Steel, killing, for the use of...

[CloakAndDagger]

Bayonets have their value, but they're not meant for pure one-on-one scenarios. One guy with a bayonet has a lower chance of being successful against one guy with a hand or two free. But, when you got multiple buddies going after multiple enemies, things change. A bad guy with hands free can block, at most, two bayonets. But just having to worry about two bayonets can be the advantage you and your buddy need for just one of you to stick him. After you stick him, you can move on to the next.

A large element of a bayonet charge is just the psychological impact on the enemy...Audacity and surprise...But you still don't want to employ it much, especially if you know the enemy still has plenty of ammo and/or balls.

It's simple enough training, good when you got a lot of troops you want to train, but not a lot of time. Knife training and empty hand stuff/martial arts, all take a LOT of time. I've been consistently doing Kung Fu for the about the past nine months, and I'm hardly past a few basic blocks and punches. Compare that to my few hours of bayonet training at basic training a few years ago: parry, block, buttstroke, thrust, slash, and smash, I still remember the moves!

I still think I'd go for knife-in-hand vs. empty M4 w/fixed-bayonet...probably snap the stock off on the first smash. (That's the only thing I prefer about the M16 compared to the M4)