There is a point to the bayonet (there should be,
) though our Army has not done significant bayonet training for a long time.
Marines, on the other hand,,, are Marines...
The bayonet is a
terror weapon. People are afraid of it, even more than being shot, which is why it is still in use in modern era. The primary use of the bayonet in modern warfare is prisoner /crowd control.
The bravado of refusing to comply, and daring troops to shoot them, rapidly melts away when it is realized that you aren't going to
shoot them, you're going to
poke them with sharp pointy steel.
Because, it HURTS!!!
Every one of us has, at some point in our lives been punctured or cut by something. Even small stabs or cuts HURT!! Our bodies "know" this. Our subconscious minds KNOW THIS. The conscious mind knows that being shot hurts, but that is different. Few people have direct personal experience being shot. EVERYONE has direct personal experience with being cut, or stabbed, to some degree, often and throughout most of our lives.
The bayonet is so effective for "influencing good behavior" because not only does it hurt, it allows a graduated application. Bullets do not, you're shot, or you're not. The bayonet allows a full range of options, from being painfully irritating to fully lethal.
The blade bayonet is not a knife. It LOOKS like a knife and may be able to be used as a knife, but its not supposed to be a knife. When I was in, Army regulations specifically forbid bayonets to be sharpened. Sharply pointed, yes, but a sharpened edge was a gig, and actually rendered the bayonet officially unserviceable.
I never could understand why the bayonet lug was an "evil feature" and banned by assault weapon laws, other than the ignorant elitists who wrote the law decided to include it.