Re: [GZG] [SG3]: What if?

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http://mead.CSUA.Berkeley.EDU:1337/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gzg-lI think
that anyone who is going to consider future warfare really needs to stop
dredging up outdated references for close quarters combat.  Drawing on
Age of Musket or even WW2 references for future warfare settings seems
pretty silly when most of those past scenarios don't even hold up in
present warfare conditions.
In the vast diversity of human future weapons, it seems very unlikely
that anybody is going to really focus on improving the close combat hth
weapon.  I am no expert, but it seems we haven't bothered in the 60
years since WW2.  Bayonets exist but only as a possible weapon and have
been greatly reduced in their size.  Hitting sombody with a rifle or
stabbing them with your knife is about as far as most close combats seem
to go as far as I know.
You guys actually in the military or whatever can correct me and please
do, but does it really seem that HTH weapons are likely to come back on
their own.
Now, if we run into an alien species (or terrestrial faction) that still
digs HTH due to either technical limitations or cultural affectations,
there might be a sudden shift.	It might start with field expedient
weapons and then evolve into a manufactured conversion or even a
purpose-built tool.
A good example of this is in World War Z, where they end up
manufacturing a bladed field tool by the millions and distribute across
the nation as an effective weapon against the sudden appearance of
millions of zombies.
Bottom line, who knows what the future will bring.  If it stays human on
human warfare, we're not likely to see HTH weapons make a come-back
unless we bomb ourselves into the stone-age but hey, that's a fun
wargame too.
-Eli