I consider myself fortunate not to have been in a situation in my Army career to kill someone. And my phantasy tells me that those who have been, don't want to do it again. It is against the inner soul of a civilized man to kill another (enemy) with a knife. Even if he is trained to do so he will feel ill at ease about it and avoid the act if at all possible. Furthermore, I believe that even in a traumatic situation, when that may happen, the person involved will suffer severe psychological consequences that will never leave him, unless he is weird.
It may be that in the past people were so raw that they had no regrets with all that. But, our Army today prides itself to fight for human rights, compassion and liberty even in areas where people see that differently.
Killing with a knife (or crowbar, bayonet for that matter) has no place in that scene, extreme situations excepted.

Kinder, gentler Army huh?

We better hope they don't forget the knife and bayonet and what they are made for because the Idealist they are fighting at the present sure will not hesitate to cut their head off.

Sully

It's ok for them to do that to us, but heaven forbid should we do likewise

thegunny I know but I sincerely hope they don't count on me to play by their rules because if ever called upon I will not.

Dead is dead regardless if its up close and personal with a knife, or while sitting inside a 60 ton tank giving the order to fire a round at a building or another tank, truck, etc.

Seen too much of our Marines, Soldiers blood being spilled to lose any sleep over our enemies blood being let out.

I just know for a fact that I'd much rather LIVE WITH nightmares, and suffer severe psychological consequences that will never leave than be dead.

C'mon, you guys. Read my comments again sincere. Do you really want to crawl out there with a knife between your teeth, or simply pull a trigger? I'm not into childs play when it comes to combat, but if it gets that low on purpose something has gone wrong in the leadership and NCOs and Officers need to be replaced because of tactical blunders and an enemy that has outtricked us. Bad stuff in any Army. The US can do much better than to kill our enemies with a knife. Remember: The original question was knife vs pistol!

Mastertanker

Ya caught me, one of my bad habits in here....focus on a single statement and taking off on a tangent.

You are on point with the comments concerning the leadership issues and I was referring to those that this directly impacts...those whose boots are on the ground. Been in several situations where poor leadership and planning resulted in placing the troops on the ground in dire situations such as those I described. Identification of this after the fact doesn't help when you find yourself faced with these types of choices.

Part of my strong feeling from this comes from being in Beruit in 83 and dealing with that then and even now. Along with this, the beheadings our troops are subject to should they get captured or over-run. I'll tell you this upfront, being a POW in this war on terror has no comparison to being a POW in Vietnam.

All I can say is when you are confronted or you know that someone is trying to kill you your feeling for that person is not seen as another person but the enemy.I will say in Vietnam I saw people & friends die up close and personal they are the only ones I came home with.The only people I think of is someone like Coachman ,Harry P and Mike and any other American Military personal defending this Country

I had one occasion where a knife was the only weapon of choice. Now that I look back on it, I would have had no problem with using it. But I guess something told him it was close to his time and he departed that piece of jungle rather fast. Looking at it now I am very glad I never cut his throat. I was not a bad man then and I think I am a better man for not doing it that night. But I have never lost the training to do it if I had no other choice, just older and way slower lol

Coachman...you're still Sharp...and 'to the point' (so to speak).