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When a US Army general made the decision recently to remove bayonet assaults from the array of skills soldiers must learn during basic training, it seemed like a no-brainer.

US troops hadn鈥檛 launched a bayonet charge since 1951 during the Korean War. And new soldiers preparing for an increasingly violent war in Afghanistan already need to learn far more skills than the 10 weeks of basic training allows, says Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, head of initial entry training and the Army鈥檚 Training and Doctrine Command.

So he made a change, substituting skills drill sergeants reported that they wanted to teach new recruits in favor of dropping the time-honored practice of the bayonet charge.

But in the weeks since that decision, Hertling has heard about it. 鈥淏ayonet training is pretty fascinating,鈥� he says. 鈥淚鈥檝e been slammed by retirees.鈥�

The objections to ending the training are occasionally practical.

In 2004, with ammunition running low, a British unit launched a bayonet charge toward a trench outside of Basra, Iraq, where some 100 members of the Mahdi Army militia were staging an attack. The British soldiers later said that though some of the insurgents were wounded in the bayonet charge itself, others were simply terrified into surrender.

Instilling such terror is at the heart of the philosophical argument for keeping bayonet training, historians say.

鈥淭raditionally in the 20th century 鈥� certainly after World War I 鈥� bayonet training was basically designed to develop in soldiers aggressiveness, courage, and preparation for close combat,鈥� says Richard Kohn, professor of military history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Bayonet training is, in short, used to undo socialization 鈥� to 鈥渂asically to try to mitigate or eradicate the reluctance of human beings to kill each other,鈥� Mr. Kohn says. It is one of the challenges in US or Western society 鈥渨here we have such reverence for the individual, where we socialize our people to believe in the rule of law, and all of that,鈥� he adds. 鈥淲hat you鈥檙e doing with young people is trying to get them used to the highly emotional and irrational and adrenaline-filled situations in which they are liable to find themselves whether they are within sight of the enemy or not 鈥� and the reluctance to take a life.鈥�

Hertling, for his part, has stood firm. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 interesting,鈥� he says, 鈥渋s if bayonet training is that important and it鈥檚 the centerpiece of everything we do, why is it the only place it鈥檚 taught is at basic training?

鈥淚f it鈥檚 that important, you鈥檇 think all the operational units would have bayonet assault courses.鈥�

The fact is, there are more important things to teach during a time of war, Hertling adds. In a counterinsurgency fight such as Afghanistan, 鈥淵ou carry an M-4 carbine strapped around your chest,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 do much with a bayonet.鈥�