Back when I was but a wee lad and a Mech Inf Company Commander I used to put the boys thru the paces with bayonet drills every week. It was good PT, gave them the ability to use all the tools that they had at their disposal, and integrated with my combatives training program was a good morale builder and reminded them that an Armored Personnel track was just a vehicle and that they still had to close with and kill the little sucker in the other foxhole once they dismounted those shrapnel magnets. Of course, that was when we had a rifle that could withstand a good butt stroke and the slug that came out of them wasn't deflected by branches.
