What Makes the Marine Corps so Special?

Yeah well said, however i think v22 osprey concept needs to be revisited due to systemic failures, you also didnt mention force marines, marine recon, and brilliant marines tad to space force.

Semper Fi

But keep Marine Corps tanks. Ooh-Rah

I hit 49 this year and our Marine Corps hits 249 this year I'm 7 day's early

Ie we do more with less

The leftists hate my Marine Corps

Ooh-Rah Marine Corps

I am a Marine and a son of a Marine and cousin of a Marine and inlaw of Marine's

So you're saying I can volunteer to help Marines. hmmm. I like the sound of that.

There are many more than 2 schools of thought on the Marine Corp. Ego has a shipload to do with reputation.😅

Great Marine Recruiting Video.

The Marine Corps is a cult!

Good points. Personally, I think it starts at the recruitment level. It takes a different kind of person to want to be a Marine. Semper Fi

The primary reason the Marine Corps is unique, in the US, is that they're part of the Navy, not the Army, and as such are subject to fewer constitutional restrictions. Throughout our history the Marines have been available to be used in situations in which using the Army would have raised a political shitstorm.

I wrote a comment critical of America's actions and it got removed

One thing to keep in mind...so many tend to forget this, if they ever knew to begin with. The President has the ability to deploy US Marines for any operation for a period of 90 days without taking the matter to Congress. There are Battalion Landing Teams on constant rotation and BLT's on Air-Alert standby status as well capable of reinforcement. Considering our tertiary backup is a Fleet Carrier Group we catch plenty of employment opportunities and 90 days is often all that is required.

Thank you for your thoughtful video. Semper Fi.

That’s because the Corps keeps us in a state of simmering rage for stupid shit. So that when they release the chains we go after the first enemy we see. We had a saying when I was in and it goes like this: “If a Marine is not bitching, there’s something wrong”. Semper Fi to all my fellow Marines!

Dad lost 3 of his brothers in South Pacific, he joined in 1947 @ 18YO, and did 3 tours in Korea, and before he retired the USMC reserves took him to Vietnam in 1965-1967, he retired in 1968. My oldest brother had a full scholarship to Princeton university in 1973, and was 17YO second in his class of 1882 seniors, but mother signed his USMC documents & he was killed after 22 days in Vietnam 1973😢😢we all grew up as Devil Pups, however only my oldest brother joined the USMC. My grandfather was a combat soldier in the Great War, but his sons & grandchildren were ALL “Devil Dogs”. 11 of my first cousins, fell in Vietnam during the 60s-70s, they were ALL USMC😢

All those interventions, or whatever you call them; I always wondered if there is some secret US policy to get involved in some conflict every so often just to have a core of combat veterans. Am I right about this?

Your final quote is so stirring, Sir....Chilling, almost.

"The ARMY is something you did...The MARINES is something you ARE." -- Ryan McBeth

A quote that shall live in our Halls Forever, Sir. Thank you for regaling and honoring us, Sir.

Thanks

I retired 2008. E9/MGySgt. The vast majority of my Facebook friends are my fellow former Marines. Some were E2 and E3 when we were together and up to LtCol/05. I consider them more family than my real blood family. Yes Marines are what we are.

Your words that distinguish the difference between the Army and the Marines was spot on and in a few words explained the difference perfectly. Thanks, SEMPER-FI.

Semper Fi to my Marine Sisters and Brothers.

War cult

Well not knocking the Marines. But it takes a certain type of person to be a good Marine. I don't think that is in young people today. I believe they are there and using it as a fat camp. I hope we never have to find out.

It’s interesting how you refer to America’s playing around in our near abroad as interventions but meanwhile, Russia acted to stop a genocide perpetrated by Nazis and it’s a unjustifiable invasion.

It’s not a mystery how the Marines defeated the Koreans in the 1870s. A force using centerfire cartridges and breech-loading artillery Betsy’s an enemy that was basically stuck in pike and shot warfare Technology 300 years obsolete. The Marines had howitzers, and Winchesters, the Koreans had spears and arequebus.

It’s truly hilarious you say the Marines are onto something in terms of dropping their tanks when Ukraine is begging, they need tanks or they’ll lose.

Anyway, Russia manages to gain ground with all its tanks, but Ukraine actually lost ground after being flooded with western designs but that’s not the tanks. Maybe the west lt just sucks at designing and producing armored vehicles.

Well said!! Semper-Fi improvise, adapt, and overcome!! Anyone ever notice that Gung-ho rocks a ranger roll instead of a USMC crown cover! Good job Gi-joe he should be in the same head gear as Leatherneck!! Btw has anyone seen that m-16/203 think it was a combat loss
In 86 @ the battle of rocking chair ridge??

Ah!... ranger...!?
Not that I wouldn't share a fighting position with a marine.

I don't make the rules , I just follow them . Semper Fi

I served in the army and USMC. Army basic in 1971, then off to Vietnam as a medic. ETS in 1974. Fast forward to 1986 and I joined the Marines. I celebrated my 35th birthday at MCRD San Diego. There's a reason the enemy quakes in their boots when they hear the Marines are coming. Those guys are crazy.

MARINES HAVE DONE SO MUCH WITH SO LITTLE FOR SO LONG THEY CAN NOW DO THE IMPOSSIBLE WITH NOTHING

I was on embassy duty in Africa and I had a local walk up to me at a party and asked me that same thing, "Did you have to kill a family member to graduate?" Kind of surreal how rumors take a life of their own.

Semper Fi

As a former Grunt Corpsman (Lima Co. 3/2 2 Mar Div. ) I loved your video. I have a SEMPER-FI on my truck, and although I was a Sqrunt I love the Corp.

No such thing as a Former Marine

@brent0331 I think you will appreciate this.

Obvious late in viewing this video. I joined the Marine Corps in 1967 to avoid being drafted into the Army which at that time was a 99% certainty. To make a longer story shorter, I went through Officer Candidate School (OCS) in 1967 and attended the Marine Corps officer basic school (called The Basic School or TBS) for 6 months, and in December 1968 I arrived in Vietnam and was assigned as an infantry platoon commander.

The Army by far had the largest military land forces. The Marines had two divisions. The 1st and the 3rd Marine Divisions. And Marines were assigned our own operational areas of responsibility, so while I was in Vietnam, we never worked with Army units nor did we have hardly any coordination with the Navy with rare exceptions. However, our close air support was provided with whatever available in our area whether it was Air Force, Marines, or Naval aviation. There were times when Army helicopters in the area evacuated our dead and wounded (if I ever meet a former or active member of the Army's Black Cats the cold beer is on me).

Back in those days (I'm 77 now) we did things that would never be allowed or overlooked today. The Navy called us Jar Heads and we called the Navy Swabs. And we occasionally got into fights over silly things. In December 1969 I was rotating back to the States and our charter flight was held over on Okinawa, so a small group of Marine officers headed back to the States went to the Air Force officer's club at Kadina Air Force Base to finally enjoy a night with a cold beer and a steak.

Everything was cool until someone announced, "Gentlemen STAND. A combat crew." He was referring to a B-52 bomber crew returning from a mission over South Vietnam. All the Marine officers at our table had just spent a year fighting for our lives and the B-52 crews were flying at something like 20,000 to 30,000 feet dropping bombs on "probable" enemy concentrations without any anti-air threats, didn't impress us as being significant enough to stand for them, so we remained seated.

Full disclosure, by dad was a B-52 pilot.

The worst day of my life was one morning the sun rose and I had 34 Marines in my platoon (significantly under strength) and when the sun set that day only 4 of us were still alive and unwounded--the rest had been evacuated. But we still had held our position. To me at the time, that was the trademark of being a Marine. Never give up. We had to walk 10 miles back to the battalion cantonment at night. The next day, I received 17 replacements and that night the battalion got mortared and all 17 of my replacements were wounded and evacuated.

There was another time when we were operating as a company in a valley in the Quay Son Mountains when we got hit with our own artillery about 2 a.m. We never found out how we were targeted but our best guess is that it was Recon team in the mountains that mistook us for North Vietnamese soldiers and called 155 mm artillery on us. I happened to be out of my foxhole to take a piss when all hell broke loose. It was terrifying. I remember dropping to the ground and cursing that the buttons on my uniform kept me from getting lower to the ground. Sounds silly today, but it wasn't then. The company had a lot of killed and wounded from our own artillery, and it was after dawn before all of the dead and wounded were evacuated.

Then the company commander simply said, "Saddle up, we have a mission to do." So we put our combat gear on and continued as if nothing happened. It wasn't that we didn't mourn our casualties, but rather the understanding that s**t happens in war and we need to accomplish the mission at hand.

And one more thing. The Marine Corps does celebrate November 10 every year as the birthday of the Marine Corps, but that includes all Marines who are in combat. Sometimes it has to celebrated a little early or late in combat but a resupply helicopter will deliver a cake and the Commandants message to all Marines. The cake may be a little old but I got my Marines in squad groups and gave the first piece of the cake to the youngest Marine (a tradition in the Marines) and the next piece of cake went to the oldest Marine which was me at 22 years of age. And then I read the Commandant's message to each squad. That took place on the top of one of the mountains in the Quay Son Mountains in November 1969.

But it goes way beyond that at times. From 1986 to 1988, I was one of the Military Attaches at an Embassy in Central America and while I had diplomatic duties, I was also providing counter-insurgency support to the host nation and about 75% of my two years there was spent with the host nation military on combat operations. Also urban guerillas targeted American military. It wasn't as dangerous as Vietnam but it was a dangerous assignment. One day they ambushed my vehicle and killed my driver.

But the Marines at the Embassy put on a spectacular Marine Birthday celebration by selling hot dogs on the weekend (called Devil Dogs which is what the Germans called us in WW I). they made enough money to rent the ball room of one of the best hotels and invited all of the influential social, business, political, and military guests. I gave the keynote speech to describe why the Marine Corps Birthday was so important and then the Ambassador gave a speech as well and emphasized why the event was important to him because he was a Marine captain during the Korean War.

During the two years I was there, the Marine Corps Birthday was the most attended and lavish event including the ambassador's formal political events.

God, I loved those Marines. They didn't work for me. They did it all on their own with their senior NCO as their Marine leader.

And one other thing. This doesn't happen across the US, but there are groups of former Marines who rent a space at a restaurant and order a cake. And we have all of the traditions of a formal Marine Birthday ceremony. The youngest of the small gathering gets the first piece of cake and the oldest the next. We cut the cake with an officer's Marine ceremonial sword, we read the Commandant's message and then we toast the Marine Corps. And each time, when we leave the restaurant the staff and diners stand and applaud even though they don't completly understand our traditions, though they appreciate that although we are old with gray hair, we are still Marines.

I served 21 years in the Marines as an infantry officer with 2 years in combat. The greatest honor in my life was to have led Marines. That is what it really means to have been a Marine.

Semper fi siryou have my respect

When I told my relatives I had joined the Marines, all I heard was that Marines were dying in Vietnam, I told them that Army, Air Force and Navy personnel were dying to. I thank God for the training that made it possible for me to serve 31.5 months in Vietnam. I am thankful for everyone who were willing to serve our country during the Vietnam War.

The story goes: there are only two U.S. Military services. The Navy and the Army. The Air Force is a corporation and the Marine Corps is a cult. Semper Fi 0331

Yes, The army is something you did. The Marines are something you are. I left active service in 1977 and still call myself a Marine. Semper Fi.

All they do is color...
And eat Crayons!
USN (ret.) I know...

I couldn't repress a smirk when I learned about the Marines deciding tanks were unsuitable for their current mission. The Australian army had no tanks during the last gulf war, it decided it needed some afterwards because all the media coverage was going to forces who had a means of transporting journalists!

RAH