Brian,

I recently started a thread on Bladeforums asking for recommendations for a 5" pure fighter. As a result of that thread, I just picked up a SERE Operator myself.

Certainly, one could take this thing out into woods. In fact, I remember reading that some military school or other test drove this knife. But, I do think of it more as a fighter. The long unsharpened false edge serves to enhance point penetration (good for fighting, don't care for survival) and bring the balance back towards the handle (good for fighting, not good for survival), but it also will serve to slightly weaken the tip and the blade as a whole (no problem for fighting, bad for survival). In addition, the edge feels very thin -- I haven't cut with it yet, but I expect it to be amazing. Thin edges for bleeding-edge "cut whatever you touch" performance is required for a fighter, but weakens the edge a bit. REasonably thin stock also serves to make the knife light and fast -- good for a small fighter, not as good for a survival knife.

Like I said, I look at it as more of a fighter than a backwoods beater, but I've heard this knife has been through some military testing and holds up to a lot. Note that "SERE" stands for Survival-Evasion-Resistance-Escape, and although the name itself doesn't prove anything, again I've heard that for that kind of work, where you expect to be much lighter on the woodwork and much more nimble, it's done its thing. I probably wont' be batoning it through any big logs or anything though. Let me know how the knife fares in your testing.

Joe Talmadge