M4 bayonet's on A1's

[old tanker]

I'd read or heard someplace that the whole rationale for the M3 fighting knife was to give paratroopers a blade because the carbine did not, initially, come with a bayonet. Of course, the M3 was the ancestor to the whole series of bayonets based on that blade pattern. M4 for the M1 carbine, M5 for M1 rifle, M6 for the M14 and M7 for the M16. The silly *** M9 came out after Fort Benning became enamored of the finger lopping, AK toad stabber, wire cutter and bottle opener.