Bayonet Skills to be Omitted from Basic Training for Modern Soldiers
February 2, 2010
I know what you're thinking: "we were still training soldiers to use bayonets?"
Apparently so. And apparently, they've even been used this decade:
A group of 20 British soldiers near Basra fought off an ambush by over 100 Mahdi fighters in Iraq, but eventually ran low on ammo. They then resorted to a fierce bayonet charge that killed 20 militiamen and compelled the rest to flee or surrender, with only three British soldiers injured.
As conflicted as I am about organizations that teach young men and women how to disembowel people with swords, I might be more conflicted about the Army making their training practices more like a video game.