use for them.

For example, most people used to at least have a clue as to how a television works. I think that if you asked most young people, you'd get a one word answer, LED or LCL or plasma.

The military is having a hard time attracting enough smart and educated recruits. This is not meant to disparage our troops, but OTOH, there's not a lot of kids going into the military to learn a civilian trade any more.

Oh well, just means us old farts will have some value in the next 20 or 30 years.

Reply to
Jim Stewart

The biggest issue this points out is the lack of basic mechanical aptitude and problem solving skills. Even if all these troops have seen are tear to open MREs, they should be able to look at the can, look at the options on the knife and use basic mechanical problem solving skills to figure it out.

The sad fact is that a large portion of our volunteer troops come from backgrounds where religious indoctrination took precedence over basic education - not unlike the enemy they are currently fighting.

Reply to
Pete C.

=============== Another factoid that is not widely known.

At one time the U.S. military was the worlds largest trade school and many of the machinists, welders, riggers, electronics techs, etc. that kept America running, learned their trade and got their start in the trade there.

It should be noted that the draft was in effect at that time and if you were male you either went to college or went in the military. Either way you learned something.

Reply to
F. George McDuffee

Well I decided to try it myself. Grabbed a standard can of tuna (no C sauce left), laid my Mechanics model Victorinox knife down and started the clock.

48 seconds to open the can. The trick with them is that you go forwards and rock the knife to keep it cutting. If you try going backwards you leave small slivers of lid behind.

Now with the P-38 I could likely open it a lot faster.

Reply to
Steve W.

I think it's a sad commentary on the different activites we provide for our youth. I got to use the can opener on a folding knife, about age 6 or 8 some where along that age. Had my first folding knife by 8 or so. Now days, I doubt that kids are allowed to carry pocket knives, even when not in school.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

You are confusing something..most of these kids are conservative and largely from rural areas..so they are head and hands smarter and better educatied than city kids.

Are you saying that the kid that just put the carby out of a 72 Poncho into his 89 Poncho cant figure out how to open an MRE?

Gunner

"Aren't cats Libertarian? They just want to be left alone. I think our dog is a Democrat, as he is always looking for a handout" Unknown Usnet Poster

Heh, heh, I'm pretty sure my dog is a liberal - he has no balls. Keyton

Reply to
Gunner Asch

I should mention..that I as a survivalist or miltiary man..have opened 3 cans of Stuff in my entire life with a Swiss Army Knife.

On the other hand....I have a P38/P51 on every keychain I own, and one on the dog tags chain I wear when Im out in the field

And I can and HAVE opened a shit load of stuff with a P38 or its larger brother..the P51

The .."swiss army knife" has not been GI Issue since WW2 to the best of my knowlege...the various P38s have done yoemans duty since 43 or so IRRC

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Gunner

"Aren't cats Libertarian? They just want to be left alone. I think our dog is a Democrat, as he is always looking for a handout" Unknown Usnet Poster

Heh, heh, I'm pretty sure my dog is a liberal - he has no balls. Keyton

Reply to
Gunner Asch

i didn't see the video. i bet leno has lots of guys try it and only airs the most embarrassing footage. i imagined that's how he used to do his "jaywalking" segment, selectively editing so that only the most apparently stoopid people aired.

b.w.

Reply to
William Wixon

I can even open cans with a bayonet. (which is what bayonets are mostly for).

It is the job of parents to foster their kids' mechanical aptitude.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus11641

I may have grown up on more modern can openers, but when faced with pina coladas to make and no modern can opener to use on the cans of Coco Lopez it took me mere seconds to open them with the old style opener on my multi tool.

Reply to
Pete C.

Disgraceful.

I use my Victorinox "Tinkerer", it's the only can opener I have. I lost a U.S. Coast Guard can opener somewhere. It's tiny, folds, fits on a keychain. Takes easy twist-o'-the-wrist action, without bending the wrist or jacking the elbow up and down. It cuts like the Swiss Army tool, except it travels backward, clockwise around the can. It's perfect, far better than the Swiss Army opener.

Reply to
Beryl

I'm a bit out of practice.... Think I may have used it 20 times and I've had that type of knife about 20 years...

The P-51 I have works easier BUT it's also larger than the 38. One I used to have around was even smaller than the 38, came with a brand of sardines I used to get.

The one I like the most is a larger one that has a bottle opener, the can blade and the other end is a spoon. With that one you can open the can, eat, and have ONE item to clean!

Of course now I only get MREs to stock the vehicles with. They are REAL popular when we get a LONG fire call and your hungry. I have been bugging the dept to buy a case or two just to keep in the rigs.

Reply to
Steve W.

Leno... is he still around?

Erik

Reply to
Erik

I was a bit taken aback...

Isn't it overkill to use a fighter plane to open a can of tuna??

How much tuna is left in the can afterwards?

:-)

Mark Rand RTFM

Reply to
Mark Rand

Hard to believe they never saw a swiss army knife before.

On a camping trip, my brother and I raced using the swiss army knife against the P-38 or "John Wayne" as it was called when I was in. My brother beat me everytime with the Swiss.

Wes

-- "Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

Reply to
Wes

nst the P-38 or

ime with the Swiss.

When I try to hurry with my Chinese Army Knife's can opener it leaves nasty splinters.

The little screwdriver blade on the end will do Phillips heads if they aren't too tight.

jsw

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

Yeah, everyone Is aware that his show is supposed to be comedy, right?

Reply to
Larry Fishel

Depends on the point of aim ;-)

Reply to
Steve W.

On Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:06:25 -0800, the infamous "Michael Koblic" scrawled the following:

That's downright shameful. I hope it comes out later that Leno set 'em up or paid them to stumble. Any other scenario is just too scary. I hope the Al Queda boys don't see that show. Talk about an esteem builder for the enemy...

The question coming up in my mind: Is this entire current generation totally clueless when it comes to mechanical things, and only good for playing electronic games?

If -all- of them couldn't do it in record time, I'd be extremely surprised.

I'd hope both the Brits and Russians would do better than our sample did, that's for certain.

Yes, and absolutely. Next question!

-- Some days, it's not even worth chewing through the restraints.

Reply to
Larry Jaques

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