US Marines

Now, I should probably have asked these questions ages ago, but I had so much else on my mind that I forgot it. But I'll ask now:

1. What sort of a unit is the US Marine Corps? Regular infantry unit? Some sort of specific type of infantry unit? What?

2. WHY are they called Marines? - the word "marine" usually denotes something with the sea (i.e. marine biologists), but marines seem to be ground troops O_o

according to my dad, the Marines are like the fighting force of the Navy http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=marine heh

Marines were soldiers carried at sea, usually deployed to shoot anyone that tried to desert ship. In the British forces, the marines, in this case "Royal Marine Commandoes", when deployed at sea, have a rank 1 rank higher than an equivalent soldier on land.

dsm said:

Now, I should probably have asked these questions ages ago, but I had so much else on my mind that I forgot it. But I'll ask now:

1. What sort of a unit is the US Marine Corps? Regular infantry unit? Some sort of specific type of infantry unit? What?

Marines are a different class of military than Army. There are infantry Marines, journalist Marines... well, at least there were for Full Metal Jacket.

then:
2. WHY are they called Marines? - the word "marine" usually denotes something with the sea (i.e. marine biologists), but marines seem to be ground troops O_o

AFAIK, Marines do oceanic and airbased operations as well. Again, AFAIK, their mainstay is soldier to soldier combat. The Navy focuses on other fleets, Marines would be the type to board the other's ship and machinegun the people but keep the intel on board.

I'm going completely by movies. My dad was in the Army but I don't really care to ask him. My uncle was in the Marines. Suicide Squad no less. I don't really ask him anything since he's halfway insane.

Hm, not much new really. What deadnail posted was really what I knew or gathered from movies already. I was poking at more specific info (in case anyone on these boards know).

Fodders' info was news to me though - rather interesting, but that dosn't answer the question about modern US marines, thanks for the insightful info anyways fod, and thanks to the others of you who tried to answer my question as well.

I think the term 'space marine' originated because of the correspondance between naval and space terminology- 'space ship' for example. Not sure who coined the term space marine first, but its been used in the aliens films, games workshop stuff, etc.

Jon said:

I think the term 'space marine' originated because of the correspondance between naval and space terminology- 'space ship' for example. Not sure who coined the term space marine first, but its been used in the aliens films, games workshop stuff, etc.

Perfectly true indeed.

Jon said:

I think the term 'space marine' originated because of the correspondance between naval and space terminology- 'space ship' for example.

Definitely, you can see that from how many games have spacecrafts, which are called stuff like destroyers, corvettes, frigates etc.

Marines are pretty much the Navy's fighting force that does everything other than ship-based fighting. (That makes no sense, I know.) Marines board and capture hostile ships, and defend ships from being (re)captured. They also serve as a first-strike force, entering an area amphibiously or by helicopter. The Marines also hav their own combat and noncombat support people, who do everything the Navy ships don't get involved with. (Ex: The Marines have their own pilots for transport and air support, while the Navy has its own pilots for attacking/defending ships and naval rescue.)

The US Marine Corps is very good for fast assaults and "opening the door" for the regular infantry to come in. However, the Marines do very poorly in extended land battles. During the Vietnam war, the Marines suffered high casualties because they were used in a way they aren't trained or equipped to handle. (At least, this is what I gather from my dad and other people I know who were in Vietnam.)

If you look at the seal for the USMC, it says "Depatment of the Navy" on the top of it.

Dammit, my friend, who used to be in the navy was telling all sorts of marine jokes yesterday. Unfortunately, I have forgotten them all.

Q: What's better than being a Marine?
A: Being born with a dick.

Being ANYTHING is better than being a Marine.

...says two people who do WHAT exactly in life?

Lately I got a habit of stripping naked, splashing spermicide all over the tile floor, getting a running start and slide and a scoot all over the place.

Still I never doubt my sexuality enough to seriously want to kill other people only to prove that I'm a man. =P

Haha...I just remembered one:

Q: Why does the navy have marines on their boats?
A: because sheep are to obvious...

hehe

My uncle was a Marine for quite a while. Marines have traditionally been used as a kind of "shock troops" in certain situations, due to the fact that they'll shoot anything.

Marines are hardcore, and I wouldn't bash them too hard if I were you guys.

DC

Doom-Child said:

Marines are hardcore, and I wouldn't bash them too hard if I were you guys.

Brawn before brain, I say ;)

Crendowing said:

Brawn before brain, I say ;)

Maybe Doomboy is a marine...

IMJack said:

The US Marine Corps is very good for fast assaults and "opening the door" for the regular infantry to come in. However, the Marines do very poorly in extended land battles. During the Vietnam war, the Marines suffered high casualties because they were used in a way they aren't trained or equipped to handle. (At least, this is what I gather from my dad and other people I know who were in Vietnam.)

The marines not only did poorly in Vietnam because they were used in ways they weren't trained for, they did poorly because they only received basic training (three months) before getting sent into combat - or so I am told.
A soldier who's just completed basic training is NOT ready to fight in a war - they'd be sitting ducks!

Maybe Doomboy is a marine...

In that case, let's hope we don't meet him in real life, 'cause he'd probably be so pissed at us for quoting his title and stuff that he'd use some of his dirty marine close-quarters tricks on us.

the_Danarchist said:

Maybe Doomboy is a marine...

That avatar sure does explain a lot...

Crendowing said:

That avatar sure does explain a lot...

Heh...I've been meaning to say something about that avatar for a while now...

ICH BIN EIN AUSLANDER!

Uh danny, it's "Ich bin ein Ausländer" - just being annoying for the sake of being annoying :-)

And about the avatar, I remember that I already HAVE commented on it. Quite a while back while I was still rather new.
My first reaction when I saw DooMBoy post the first time (back when he signed up) was: "Damn, that's a small head to such a big fella - he can't be particularly bright"
Yep, it fits him alright :-)

dsm said:

Uh danny, it's "Ich bin ein Ausländer"

It wasn't in my German class.

Lüt said:

It wasn't in my German class.

*Me looks the word Ausländer up in my German-German dictionary
Here it is:

Ausländer, der; -s.: Angehöriger eines fremden Staates; Ausländischer Staatsangehöriger od. Staatenloser[...]

Roughly, this means: Citizen of/someone who belongs to a foreign state; Foreign citizen or stateless person.

I don't know what level you took German classes at Lüt, but I'm on a rather high level now, and if there's one thing I've learnt which I can add to my experience, it is that teachers cannot always be trusted as I've been given a lot of false info in the past.
Now a word like "Ausland", meaning a foreign state is without the ¨. Are you sure you haven't mistaken the two words?

dsm said:

Are you sure you haven't mistaken the two words?

No, because we used to sing that stupid "Ich bin ein Auslander und spreche nicht gut Deustch" song all the time. My teacher was the most absent-minded person I've ever met, but he was smart enough he had a book on German published and invented a few original words for the German dictionary.

The reason I trust my dictionary more than your teacher is that my dictionary is sold in Germany for Germans - I would be mighty surprised if native Germans can't even spell a word which I know is used rather often in Germany now (in connection with the typical problem about integrating immigrants that most European countries have), not to mention that I've spoken to a couple of native Germans about foreigners in their own language and they pronounced it with the ü in "länder".

I might as well ask another army related question while I'm at it:
Does anyone know what or where the term "Grunt" originated from?
AFAIK "Grunt" means an infantryman but I'm not sure.

Yes, the term "grunt" refers to an infantryman. My AHD says that the term came from the Vietnam war, but I haven't been able to pull up anything else about it. Perhaps it's because Vietnam was the least organized, least dignified, most chaotic ground conflict in modern history.