I still prefer the Marine K-Bar.

As for the frequency of hand to hand fighting. WWI saw a massive amount owing to the tactics of the conflict but the men who fought in the Pacific in WWII saw it on a VERY regular basis. I guarantee you the moron who thinks he can be in the Army today with all of its sophisticated weaponry is able to neglect one of the soldiers tools is a soldier who will be the silent attendee at the funeral. When all is said and done it takes boots on the ground up close and personal to win a fight and happens when you go room to room... or you can listen to the armchair generals and forget all about this uncomfortable reality.

Years back when Leatherman first came out EOD Techs had asked the company to make an EOD model, which they did, and still do, with Blasting Cap Crimpers.


As for the Bayonet, sure we used it (if one did not have a better knife) to stick in the ground and wrap our Firing Wire around it, and to cut things, things other than Time Fuze, Det Cord and Wire, and we used it to open things.
I didn't see anything wrong with it, but I never had to put it on a Rifle and fight with it, and wouldn't have liked that application a bit, no matter what the Bayonet looked like.

two points
bayonet fighting. a disciplined army will always prevail over an untrained rable and the bayonet is one reason. Remember how us yankees would not close with the lobsterbacks during the revolution.
just after the american Civil War, a survey was conducted to see what each wounded man was hurt by. Someone noticed that few solders had been wounded by the bayonet, so it was assumed that the weapon was not effective. Then some old NCO commented that men are not wounded by the bayonet; either they run away or they are killed.
The bayonet is obsolete: but it still works as designed, it still instills fear in the heart of the enemy and it still can be used to open an MRE pouch. nough said.

^^^ I'm with Him^^^

I would suggest that many don't like the bayonet as a weapon because it is somewhat barbaric and unlike a bullet it is clearly visible, striking fear into people. (That is the whole idea)

There are several recorded examples of the AIF routing defensive positions in the western desert and elsewhere using nothing more than bayonets.

Originally Posted by senojekips

There are several recorded examples of the AIF routing defensive positions in the western desert and elsewhere using nothing more than bayonets.

Better you (Australia) than me (US). As I said, I wouldn't have liked that application a bit.


The how doesn't bother me, killing is killing as far as I'm concerned, I just don't like the idea of bringing a Bayonet to a possible gunfight, and then perhaps get shot long before I'm close enough to use the Bayonet.

Basically what I said. I wouldn't expect myself to use a bayonet in a real fight. You say you need it if you run out of bullets? What are the chances of you and the enemy running out of bullets at the same time? If you're out of bullets, the chances are the enemy's still got plenty of it lying around.
Using the bayonet to open a MRE pouch? You can do that with a Leatherman or Swiss Army knife. Or your teeth even (though it takes some work). And you can do a lot of stuff with those things than you can with the bayonet. And they take up FAR less space and weigh a lot less. Still craving for a full sized knife? Get yourself a good fighting knife.

Originally Posted by the_13th_redneck

Still craving for a full sized knife? Get yourself a good fighting knife.

And that is the point that I don´t get. If you carry a fighting knife that only purpose is to cut your enemys throat or stab it in his kidney why don´t leave the fighting knife at home and take your M9 or M7 with you that can do the same job. You also can use it to cut, stab or to fix on you rifle(just in case everybody is out of ammo) or like senojekips said, just to striking fear in your enemy in a RIOT (I think thats a very good point!!! You can´t do this with just a knife that you hold in your hand!!!). That is one thing that you can do more with a bayonet than just with a knife.

Greetz Joker

Hmmmmmmmmm... interesting question with all the comments considered.

You can do more with your knife than your regular bayonet. Whatever, I think I made my point here a few posts ago anyway.

Well, we still train with bayonets, but we feel that if you ever have to use one, you're in deep dookie.