# What are the US Marines?



## Caledfwlch (Mar 6, 2016)

I have always been confused as to what exactly the US Marines are, and googling has not particularly enlightened me.

In Britain for example, the Royal Marines were Infantrymen trained to serve on ships as protection, and to act as raiding parties, attacking land based targets from their ship, basically the typical concept of a Marine as I understand it, Ship defence and Amphibious Assault Troops, and when WW2 kicked off, a new style of Raiding Troops, the Commandos were conceived and formed, (iirc, the name came into British use from the Boer war against the Dutch descended South African Afrikaners, who would often field small mobile units, led by a Commander, in Guerilla style warfare) they were attached, I forget if right from the start, or if a bit later to the Royal Marines, and then the Royal Marines were renamed and reconfigured to the form they still retain now - the Royal Marine Commandos.
My Paternal Grandfather was one, and we think pretty early on, possibly even right from the start, and we know for certain that he took part in Commando Raids into German Occupied Territory on Continental Europe, but not which ones, as he would not talk about it - the family only know he did go on Raids, because right up until the 1960's, until my Grandmother made him hand it in to the Police, he kept his Fairburn Sykes "Commando Knife" and when asked why would quietly say because he had killed Germans with it, but especially a particular very young German lad, almost certainly a conscript on guard, who he would have nightmares about and he felt it would be disrespectful to have just chucked it away.

But the United States Marines Corps appear to be a "Service" all of their own, like, Britain has the Royal Navy, the Army and the Royal Air force (always wondered why it's not the Royal Army) but the US has the US Navy, the US Air force, the US Army, and the US Marines.

Are they just an elite multipurpose combat force, who have retained the name Marines for some historical reason? Or do they also perform the more common Duties of a Marine, such as Ship Defence? Or are they a sort of Elite Rapid Deployment Force, a bit like Britain's 16 Air Assault Brigade, the fate which befell the mighty Paras, though I don't believe anyone has tried to change or take away the Paras beret and badge, not wanting to trigger a mutiny


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## reiver33 (Mar 6, 2016)

The United States Marine Corps is the oldest American arm of service, formally established ahead of the Army, Navy and jonnie-come-lately USAF. From the outset it viewed itself as an elite organisation in comparison to the largely militia-based US army, and was in many ways a proto-interventionist force (sea-mobile but not Naval!). You could say the idea of Marines was akin to the Napoleonic Old Guard - a complete armed forces in miniature, complete with its own air support. However, good old inter-service rivalry has resulted in the formation of alternative/competing forces, which muddied the picture somewhat.


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