Yarborough #4797 for sale
 

As a collector, I think this would be a very cool knife to own. I obviously never earned one, but I can't believe a QP would sell his. The auction will probably be over by the time most of you read this, but it is for sale at a place called Guns Plus in Spring Lake, NC.

Mike

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...Item=326520749

oh hell NO that knife should not be for sale by written rules surrounding the project.

I just sent the seller this msg (below) on GunBroker.

I will post any responses here.

Thank you.

Maybe someone from SWC should call. Or drive out to Spring Lake. Have a little more than a day to do it.
Or TR could round up a posse from the local PS.com. Seriously.

if you have any questions call Tanner at Guns Plus. 910-497-2440. Seller has the right to sell in store at anytime and end auction. If you have any questions please call the store email is hard for me to respond. If inside the state of NC I must collect sales tax.

This sounds like the one we chased a couple yrs ago..

Took a very long time to get an answer from SWC on ownership.

Then Jim's Pawn refused to honor their commitment to sell it to me..

That's pretty dirty.

That's Jim's. It's also Guns Plus. Both establishments would cease to exist if not for clueless young Soldiers from Ft Bragg.

No response from seller
 

I asked the seller how he obtained it when I saw it a couple days ago and no response.

Mike

Tme for a ps.com slush fund to be able to buy back these knives and return them to an appropriate keeper at Ft. Bragg so they are not in the hands of non QPs.
Just a thought.......I'll contribute.

ss

If needed I will buy it to keep it in the fold as long as he is not asking a really large amount..... Let me know.....

Just tried to bid on it...
 

Bid up to $405 and the reserve is still not met. If I win it, you guys tell me where to send it.

Mike

Just off the phone with the manager
 

States he is unaware of any restrictions on the sale of these knives and requested the documentation in order to support the claim.
On receipt, he says he will pull the knife from sale or auction and prevent any additional sales.
His name is "Martin"
E-mail is:
martinakm@hotmail.com

I am going to shoot him the PDF with appropriate paragraphs.

I would encourage follow-up in a very professional manner from multiple members. He was very receiving of my complaint and seemed sincere in his response.

Item pulled
 

He just removed it.

Might want to take down the link to the auction or move this discussion to the private area.

Finally someone that has some sense and took it down........

Still might want to buy it and keep it in the family?

I'll contact the museum and see if they will cross reference the number with the master log book and we can go from there,
If the guy is AD, we can go through his CSM. If not- the USASOC property office...
I am waiting on a response from Martin at Jim's Pawn before I send him a thank you. Once initiated, perhaps multiple thank you e-mails will help to solidify our point on how appreciative we are that he was willing to do the right thing.
Just a thought-

I think it would go a long way towards our cause in this regards. Hearts and minds kind of thing-

Spoke with the museum
 

Just got off the phone with the museum and gave them the blade number, Martin's info at Jim's Gun and Pawn, and my contact info. Museum says management is going to call over to SWC proper probably tomorrow and "go from there"-
Not sure what that means:confused:

Anyway, I sent Martin a thank you note. I would encourage more of the same.

If that's what you gents decided to do, I'd contribute.

I would almost be willing to bet that it was stolen. I just can't see a QP pawning his knife no matter how much he needs the money.

I had my Ops guy look it up and the guy we signed it to is not listed in the global address book. I have my S1 checking to see if he is still AD or out. Hard to believe a guy would sell this. Must not have thought much of being a GB.

Brian

We have dealt with / tracked down quite a few of these up for sale. We TRY to be proactive in getting the sale shut down and educating the vendors / 3rd party sellers. Sometimes you win - sometimes not....but you are correct in saying that there are times when these symbols just don't mean that much to some - these are rarely the "professional" soldiers. :rolleyes:

That's really a sad thing, I'm not a GB but I do serve in Group and am extremely proud that I'm there. I would give anything to be able to try SFAS just one more time. So I can't even fathom someone going all the way through the Q and receiving a Yarborough just to cast it to the side.

It is the ultimate in selfishness, especially for those of us who went through before the started doing this and either don't have one or had to buy one. The "Me" generation.

Could it not be stolen?

That's what I'm hoping.

Unfortunately, there have always been assholes who've gotten through the program.

What price honor?

IF things ever got 'that tough' for me...such that I thought I had to sell something such as my Yarborough - if I'd received one - there are several guys I served with who would give - or loan - me that amount of money...NO questions asked.

What kind of slug must this guy be?

The shop owner knew what he had
 

When I saw it and asked him how he obtained it, no response.

Quote from his ad, " You ar bidding on a Chriss Reeves Special forces issue Yarborough Knife. The only way to get this knife is to graduate the Special Forces Q course. It is made from one single sheet of metal and by hand.if you have any questions call Tanner at Guns Plus. 910-497-2440."

At least he pulled it when you guys confronted him, but he knew the difference between this and the civilian version.

If it was stolen, I hope it gets back to the man who earned it. If it was sold by someone who earned it, I wouldn't want to be that man.

Mike

I was thinking along these two same lines as well and realized, there could be another (3rd) possibility.

This knife could have belonged to an SF warrior who was KIA and his family, not knowing what they had in their possession, sold/pawned off this, as well as other possessions.

I do hope that I am wrong in this thought, but it is another avenue to investigate.

An off shoot of this theory is that a QP might have bequeathed it to a friend, the friend passed away, and that friend's family did not understand the knife's significance and/or the knife became a symbol of ongoing family politics and discord. (He always paid more attention to his collection than he did to us, so....)

On an every day (that is, civilian) level, these types of scenarios happen more frequently than one would like.

Not to turn this into too much of a discussion on generational attitudes and the influence of society....but :p IMHO The "old" attitudes have faded a bit... Things like "Patriotism" and "Esprit de corps" are seen by many as outdated.... but there are still young troops out there that have it.

Hard for them to understand those types of things if their predecessors don't pass along the meaning. It's not in the schools and probably not in most households any longer.

What's that verse....

Every now & then passing thru the LR when "Pawn Stars" might be on the TV and will see some son or grand-son pawning some 1-only artificact or special thing from their role in a great action, etc. Reason (e.g.): "Well, my daughter graduated college so I want to make a little money & take her out to the casino down the street for a special night out."

Fraggin' jerk-offs. Makes me want to reach through the TV and grab that yokel up by the stackin' swivel.
:mad:

If my Dad's stuff ever left my position it'll go to the CAF or the museum at Wright-Patt...

It's like "work ethic". How do you instill that attribute in a kid who's smart enough to see that the Country's being led into socialism, and that nearly half feel entitled to what he's being told he needs to bust butt to earn?

sinjefe's right about the "me" generation; it's turning into the WHOGAS generation, and from the top down.

I recieved word back from the proponent office about the owner of the knife. Below is the reply.

"this guy had his tab revoked on 4 Nov 11. He lost his Tab and MOS due to GTC misuse, disrespect to an Officer, FTR and reported AWOL several times."

Based on this I can guess that the knife and SF never really meant much to him. Good that he is gone but when they booted him they didn't get the knife back like they should have.

Get the knife back, snap the blade, and throw it in Drowning Creek. :mad:

Hard to reconstruct the path...basically it's beating into your children the fact that society is comprised primarily of mindless morons. It's an indoctrination method...and not something that will magically happen...

Yes it takes a village to raise a worthless sloth without moral compass or ethics.

Young people without attributes we see as positive are a result of adults lacking those attributes or unable/unwilling to transfer that attitude.

WOW!!!! I can't believe it, all that hard work thrown down the shitter.

That fucker snookered me...
 

Should have known it was too good to be true. He strung my ass along like a fucking pro and I went for it hook line and sinker.:rolleyes:
Start from the bottom, his e-mail and my response:

Martin,

Thank you for your follow-up, though your response is significantly disappointing.
I explained to you in some detail the requirements for retail sale of the knife including documentation of successful completion of the Special Forces Qualification Course as backed by the master database and that the only authorized seller, as stated in the policy letter, is the Special Forces Museum working in conjunction with the Special Warfare Center and School.

Your interpretation of the attached policy letter is quite selective as it clearly states in 8 c
c. Personnel are not authorized to sell the Yarborough Knife
to third parties (e.g., collectors).

We have found out that the individual who owned the knife had his Special Forces Tab revoked in Nov 2011 after being found guilty of:
Misuse of Government Travel Card
Fraud against the US Government
Disrespect to a Commissioned Officer
Failure to Repair
Going AWOL

With regards to the auction, from our monitoring it was pulled off of auction with the bid being at $405 and noted that the reserve had not been met. It may have been listed on more than one site. However, it would seem odd that it was pulled from only the auction that I mentioned unless the intent was to simply placate our request.

I find it very unfortunate that your position would remain. Your representative may have indeed “purchase it in good faith” though this is the third instance we have had in dealing with your store over the past 4 years with regards to a Yarborough blade and each time we furnish a copy of the policy letter, which is then conveniently lost or forgotten about, and the blade is never recovered. Further, despite your purchase, it was purchased from someone who was not authorized to sell the item in the first place.

Undoubtedly the loss of respect from the Special Forces Community would not hurt your store as you are pretty much the only show / range in town and there are plenty of other patrons from the 82nd and Fort Bragg. However, once again, Guns Plus has demonstrated that the power of the almighty dollar supersedes honor and integrity.

Our disappointment is distinctly magnified by the previous assumption of your support with which we were fooled.

Good Day and Good Luck

Joe Klapperich
MAJ
5th SFG(A)

joe.klapperich@us.army.mil
joe.klapperich@ahqb.soc.mil
(xxx)xxx-4172 (o)
(xxx)xxx-9750 (c)

Xxxxxxxx@gmail.com

From: martin mancuso [mailto:martinakm@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2013 6:23 PM
To: Klapperich Joseph T MAJ (5SFG)
Subject: RE: Yarborough Policy Letter

Maj Klapperich,


I fully understand the SF community desire to keep these within its ranks.
Looking over the included info there doesn't appear to be any thing legally barring the sale of this item.
It appears that the letter sets the standards for "Retail" sales of the knives to individual.
This item was purchased in good faith, by Guns Plus, with the intent of resale.
As you have noted, this item was put on line for auction. Checking with our internet sales person, I was informed that we
received payment this morning for the sale of this knife.
As per the auction contract we are obligated to complete the sale.

Thank you for your concern in this matter.

Martin Mancuso
Guns Plus, NC

Could be that its time to go to the post commander and have this business put on the "off limits" list. With a business that relies almost solely on Soldiers I would guess that they may rethink their position. I will check with the chain of command here to see what they think of this. I can't imagine that they will not support a appeal for off limits status to anyone that knowingly sells government equipment.

Guns Plus of Spring Lake, NC appears to lack integrity and honor.

It is unfortunate that they willingly chose to ignore the request of a the Special Forces community.

Your reputation for a few pieces of silver.

Guns Plus should not receive the business of the Special Operations community.