As for a day to day use sword that might be carried by anyone, I'd have to give that more thought, but being in Iraq at the present I know that Qama's are occasionally taken from the insurgents, though I do not know of any cases where they tried to use them. For my needs, should I return, I will bring my francesca. It is the show of force needed to keep "friendlies" from getting unruly, as they tend to do. It can be used as a club (I have a sawed off pickaxe handle now) if less than lethal force is necessary and it can be thrown if needed in close quarters, and even if your throw doesn't stick it is heavy enough the other fellow is going to know you hit him giving you time to dispach him in another way.
With the trend towards full body armor, if I were grappling with an opponent armored similarly I would want a sharp pointy blade like a stilletto or even an ice pick or awl to probe for soft spots in the armor to penetrate. I plan to shoot him before it gets to that point, but you never know.

There is a military issue tomahawk out there, but I do not know that is was acually issued to anyone.

Norwegian troops are issued(or buy, depending on unit) broad bladed, 8" knives "sami knifes", for use as tools.
Yours truly's example shown below.

While not purpose made weapons, they will do the intimidation bit quite nicely. They will also work for chopping down small trees, or as a improvised spatula.

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Elling;

Nice H/K ( G3 ? ) do they let you take it home with you like the Swiss. :p :lol:

The knife would do the job of intimidation quite nicely at 8" of blade and if you can use it to spread strawberry jam on your buttered toast in the morning that much better.

Knives / short swords / tomahawks 99% tool and 1% fighting use I would think.

The psychological intimidation has some value in discouraging closing in real close and attacking but more in a hostile crowd control situation than actual combat. ( Maybe )

The home guard gets to bring them home... But without the firing pins, these days...
these are however easily and legally acquired from US gunshops on the net, if you want one...
But I was in the Field Artillery. M109 SP howitzer crew.


Long swords are better in a fight, but more awkward to carry. Exactly how much "encumberance" you care to slog around would be up to personal preference. If you can be bothered to wear a XIII all day, it's as good a choice as any...

I may get laughed off the forum for saying this but I wonder if a Becker Patrol Machete might work. My experience in the Army tells me that you are going to be a whole lot more utility work with a knife than fighting. A single edged knife seems like a better choice for this to me. I have a BK7 now and it has become a constant companion on my trips into the woods. For a utility knife the BK7 is a bit big but I can always choke up if i need a little less blade or just use my leatherman. The patrol machete is way too big for many uses but combined with a swiss army knife, leatherman, or a smaller fixed blade knife it would help cover a lot of bases.
I am an amateur at swords though so cut me some slack. ;)
http://www.camillusknives.com/1mainframe.htm?bkt/bk6.shtml~main