27 thoughts on “Speaking of Bayonets… this is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, MISTER President.”

  2. Pingback: Instapundit » Blog Archive » OBAMA LINE ABOUT HORSES, BAYONETS FAILS FACT-CHECK. And the Navy calls submarines boats, not ships. …

  4. No doubt, in his second term, he’ll just DNA the remains there and shut it down. No reason for it, really: it’s using up welfare money, and it’s an embarrassment to our enlightened betters. Like the horses. And the Navy.

  5. I have to say this is much ado about very little, Moe. While I am not at all a fan of Obama, what he said was “we also have fewer horses and bayonets”. Which I would guess is absolutely true.

    If he’d said that we have no use at all for either horses or bayonets, I could see a slapdown. But for this? Not so much.

  8. The thing that everyone seems to be missing in the commentary that I’ve seen is that Obama is not just comparing apples and oranges, he’s comparing apples and geodes. The world is big; those “things called aircraft carriers” can only be in so many places at once; if there are insufficient ships to cover the areas that need to be covered, well…

  10. Nearly every president since World War 2, when faced with a foreign conflict, has asked the question, “Where are the Carriers?” I’d guess Barry hasn’t, from his comments.

    The Navy is used to project power and resolve – it can be used for peaceful purposes (the Indonesian earthquake, for example), but the primary purpose is to announce in no uncertain terms: The United States is keeping an eye on you. Be warned!

  11. I recall reading a discussion once about the usefulness of bayonets in modern warfare.

    One side was using statistics showing that very few soldiers showed up at military medical facilities with bayonet wounds.

    The other side noted that the reason for that was because few survived once they were wounded in a bayonet attack…

    I seem to recall that the British even had a bayonet charge in the middle east somewhere, either in Iraq or Afghanistan, within the past decade or two.

  13. Our supposed President was supposed to be debating
    foreign policy, not snarking his opponent.
    Ten trivia points for identifying the obscure reference
    to a US weapons system which never made it into production.

  15. bayonets and horses are utilized in afghanistan, mr president

    world war II

    two wars fought simultaneously
    japan, pacific fleet and germany, atlantic fleet

    fast forward to possible 2013 threats
    n korea/china, pacific fleet and iran/syria, atlantic fleet

    if the u s continues on our current downhill path, there will be conflict because the u s appears to be on the path of weakness…these are echoes of jimmy carter

    ronald reagan stated peace through strength…it worked

  19. I believe that the rifle in question is an M1 Garand, due to no magazine below the stock. The Garand was fed with clips from the top, with the bolt open.

  20. Perhaps we need to bring back those long bayonets of yesteryear:
    M1905, M1917, even the 10″ M1.
    If nothing else, they are effective crowd (mob) control tools.

  22. Guys, this isn’t the point.

    Romney said that, under President Obama, our Navy was the smallest it had been in a very long time, and that’s dangerous. Obama answered (paraphrased): of course it’s smaller, we have less obsolete stuff.

    Bayonets aren’t the issue; he could have said “buggy whips” or “crossbows” without changing his argument.

    And his argument was ridiculous, of course. Obama went on to explain, with unprecedented condescension, what an aircraft carrier is and what a submarine is. (I half expected Romney to respond: “Yes, Mr. President, you’re very knowledgeable about naval matters. And these craft are manned by corpse-men, right?”)

    This was a total non-sequitur, in that it didn’t address Romney’s point at all. Romney said we can’t afford cuts to our military at a time of global crisis. The President could have said, “But look, there’s waste in the military, and we’re cutting that”. He didn’t. He made fun of a former Governor for raising the question at all.

    This was completely unbecoming of a sitting President of the United States… and it makes Romney’s dignified responses stand out all the more. I remain convinced that Romney’s advisers told him, before the debate, “Obama’s going to hit you with snark. Don’t respond; he’ll hit you with more. He won’t know when to stop. Let him bring it on, in full view of the television audience. Let America see just how mean-spirited this small man can be.”

  23. Own both M1 and M1A (civilian version of the M14).
    Shot both in NRA Highpower Rifle Matches.
    Rifle in pics is an M14.
    The flash hider and gas system make it obvious.

  24. In 1916 the U.S. Army was very small (just over 100,000) and the Marine Corps was almost too tiny to count. Currently, between the two of them and the National Guard, we have over 650,000 in those three branches. All of them have had bayonet training. Likely close to half of them have an issue bayonet. I mounted mine on an M1 rifle, back when I was a young trooper.
    As to horses, no, we don’t use many in combat. I think if you check, however, you will find almost every military school has a mounted unit, and so do all the major military posts. For that matter, the horses at Arlington are very busy these days, pulling the warriors of WW II and Korea to their last rest.

  25. In the mean time, liberals are proudly sharing memes of confederate soldiers with bayonets under a Romney & Ryan poster. Seriously? Last time I heard those suckers were standard issues for the Marines as a start. Gotta be true – even ABC is reporting it and I know how tough it is for the mainstream media to contradict the anointed one.

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