Army drops bayonets, busts abs in training revamp

AP-Yahoo! ^ | March 16, 2010 | SUSANNE M. SCHAFER

[greatdefender]

FORT JACKSON, S.C. – New soldiers are grunting through the kind of stretches and twists found in "ab blaster" classes at suburban gyms as the Army revamps its basic training regimen for the first time in three decades.

Heeding the advice of Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans, commanders are dropping five-mile runs and bayonet drills in favor of zigzag sprints and exercises that hone core muscles. Battlefield sergeants say that's the kind of fitness needed to dodge across alleys, walk patrol with heavy packs and body armor or haul a buddy out of a burning vehicle.

Trainers also want to toughen recruits who are often more familiar with Facebook than fistfights.

"Soldiers need to be able to move quickly under load, to be mobile under load, with your body armor, your weapons and your helmet, in a stressful situation," said Frank Palkoska, head of the Army's Fitness School at Fort Jackson, which has worked several years on overhauling the regime.

"We geared all of our calisthenics, all of our running movements, all of our warrior skills, so soldiers can become stronger, more powerful and more speed driven," Palkoska said. The exercises are part of the first major overhaul in Army basic fitness training since men and women began training together in 1980, he said.

The new plan is being expanded this month at the Army's four other basic training installations — Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Fort Sill, Okla., Fort Benning, Ga., and Fort Knox, Ky.

Drill sergeants with experience in the current wars are credited with urging the Army to change training, in particular to build up core muscle strength. One of them is 1st Sgt. Michael Todd, a veteran of seven deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

[Del Rapier]

You’re average insurgent doesn’t really have the build to take on a soldier.Staying alert,in shape and with your buddies is how you deal with that issue.

Keeping a knife handy helps.

Also close hand to hand fighting is more experience then anything else-you don’t want your first fight to be a fight to the death.

Because the outcome is kind of predictable.

[ansel12]

First Bayonet Charge Since the Falklands (IRAQ)

May 16, 2004 Go UK!!!!! First Bayonet Charge since the Falklands War British troops in Iraq perform their first bayonet charge since the Falklands War. 35 insurgents were killed, while only 3 British troops were wounded. Isn’t it ironic that only a few days after Nick Berg was beheaded, that the same terrorist scum feel cold steel themselves. Turn about is fair play.

Argylls fight hand to hand in Iraq

BRIAN BRADY WESTMINSTER EDITOR

SCOTTISH troops fixed bayonets and fought hand to hand with a Shi’ite militia in southern Iraq in one of their fiercest clashes since the war was declared more than a year ago, it was reported last night.

Soldiers from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders mounted what were described as “classic infantry assaults” on firing and mortar positions held by more than 100 fighters loyal to the outlawed cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, according to military sources.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1138046/posts

[OKSooner]

I’d whup out my revolver and blow a hole in him. /s :)

[AngryJawa]

If they get into extremely close quarters fighting perhaps they'll be able to run the enemy through with the edge of their hand.

The current stubby bayonet mounted on the end of a 14 1/2" barrel M4 is not the useful item that soldiers had with a big 'ol pigsticker on an M1, M14, or M1903. The polymer stock on the other end of the weapon doesn't make much of a club either.

My opinion is that our services will be better off getting up to speed with Semper Fu-type empty-hand and knife-fighting systems.

[AngryJawa]

You’re average insurgent doesn’t really have the build to take on a soldier.Staying alert,in shape and with your buddies is how you deal with that issue.

I agree with this, but we have to remember that we're making the fight with Johnny Jihad fairer than we think because of the weight burden we stick on our troops. Body armor (as useful as it is) and all the other things that are part of a typical combat loadout tends to slow our guys down.

There's a tradeoff to everything.

[wbarmy]

The best pig-sticker is still the bayonet on a Mosin-Nagant. Anything else is a wanna-be.

[KC Burke]

LOL.
No, I am on a Military Installation.

But, there is some of the Congress Critters that would make good dummies for training, aren’t there? < /tounge-in-cheek >

[Ramius]

I agree. I can see that the bayonet just isn’t the weapon it used to be, and doesn’t see much utility any more. But there will always be a place for advanced hand-to-hand and knife combat.

[OneWingedShark]

Indeed so.

[John S Mosby]

Don’t have any pom poms, or a Balmoral bonnet. Know quite a bit about training, and this is a compromise. Appreciate the more thoughtful thread. Am neither Army or Marine, but their are clear differences, and in humble opinion Marines have done it better.

[John S Mosby]

Correction: “there”.

Seconding the post about the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. Since one never knows what to expect and should train for worst case, hand to hand training should include use of edged weapons. Mine did. I like the part about use of local environs, etc. if disarmed.