Greetings folks. I'm a new guy to this forum. I 'm a retired Marine and I recently purchased a Bushmaster A2. I was going to buy a bayonet to go with the rifle when I remembered I already had one. So I dug through my old "deuce gear" and pulled this baby out. Flashback to Sep '90. During the "Desert Shield" buildup I was a CH-53 crew chief and we were doing some training missions w/Army (Rangers I think) and one of the doggies left it on my bird. Since it was a lot sturdier than our issue KA-BAR or flight survival knife, I added it to my flight gear. Used it quite a bit in the field and carried it around the world to various hell holes until I retired in 2002, then it went into the footlocker with my gear. Flash forward to this afternoon when I decided to look up the specs on the M9 bayonet out of curiosity. I always caught some grief from my fellow Marines because I carried an "Army" bayonet around. Now I guess the joke is on them. Is this weapon really as rare as I've read? Anyway, now I can tell the old lady that some of my old "Jarhead Junk" (as she calls it) is actually worth something.
It was a some field wear (all by me) a few rust spots (should I clean/polish them?) Also, should I get this appraised and added to my homeowners insurance? Thanks for any advice on this.