Army Wants To Drop Bayonet From Training

[CSTactical]

Interesting Article:

Link to Bayonet Article

[grymster]

What's a soldier to do when they want that up-close and personal feeling?

[ajaffe]

Use a knife?

[Spiggy]

The knife and bayonet are one of the most brutal weapons one can learn to use. It's a crying shame that anyone would ever have to resort to such a weapon.

That's not to say it doesn't have a place in the battlefield.

[Suvorov]

While the General makes some good points, I would not remove it from training. Bayonet training is essential not really because it is teaching soldiers to use their rifle as a spear, but because it helps to instill the warrior ethos. If the bayonet training was taken away and replaced with a more thorough combatives program or tactical rifle/pistol training, that would probably be a good thing, but to replace it with more EEO BS or "why Hajji is our friend" training is only going to get more soldiers killed.

[Stockton]

Bayo training is one of the best things to watch as a DS. Love it when the recruits get motivated and give their "Warfaces"...LOL! Ft. Jackson and Ft. Knoxx have an *** kicker course. Just not prevalent on today's battlefields. I said prevalent...not NEVER. But then again neither is digging fox holes in IET/BCT land. I guess we'll have a knitting course to replace it...that sucks cause then I'll have to go get knit certified in order to teach it. BUMMER!

[Josh3239]

Firstly, the bayonet has always been a psychological weapon above anything else. In "One Killing" by a retired Colonel he talks about how little the bayonet was actually used, even all the way back to the Revolutionary War. The fact is most soldiers hated using their bayonets. The Colonel even talked about how the Romans Army noticed that soldiers prefered to slash over stab. There is no doubt that the bayonet strikes fear into the enemy and motivates the troops but the truth is the bayonet is almost unnecessary on the end of a gun.

I agree with the General, there are more skils or atleast more time that should be spent on what they need to learn. Personally I am always shocked how troops know so little about their rifles. I would like to see them get a better understanding of how the rifle operates and how to actually fix a malfunction rather than use a basic procedure with a cute sounding name (yes I mean SPORTS).

[Barney Gumble]

What's a soldier to do when they want that up-close and personal feeling?

[professionalcoyotehunter]

I always thought it was a waste of time for us to do it but it was sure fun.

[HCz]

I'd have to disagree. Bayonet has been used, or at least the knife even in Iraq war. Some Costa Rican(?) soldier decided to fight with it after ammo ran out and managed to kill a good amount of enemies.

It is better to know how to stop threats before they get so close, but when they get close enough you better know how to stop the threat with what you have. And my guess is that rifle is already in the hands.

[NiteQwill]

Up close personal combat is best resolved using a bayonet. They are the most effective weapons, physically and psychologically, in a close situation.

My buddy was in 3ID (11C) during the initial invasion, he remembers his whole squad getting a huge grin when their PSG announced, "fix bayonets" on the outskirts of Baghdad. He doesn't talk much about the details afterwards but let's just say it got real "personal" for the next 1-2 hours.

[Maddog5150]

They already stopped training it. I graduated from Bennings Infantry school in august 08 and we didnt recieve bayonet training. Then again we all had M4s and our SF drill sgt told us it wasnt as effective with it as the M16 was. We used the Bayonet training area on sand hill to practice platoon and squad tactics, the dummies were all pulled to the side with weeds growing all over them and rusting.

[WeekendWarrior]

Why not just equip them all with the new ACE Hammer stock and teach them to bludgeon people to death with the skull cracking hammer on the stock? That is up close and personal.

[smle-man]

"What is the spirit of the bayonet? To kill! To kill without remorse!" That is what I was taught on the bayonet course. The Brits in Iraq in 2004 had the sprit of the bayonet

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1138046/posts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Millett

By February 7, 1951, Millett was serving in Korea as a captain and commander of Company E of the 27th Infantry Regiment. On that day, near Soam-Ni, he led his company in an assault on an enemy position atop Hill 180. When one platoon became pinned down by heavy fire, Millett took another platoon forward, joined the two groups, and led them up the hill. Wielding his bayonet and throwing hand grenades, Millett yelled encouragement to his soldiers throughout the hand to hand fight. Upon reaching the top of the hill, his men stormed the enemy position and forced the opposing soldiers to withdraw. Although wounded in the shin by grenade fragments, Millett refused to be evacuated until the position was secured.[3][4] Historian S.L.A. Marshall described the attack as "the most complete bayonet charge by American troops since Cold Harbor."[2]

For his leadership during the assault, Millett was awarded the Medal of Honor. The medal was formally presented to him by President Harry S. Truman in July 1951.[1] He was also awarded the Army's second-highest decoration, the Distinguished Service Cross, for leading another bayonet charge in the same month.[3]

[steelrain82]

What a stupid idea the bayonet will always serve a purpose. Whether on an m4 or m16a4 it gives a medium range attack option to the soldier. In Iraq one of our corpsman used his kbar to put down an insurgent who attacked him in a house clearing. I think the army definetly needs to keep the bayonet and learn how to fight with it and anyother weapon of opportunity. Like with the mcmap program, "one mind, any weapon". My buddy just got out of the army and he said they focused more on being nice and sensitivity type stuff. Don't know if it's true or not though.