I carried a "bent blade" Gerber through two tours in Viet Nam[that knife wasn't made during my first tour].Those tours I were as an aviator but I spent enough time on the ground[not always by choice!] to know that the belt bail was a problem. Fortunately a new invention allowed a fix without removing the bail. It was called" hundred mile an hour green tape".I still have that Gerber and will never part with it.I know little about collecting knives but I would love to find a nice dated 1943 M-3 in a leather sheath to go with my all 1943 1911A1 collection.[I was born in '43]BTW, my first tour was on the ground and I used a carbine bayo with the barrel band ground down.I was med evaced out an my knife didn't come home with me. Interestingly enough,my Colt Python did! Go figure. Nick