Fighting knives... What a dumb idea!

Weight. Modern soldiers carry enough, to the point that when fully loaded they can barely stand.
Training. There a more important things to learn, such as give a fire mission and keep a GPMG rocking.
We Brits give little more than lip service to handguns, so a fighting sword doesn't even register. Place your faith in your battle partner. Individuals wouldn't last a minute in real combat.
Today if you can see the white's of their eyes, they are too b***dy close.
 
I disagree with the "bayonets are crap" statement. They can be effective and dangerous. If you don't think so then stand in the place of a target on a bayonet assault course.
The E-tool is a good hand to hand weapon but try to "push" a crowd down a street with them. With bayonets, the platoon can form-up across the street and slowly march forward, "pushing" the crowd before them. This is a well proven tactic and it works.
 
Soldiers won't carry equipment that they don't frequently use. Their gear weighs so much that they tend to just dump stuff that isn't being used.

Yeah, a short sword makes a better weapon, but when are you going to use it? Swords generally have straight blades, double edges, and large guards. All of those attributes make the sword a good weapon, but also make it a poor tool for general use.

The guard can chafe your hand and prevent it from getting close to the blade for more control. The straight blade is bad for chopping and skinning type cuts. Plus, with a double edged blade, you can't press down on the spine of the blade or use it to hammer things.

Edged weapons do get used in modern warfare, but it's rare. A knife is more usefull as a general tool, so it will be used more frequently. If you give even a nice sword to a soldier, he'll probably just throw it away after a couple of weeks in the field.

[This message has been edited by cerulean (edited 07-15-2000).]
 
For hack-slashing with a bit of reach, a machete is known to work, and a machete has its uses as a field tool. Cut a lot of vegetation, and you may be able to chop an enemy accurately, if everything has gone wrong and you're that close.


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- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
 
Machetes have also been used to hack thousands of people to death in various strife-torn countries in Africa. I dislike these dismissive "such and such an edged item is useless, and its advocates are silly" posts. Every object has its uses, given the proper circumstances.

Razor

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AKTI #A000845
And tomorrow when you wake up it will be worse.

 
Knife combat is a matter of training. Any knife can cause damage with or without training. Training certainly helps though. There are so many factors to consider that it often comes down to what a person is comfortable with and their degree of training. A trained knife person has one advantage not yet discussed; confidence in his/her abilities. That has turned the tides of combat many times in history.

Doug
 
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