Quote Originally Posted by ladyhk13 View Post
Maybe it was designed for tight/small spaces where a full sized shovel could not get in to? If you were low to the ground and under brush a long handled one would be much harder to control whereas the small one would give you a better grip and well "lower center of gravity" sort of speak.
Entrenching tools, such as the one I was using, of a military nature, are for the infantry. This gives them an implement to dig with and clearly they can't haul around full sized shovels. Thus the short handle. So yes, they were designed that way for a reason.