Welcome to ETS robbiejoe111!

For a knife to be effective, first and foremost you need to have it with you. The Ka-Bar is undoubtedly a great knife, but some people may find it on the heavy side for their needs.

For a smaller fixed blade, I think pretty highly of the Mora line, especially the stainless Companion. For a larger knife, I'm very fond of my RSK Mk2. That's not to say that there aren't other great knives out there, these are just ones that work well for me.