lets have a little bayonet fun

[68wj]

I always thought that a bayonet on a rifle was sort of an admition of defeat--if you have a rifle and the enemy gets close enough to use a pointed stick, you've kind of already failed.

I view it the other way around. You only fail when you stop fighting, by death or surrender. A bayonet embodies the idea that only the former is an option. Of course, it never hurts to bring more ammo.

 

[MTMilitiaman]

I understand and agree with the use of bayonet training to instill that fighting spirit in our fighting men, but I just don't feel like it is all that practical now days. The A4 isn't bad by modern standards as a bayonet fighting rifle, but it still isn't a Mosin. The last recorded use of bayonets in war was in 2005 by a British unit, presumably fixing bayonets to a ~30 inch bullpup. It was effective, probably more for its "***, are they serious" effect it had on the enemy. I find the image almost humorous and think modern warfighters would be better served with better knife/close quarter combatives training than bayonet training.

 

[Devonai]

I can only add that after sweating my butt of at Fort Benning for 17 weeks, the Bayonet Assault Course was one of the few truly fun days.

 

[TexasPatriot.308]

I was in military early 70s, like nowadays we had the plastic M16....attaching a bayonet to it and you really had to use it with force, you were probably gonna be left with a shattered buttstock, now you would have almost a pistol with a bayonet...and hopefully you could run fast enough or were ready to cash it in. I was fortunate enough to also carry a .45 as a sidearm cause of my MOS.