@ MaggieL & xoxoxoBruce:
Focus is increasing on Close Quarters Battle (CQB) and adversaries are wearing body armor. The rifle (or carbine) is a versatile individual combat weapon; but, armor piercing rounds can pass through hostiles and/or walls and/or buildings and hit friendlies (combatants and non-combatants). Even standard rifle rounds pose this problem. The problem can to be avoided; but, rapidly transitioning to a sidearm, from holding a longarm in the ready position, is not most combatants' forte. Additionally, most are trained to shoot center of mass until the adversary goes down rather than to adjust their point of aim to compensate for body armor. On the other hand, a proper blade can defeat soft body armor and reach vital organs even if advanced obliquely. When situations like this were anticipated, I was issued a HK MP5 SD3 (sound suppressed version) ; however, that was the exception, not the rule.
Knowledge of weapons and knowledge of tactics are two different things. Those who have exercised both professionally look for compatability. A bayonet can sometimes be downright synergistic. The bullpup rifle configuration may seem to have an advantage in manuverability; but, it can be less versatile. That's one reason why we haven't standardized on it. Of course, we can always forget about tactics and use the universal solution: "Kill them all, let God sort 'em out."
