2012 U.S. Presidential Election

[Xiahou]

Fun fact from the CSM on 'horses and bayonets'...

Well, the bayonet thing is easy to elucidate. The Marines and the Army both still issue rifle-mounted knives to serve as hand weapons, utility knives, saws, and all-around handy items.

Bayonet training is an integral part of the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program, which every recruit must pass. During such training, recruits fix OKC-3S bayonets underneath the muzzles of their rifles, effectively turning it into a spear. They’re taught thrusts, jabs, and slashes, according to a Marine public affairs account of such training. They then must use these techniques on a dummy-filled course intended to simulate close combat.

Bayonets are still issued and are required training for marines.

[Major Robert Dump]

The article is wrong about the Army.

Besides, the president said, IIRC, that we had fewer. He didn't say we didn't use them.

And getting issued something and actually using it in combat are two different things. I don't see why this is even a topic of discussion,

[Xiahou]

Besides, the president said, IIRC, that we had fewer. He didn't say we didn't use them.

How many marines are there today? What was the size of the army in 1916?

You can count the bayonet kills/injuries vs badguys in Iraq and Afghanistan on one hand.

I know of a noted bayonet charge by the British in Basra, 2004 that was said to have killed about 20 Mahdi militiamen....

Edit: Looks like the Pentagon has well over half a million bayonets.

Obama was right about horses though- there's alot less of them than there was in 1916.

[Major Robert Dump]

How many marines are there today? What was the size of the army in 1916?

I know of a noted bayonet charge by the British in Basra, 2004 that was said to have killed about 20 Mahdi militiamen....

Edit: Looks like the Pentagon has well over half a million bayonets.

Obama was right about horses though- there's alot less of them than there was in 1916.

I knew of this, and I wasn't counting it, because they were not US soldiers.

ZOMG I was proven wrong because we have a bunch of bayonets in backstock that we never use. Because the DOD has never bought useless things or kept outdated inventory, I swear those soft skin humvees and HCLOS trucks and SINGARS and all those bayonets can be used somewhere in some alternate universe. I swear that purple, ergonomic litter that came with my MATV was put to good use rather than using my standard litter, and I swear I used my multitool shovel that they issue and make you carry into Afghanistan. I swear.