Ahhh, the multi-tool. Popular in military circles for years, but especially so in Combat Engineer circles. There’s always some opinion over the “best” multi-tool, be it brand or what sort of gadgets it comes with, but all it really is is a Swiss Army Knife with a pair of sturdy pliers.

We buy our multi-tools with grand thoughts in mind: will we use it for fast repairs under fire in a combat zone? Will we use it for improvised combat on the North Korean front lines after all ammunition is exhausted? Will we need to do emergency weapons maintenance in a life-and-death situation? Will we build a MacGuyver survival shelter and save the lives of a planeload of orphans (and a grateful stewardess) that crashed in the Rockies?

No. I guarantee you that your coveted multi-tool will probably end up being used to retrieve keys that fell into storm grates, try to tighten  “something that rattles” on a kid’s toy, or most frequently, retrieving blisteringly hot items from toasters.

Not that that isn’t important, too, of course.