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The Annoyed Man wrote:

Abraham wrote:I always felt a little silly doing bayonet practice. It seemed like something done as a leftover from pre-WW1 days and earlier, when officers wore feathers in their caps and dressed rather gaudy and gayly.

Not all that long ago, I read an article stating the bayonets were not responsible for much death and destruction during battles.

You’re probably right. I remember a scene in Band of Brothers when one of the paratroopers of the 506th bayoneted one of the guys in his own company during their first days in Normandy because the other guy surprised him at night. I’ll bet that a fair number of bayonet wounds were either unintentionally self-inflicted, or incidents of “friendly shanking”. But I think I remember a scene in “We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young” when Col Hal Moore tells his troopers to fix bayonets at the Battle of Ia Drang in Vietnam.

I imagine that is NOT an order you ever want to hear.......