What is the Spirit of the Bayonet?
Posted By Russ Emerson on May 19, 2004 at 12:16 am
To KILL!!!
Outnumbered British soldiers killed 35 Iraqi attackers in the Army’s first bayonet charge since the Falklands War 22 years ago.
The fearless Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders stormed rebel positions after being ambushed and pinned down.
Despite being outnumbered five to one, they suffered only three minor wounds in the hand-to-hand fighting near the city of Amara.
(Via Misha.)
For those of you who might be concerned about the bloodthirstiness of the question and answer at the beginning of this post, I should note: tough. Get used to it.
That Q&A is (or was, at any rate) asked of and answered by Army basic trainees all across the US as we went through bayonet training. The drill sergeants wanted us to put on our “war faces,” to get our adrenaline pumped up before going through the bayonet range.
The day before my basic training unit went to the bayonet range was the day our Navy clashed with Libyans in the Gulf of Sidra; two Libyan patrol boats were sunk. We had it in for Khaddafi – it wasn’t at all hard to get us riled up.
Bayonet training. I remember it well.