Hand to hand fighting, the idea is kill the other person and not let him get close enough so that you can smell his breath. Give me a good trenching tool if I get that close and you can work it like some medieval Axe
Buddy i'm saying this with complete confidence, while i'd prefer not to fight an opponent who's armed with something sharp chances are i'm going to break your arm, take that trenching medieval axe of yours and shove it up your ass so deep it'll come out you nostrils and thats even in an unlikely event that you're bigger/stronger/faster because i've been trained to do that captain axeman.
How do you think American soldiers get abducted in Iraq? What do you think happens in room to room combat when there's no time to swing a gun.
Its not a war winner as stated but its absolutely neccesary and a soldier who can't fight in meele is dead.
Apart from that discipline, endurance and mental conditioning that makes a soldier a warrior is aquired only through such training.
@Wallabies.
Hand to hand training is diverse and includes stuff such simple as headbutting you with the front of my helmet so you can't write stupid stuff anymore or punching you in the solar plexus with the barrel of the gun.
Then there's the whole bayonet training, some of us prefer brass knuckles but generally the idea is that if i meet an enemy and its too close/late to shoot i can, despite my 40kg of equipment twist his head off in four different ways.
Also i'd be gratefull if you wouldnt lecture me i've been in a mechanized unit for over two years now i know what i'm training and we're training with 34 kg of equipment.
@Redneck.
A rifle has a butt and a barrel, you can stab someone in an eye with a barrel (which is a Krav Maga move) use the butt or just throw the rifle at the guy.
I know at least one soldier who saved his life by throwing his empty AKMS at a Pakistani insurgent confusing the guy for a split second he needed to crush the Pakis windpipe.
@Major Liability.
The problem with bayonets these days is that hth happens in cramped enviroments like indoors where its often difficult to swing a rifle around, i carry the regulation one but some of my buddies carry another strapped to a boot for easy access, today a bayonet is relegated to a role as a side weapon rather then rifle mounted, less space required to use it.