Why do officers carry swords

The tradition goes back to the days when swords were the primary weapon for officers. Sword, sword belt and sword knot are prescribable for all Navy commissioned officers on active duty except chaplains in the rank of Lieutenant Commander and above. The sword is optional for Lieutenants and below. The Officer Pistol and Army Tradition For centuries, commissioned Army officers were looked at as a breed apart from the riff-raff in the ranks.

The weapon was developed through the Army's Modular Handgun Systems program. Currently, the M17 and M18 are in service with the U. What guns do Indian police use? What pistols do police use? Here are ten firearms for law enforcement that should be known by anyone looking to pursue a career in criminal justice.

Glock Glock is an Austrian handgun manufacturer that prides itself on quality. Beretta Model Sig Sauer P Heckler and Koch HK Ruger LC9. Colt M Why do officers get pistols? The pistol is used as a deterrent and for close-range combat situations, whereas the rifle is used specifically for combat. Therefore, Army police officers and officers on garrison duty during peacetime only carry pistols.

Can you keep your service weapon? No civilian to include Veterans is authorize the use or possession of military service weapons in the US. You don't even get to take your service weapon home with you while you're serving. You only keep your service weapon while you're on duty in a billet that requires it or while you are in a combat zone.

This was not merely a carry-over from the age of mounted knights in Europe. Instead, it seems to have been a concept that was almost universal across cultures; for example, in Japan only samurai were permitted to wear swords. This was because swords were difficult and expensive to make, and many years of training were required to perfect the art of swordsmanship. Weapons such as spears were far easier and simpler to produce, and far easier to train conscripts to use fairly effectively in a short space of time.

Also, ranged weapons such as bows and crossbows, at least in Western Europe, were seen as unchivalrous. This was despite the fact that longbows, for example, were tremendously effective in battle, and required years of training by specialized troops. They were not used by knights, who saw such weapons as beneath them.

Thus, having a ranged weapon was something seen as the preserve of the enlisted soldier. These sentiments were carried over into the age of gunpowder, even as armor and the knight were rendered obsolete by the power of muskets. Even in this era, though, battles were still often won or lost by bayonet charges or cavalry charges, owing to the slow reload process of muskets and the fact that they created so much smoke which greatly reduced visibility on the battlefield.

It held a symbolic weight too, imbuing the man who carried it with an aura of power. Of course, with the development of the flintlock mechanism and the evolution of firearms, pistols evolved from the extremely expensive, impractical and unreliable items they had once been. For a man who carried a sword in one hand, a pistol, which could simultaneously be fired from the other hand, was a sensible choice if fighting got to within close ranges, which it often did. Furthermore, for much of history, officers were mounted men, even when they commanded infantry units.