An Army Ranger Course student stabs a target with a bayonet during the Ranger Assessment Phase in April 2026. Soldiers rarely use bayonets in the modern era, but many still undergo bayonet training. (US Army/Joey Rhodes II)

The US Army Rangers Are Bringing Back Bayonets

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Bayonet training has mostly been replaced in US Army basic training by other hand-to-hand combat, but Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s “warrior ethos” may have led to its return.

United States Army Medal of Honor winner Capt. Lewis L. Millett is largely credited with leading the last major American bayonet charge during the Korean War in February 1951. Despite the fact that bayonet charges are essentially a thing of the past, the US military still conducts bayonet training. It is still taken very seriously—and last month, the US Army sought to make its “toughest course” even tougher.

“On April 21, 2026, the first class of US Army Ranger students tackled Fort Benning’s new Bayonet Assault Course, a rugged addition to the Malvesti obstacle course,” the US Army announced earlier in the week.

The course was integrated into the already “grueling” Ranger Assessment........

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