Becoming alarmed by their behavior, the militiaman before Nancy began to unsling his rifle. Nancy gave him no time to act upon his growing apprehensions. Before he understood what was happening, the militiaman felt a searing pain rip through his groin. Turning to face his assailant, he stared down at the National Guard officer before him. Her smile had been replaced by an intense expression. As the agony coursed throughout his body, the militiaman looked down in horror at the handle of the Ka-bar knife she held. It was already coated with blood gushing from the spreading wound. He couldn’t see the blade, though he felt it as it continued to rip its way upward through his intestines and on into his stomach cavity. When he finally collapsed, the sharpness of the knife and his own weight carried the blade further along its murderous path.

The militiaman who had been seated on the steps stared at his companion. Unsure of what was happening he hesitated, a mistake that cost him his life. When he saw his colonel make her move, Nathan closed the remaining distance between himself and that man in a single bound. Shoving the man’s head against the concrete column he had been leaning against, Nathan drove his drawn bayonet through the man’s neck until the point of that weapon came to a dead stop against the column.

The blood of these two hapless militiamen hadn’t even splattered the steps of the capitol building before a wave of paratroopers emerged from the nearby shadows. Rushing past Nancy and their platoon leader, they made for the door. The two point men of this assault pulled the doors wide open and held them for their companions. With bayonets drawn, the others rushed in. Once inside, each of the paratroopers selected their victims on the fly. While Hollywood tends to play up the value of bayonets and knives in commando and superhero movies, the Army itself doesn’t feel the need to devote much attention to this primitive form of stealth technology. Just how the individual soldier goes about using it in combat is pretty much left up to the soldier himself. This was particularly true of the paratroopers in Nathan’s 1st Squad. Though they got the job done, it was not accomplished in what one would consider a neat and professional manner. Two of the militiamen actually had an opportunity to squirm and make an effort to resist necessitating a second, third, fourth, and even fifth jab before the shock and pain of being murdered overwhelmed them. This all took time and made noise.