"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
...
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.


I started carrying a folder about the same time I was introduced to P38 -
about age 5. No question IMHO that P38 is a superior tool but that is not
the point. I do not know how long Swiss Army knives have been around. I got
my first one about 45 years ago. The can opener design has not changed since
then (although I did get my last one SAK about 8 years ago so I cannot be
completely sure). I would find it hard to believe that most young men have
not seen or handled an SAK at some point. I know that some of the Brit
special forces like to buy and carry their own.

Any young man of my generation who ever was in a position to have to look
after himself pretty much acquired the skill of can opening as a survival
mechanism, using not just one or two can openers, but several.

So my first reaction to seeing the Leno show was first incredulity and than
amusement. Later I began to wonder about the implications.

I understand that the current form of rations (MREs?) do not contain cans
and, as someone pointed out, rightly so: They have other things to worry
about. However, the rub of that argument is that overdependence on issue
rations may not be a good thing in the "fog of war" situation. The extreme
is to say that if not issued with MREs the troops would starve. The opposite
of that is the Russian guerilla cavalry in WW2 who generally managed with a
bagful of vegetables scrounged off the land for 3 weeks at a time.

Many have commented on the possible reason of this state of affairs and
there is probably a bit of truth in all of them. I just could not get away
from explaining how single young men survive without opening cans. Then it
came to me: Take-out meals!

--
Michael Koblic
Campbell River, BC