Specifically in the infantry brance. I see alot of crap about how Marines are better because of their training and are mentally stronger, and how the Army infantry is the "backup" for the Marines but have better equiptment? Then again i see the opposite opinions at the same time. Is this just all biased bullshit or is there really THAT BIG of a difference? From what ive research, infantry is infantry, both fight on the front lines etc etc. Not trying to sound like a douchebag but im considering going into the infantry sometimes this year, because its what i always wanted to do, but id like to get info here. Im not looking to enlist in the branch with the biggest ego just to say i did but i would like to see if any of this crap i hear is valid or not.

Thanks

I'll just say "interservice rivalry" and leave it at that.


When TSHTF, we're all on the same team.

Soldiers think Marines are retards; Marines think Soldiers are idiots; but both agree that teh Air Force are whiny bitches  

On a more serious note, you may have noticed that USMC "propoganda" is much more widespread.  THe breakdown and build up is definately emphasized by teh Marines.  JMHO

yeah for real, i see videos of marine guys cracking on army guys like they are hot shit. Fucking egos at their best. They watched Full Metal Jacket too many times imo

From what I've seen (Army support) Marine and Army Infantry are the same, but Marine support units are generally better (Then again, they don't have nearly as many)



That bit of info is worth exactly what you paid for it though.

Some take to the brain-washing better than others.......

Well said

They all wish their uniforms were this cool:



Then again I have a whole closet devoted to Navy and USMC uniforms so what do I know...

The Marines are hard charging mean well trained riflemen.  The Soldiers are a tough smart biker gang that can call up a a whole lot of death and men to help their sister club the Marines.


In truth there both part of the same gang the Marines being the enforcers and the Army being the rest of the mean ass bikers with all the heavy death and flying demons.


In the Shadows lurk the real scary fuckers who can bring or call up enough death to stop God.  Guys like SF, Seals and Rangers are the real scary men.

Well my life goal is to aim for the SF, i assume you cant branch off into that from the Marines? Or is SF strictly army?

Marines have their own special units, MEUSOC, Marine Recon, Marine Anti Terror teams,
And the best snipers and sniper program around,

If you are high speed and low drag have intestinal fortitude plus the ability to ignore pain cold and heat to complete your mission you can do anything in the military.

Go to Army basic programs like 19D or 11 series if that doesn't break you then you are ready.  They will run you to death, break your weakness and train you to be a member a team.  You are not shit if you can't work with and bond with the team


In the Military the individual is nothing the team is everything.

"Special Forces" is often referred to the Army

each Service Branch has their "elite" unit(s)

figure out what you want to do and select the best branch for you.

hmm yeah thats what i figured

It's hilarious when the services get together.  Comedy hour: A Marine e-6 yelling at two Army privates,  "What the fuck do you think is going to happen when you get to the fleet?"  Army privates just stare confused.  Marine e-6 realizes what he said has no meaning to them.  I walk off laughing.

The Differential Theory of US Armed Forces (Snake Model) upon encountering a snake in the Area of Operations (AO)

1. Infantry: Snake smells them, leaves area.

2. Airborne: Lands on and kills the snake.

3. Armor: Runs over snake, laughs, and looks for more snakes.

4. Aviation: Has Global Positioning Satellite coordinates to snake. Can't find snake. Returns to base for refuel, crew rest and manicure.

5. Ranger: Plays with snake, then eats it.

6. Field Artillery: Kills snake with massive Time On Target barrage with three Forward Artillery Brigades in support. Kills several hundred civilians as unavoidable collateral damage. Mission is considered a success and all participants (i.e., cooks, mechanics and clerks) are awarded Silver Stars.

7. Special Forces: Makes contact with snake, ignores all State Department directives and Theater Commander Rules of Engagement by building rapport with snake and winning its heart and mind. Trains it to kill other snakes. Files enormous travel settlement upon return.

8. Combat Engineer: Studies snake. Prepares in-depth doctrinal thesis in obscure 5 series Field Manual about how to defeat snake using countermobility assets. Complains that maneuver forces don't understand how to properly conduct doctrinal counter-snake ops.

9. Navy SEAL: Expends all ammunition and calls for naval gunfire support in failed attempt to kill snake. Snake bites SEAL and retreats to safety. Hollywood makes fantasy film in which SEALS kill Muslim extremist snakes.

10. Navy: Fires off 50 cruise missiles from various types of ships, kills snake and makes presentation to Senate Appropriations Committee on how Naval forces are the most cost-effective means of anti-snake force projection.

11. Marine: Kills snake by accident while looking for souvenirs. Local civilians demand removal of all US forces from Area of Operations.

12. Marine Recon: Follows snake, gets lost.

13. Combat Controllers: Guides snake elsewhere.

14. Para-Rescue Jumper: Wounds snake in initial encounter, then works feverishly to save snake's life.

15. Quartermaster: (NOTICE: Your anti-snake equipment is on backorder.)

16. C-17 Transport pilot: Receives call for anti-snake equipment, delivers two weeks after due date.

17. F-15 pilot: Mis-identifies snake as enemy Mil-24 Hind helicopter and engages with missiles. Crew chief paints snake kill on aircraft.

18. F-16 pilot: Finds snake, drops two CBU-87 cluster bombs, and misses snake target, but get direct hit on Embassy 100 KM East of snake due to weather (Too Hot also Too Cold, Was Clear but too overcast, Too dry with Rain, Unlimited ceiling with low cloud cover etc.) Claims that purchasing multi-million dollar, high-tech snake-killing device will enable it in the future to kill all snakes and achieve a revolution in military affairs.

19. AH-64 Apache pilot: Unable to locate snake, snakes don't show well on infra-red. Infrared only operable in desert AO's without power lines or SAM's.

20. UH-60 Blackhawk pilot: Finds snake on fourth pass after snake builds bonfire, pops smoke, lays out VS 17 to mark Landing Zone. Rotor wash blows snake into fire.

21. B-52 pilot: Pulls ARCLIGHT mission on snake, kills snake and every other living thing within two miles of target.

22. MinuteMan Missile crew: Lays in target coordinates to snake in 20seconds, but can't receive authorization from National Command Authority to use nuclear weapons.

23. Intelligence officer: Snake? What snake? Only four of 35 indicators of snake activity are currently active. We assess the potential for snake activity as LOW.

24. Judge Advocate General (JAG): Snake declines to bite, citing grounds of professional courtesy.

25. Signal: Tries to communicate with snake...fail repeated attempts. Complains that the snake did not have the correct fill or did not know how to work equipment a child could operate. Signal Officer informs the commander that he could easily communicate with the snake using just his voice. Commander insists that he NEEDS to video-conference with the snake, with real-time streaming positional and logistical data on the snake displayed on video screens to either side. Gives Signal Corps $5 Billion to make this happen. SigO abuses the 2 smart people in the corps to make it happen, while everybody else stands around, bitches, and takes credit. In the end, General Dynamics and several sub-contractors make a few billion dollars, the 2 smart people get out and go to work for them, and the commander gets what he asked for only in fiber-optic based simulations. The snake is forgotten.

That was....amusing lol

MEU SOCs no longer exist, the MEUs no longer go through SOC qualification.  During their work up they do a SOC integration at (Realistic Urban Training) RUT.  The MSOC may float with them but CHOPs to the CSOC when they get in theater.

Fleet Anti-Terrorism Teams are there to guard things, nothing high speed about them.

First the Army and Marines have different missions.  Different missions leads to different employment and training.

In the Army, people are treated better, act smarter, and have better equipment.  They gain rank faster too.

In the USMC, our ranks mean more, often a E3 has more authority then a E5 in the Army.  We have the espirt de corps that the Army seams to have lost.  Also the USMC infantry are better trained then the generic 11B in the Army.  The USMC equipment if often taken from Army DRMO we get what the Army didn't want or threw away.

There is a big difference between the two branches.  However we have the best Army in the World, and the Best Marine Corps in the world.

so what you are saying is neither are better because they both have their advantages and disadvantage?

Also why do your ranks mean more if yours is lower? Just because its harder to rank up or is it an ego thing?

Oh, I'm not going to say neither is better.  I think it is clear that one is better.  But they both have different strengths and weakness.  Part of that is due to different missions, and part of that is due to different mentalities.

Prior to this conflict in the middle east, the USMC was geared towards 3-30 day fast attacks.  Go somewhere, kick ass, and hand it over to the Army.  The Army was gear'd up for long term land attrition or mobile warfare.  Ie kick the crap out of the russians in Europe.

This conflict has changed things because now our forces, for last of a better term, are acting like policemen.  While we have not handled the situation as well as we would have liked, I do not believe that there is a military in the world that could have handled it better then we did.  In doing this, we have changed how we equip and train our military, thus effecting how our branches act.

-Anyways-

As for ranks.  I have had friends who were in the Army.  One served in both the Army and the USMC.  In the Army it is much easier to pick up rank.  (Not that they haven't earned it)  But because of this, there are more people of higher ranks, and less rank structure.  In the USMC, they try harder to maintain a ratio of ranks(even to the extent of screwing all ranking people to keep them at their lower ranks), so that rank means more.

But of course, this all depends on unit and job.  Someone who spends their carrier in the infantry is going to see a whole different military then someone who spends their carrier in supply.

'Special Forces' is Army SOF - Green Berets/Delta

SOF -> SF, SEALs, Marine SOF, etc....

The Marines are a smaller service, and tend to delegate down more... The Army has a butt-load of E-5s running around, so there's no need to give as much leadership responsibility to an E-4 or E-3...

The Marines feel their rank is 'worth more' to them, because it's harder to come by... You can't enter the Marines as an E-4, for example... Army? Yes, it's possible....

As for the branches themselves, each has it's advantages and disadvantages, depending on the mission... This is sort of 'evolving' right now, as the traditional Marine mission of amphibious assault is something we haven't used as a nation since Korea (maybe slightly in Vietnam)....

So what we have is this:

The Army is the 'king' of mechanized & armored operations... Need to take over a small-to-medium-sized desert country in a few weeks? Russians trying to take over Europe? We have 5 divisions of heavy armor available, plus the National Guard... We have more rotary wing lift than any other service, and the only divisional parachute unit (which, despite not being used for it's titular mission for a few decades, *STILL* thinks it owns the whole damn Army)... Of course, the tradeoff for the size & firepower is that it takes a good long time for the Army to do anything - Invade Iraq? Wait 3 months while we get ready....

The Marines? If you need to send ground forces clear across the globe who can take everything they need to *start* a small-to-medium-sized war, the Marines are *it*....  While they have less in terms of 'heavy' forces, the traditional 'Marine' mission is to 'kick open the door' for the Army, then fight alongside - which requires the smaller, 'leaner' force structure that they have.... The up-side is that the Marines can pack everything they need for said door kicking on their ships, and be 'up and kicking' much faster than the Army....

All in all, most of the Army vs Marine Corps rivalry is just that - traditional fun & games...

Now, we can do a whole 'nother thread on folks 'up high' messing with those mission sets (Such as the light-infantry side of the Army trying to turn the Army into a "Big Marine Corps', or the Marines trying to figure out how they fit into a world without beach-storming...).....

But as I said, that's another thread...

Thanks for the info boys, it helps

Another Q here. While i understand the Marines have their own "special forces" is it possible to transfer branches from lets say Marines to Army SF/berets if being capable to qualify for SF? Or are there some kinda of prerequisite in the Army to be in the Army SF? And i also suppose the role of Marine SOF's differ alot from Army SF right?

Interservice rivalry at its basic level is like you teasing your brothers, a harmless esprit de corps exercise. Take note though, if you've never served and you tell a dogface army puke that the Marines are better you might just get your ass kicked up around your neck by any military present because now you are the cockfag from the next hood down talking smack about my littler, dumber, slower, uglier, less masculine brother and we've got to draw the line somewhere.

There is no need for rivalry seeing as well are all on the same side, and they all make the difference. For me to ask these questions is more like trying to decide which branch to choose. Personally i wanna be the best, train with the best and fight with the best with all stereotypes, rumors and all bullshit biased opinions aside.

It's possible to transfer between services.... However, it's generally best to start out in the service you want to stay in...

So if you want to be Army Special Forces, then enlist in the Army for it (18X) and hope to God you have what it takes to pass qualification & get selected....

Its all good natured ribbing.  



If you really want the elite....GO NAVY!  (retired Navy here - living just up the road from Parris Island Marine Corp Recruit Depot).  Here the same from the grunts when they find out I am Navy....I just remind them about the Department of the Navy logo on their paychecks....LOL



Besides that....everyone knows the Coast Guard is the worst!



;)

I probably saw you chugging around in your boat sipping wine coolers while I was trying to ignore sandfleas jumping up my ass sideways & pounding out mountain climbers

I've heard Coastie boot camp is harder than the vacation the Navy goes through!

well from what i read for the qualification course for 18x, wouldnt it be best to start out in 11b first?

having served in both (active Marines 0311-8152 and ARNG 45B) I saw in the Marines salty lance corporals run the day and in the Army You have Staff Nco's the same age as Marine Cpl's and Sgt's. The Army Sgt's reminded me of Lcpl's in the Marines.

My ex girlfriend was a Staff sgt in the Army in her early twenties...I never saw that in the Marines. Staff Nco's were in their late twenties early 30's

espirt de corps...army from my "try one" did not have any and I asked some of the Army guys that were infantry if it was they same. They said yea.

I did see some when I went to Army airborne school. Some of the rangers and AB units did have some while at the school. Not so much the standard infantry that got jump school as a sign on bonus.

BUT they are all on the same team so who cares...