Oh, this is one of the things the movie changed that made me sad. I know Verhoven wanted the plot to move along, and it DOES really fit with Zim’s character, but it changed the philosophy of that scene. The answer in the novel (as best as I can remember) was “we’re not teaching you how to use dangerous weapons, we are teaching you to be dangerous men”. That training with melee weapons isn’t intended to produce melee weapons experts, but instead to change the mindset of the recruits to prepare them with dealing and receiving horrific violence.
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