OKC-3S bayonet, with sheath. The blade of choice for the U.S. Marine Corps.
Despite President Obama’s assertion during last night’s debate that the U.S. military’s equipment needs has changed over the years, not everyone agrees. “We also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military has changed,” Obama said, parrying Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s criticism of planned cuts to defense spending.
Obama’s line played for laughs—and memes—but some parties didn’t find it that funny.
The owner of a military surplus company in Georgia was quite irate. Dan Riker, who runs the appropriately named Bayonet Inc., told TMZ that Obama’s statement was “ignorant, because our soldiers still use bayonets.”
Bayonet Inc. also serves as a supplier of its namesake equipment and other antique military hardware to film and television productions, including the HBO series Band of Brothers. Riker was on a film set when DCist attempted to contact him.
But even though the days of full-on bayonet charges are long past—the U.S. Army last attempted such a feat in the trenches of the Korean War—knives mounted at the end of gun barrels are still plenty common in today’s military.
“We take pride in our military products and it’s an honor and privilege to supply these weapons/tools to the US military,” Ken Trbovich, chief executive of the Ontario Knife Company, said in a news release. Ontario, based in Franklinville, N.Y., manufactures the OKC-3S, the bayonet of choice for the U.S. Marine Corps. The OKC-3S features an eight-inch, high-carbon steel blade and is designed to be affixed to the end of a standard-issue M16 rifle.
“The military deploys our products for a wide range of combat and field operations, these include but are not limited to breaching devices, rescue tools and combat weapons,” Trbovich said. The company said it could not release the exact procurement level of the bayonet, though Slate reports that in 2003, one bayonet was acquired for all 120,000 members of the Marine Corps for a cost of $4,362,000.
The Army, meanwhile, also still uses bayonets, preferring since 1985 a model known as the M9, which is manufactured by Ontario and three other companies. On the Army’s website, the M9 is described as being useful for hand-to-hand combat and as a general-utility blade and saw in the field.
