The "I am a marine not a soldier"

[cyphertext]

Well if you go back far enough, you would have the Army Air Corps instead of the Air Force. Not sure what Army Air Corps members were called.

Sir... they were called Sir.

[JakeTheSnake]

They are all soldiers.
Whats the first thing the Army or Marines do when they get in a firefight?

Call in air support from the Airmen!

Sorry, couldn't help it!

[The Annoyed Man]

I've got about 6 Marine buddies/acquaintances.

I used the term "former Marine" one time.

Just once.

Yeah..... My dad was a WW2 Marine, and as some of you may remember from previous posts of mine, a WIA decorated combat vet (Iwo Jima). He was a liberal democrat and professor of comparative and medieval English literature almost all of his postwar life, but he never lost sight of who he was as a marine, and he was (justifiably) darn proud of his service. I never once heard him belittle soldiers, sailors, or airmen. He was enlightened enough to know that tens of thousands of men in other branches of the services had it just as tough as he did, and performed just as well or better than he did. He also had at least one story I remember of another marine under his command who performed poorly, abandoning my dad and 5 other men - all badly wounded - to their fates instead of getting them the medical help they needed and guiding rescuers back to where the wounded were holed up waiting for help. The man was so relieved to be back behind the safety of marine lines that he completely forgot about the men he was supposed to be getting help for. There were plenty of soldiers, sailors, and airmen killed at Iwo Jima too, and my dad never forgot that. It was a navy corpsman who gave him first aid after he’d been shot, and that corpsman was hit three times while working on my dad - the third hit tothe head, killing him.

[ScottDLS]

I've got about 6 Marine buddies/acquaintances.

I used the term "former Marine" one time.

Just once.

Yeah..... My dad was a WW2 Marine, and as some of you may remember from previous posts of mine, a WIA decorated combat vet (Iwo Jima). He was a liberal democrat and professor of comparative and medieval English literature almost all of his postwar life, but he never lost sight of who he was as a marine, and he was (justifiably) darn proud of his service. I never once heard him belittle soldiers, sailors, or airmen. He was enlightened enough to know that tens of thousands of men in other branches of the services had it just as tough as he did, and performed just as well or better than he did. He also had at least one story I remember of another marine under his command who performed poorly, abandoning my dad and 5 other men - all badly wounded - to their fates instead of getting them the medical help they needed and guiding rescuers back to where the wounded were holed up waiting for help. The man was so relieved to be back behind the safety of marine lines that he completely forgot about the men he was supposed to be getting help for. There were plenty of soldiers, sailors, and airmen killed at Iwo Jima too, and my dad never forgot that. It was a navy corpsman who gave him first aid after he’d been shot, and that corpsman was hit three times while working on my dad - the third hit tothe head, killing him.

Wow. That is really impressive. One of my high school friends' father was a 20 year old 2nd Lt in the Army in Europe and was a tank commander at the Battle of the Bulge. He apparently made a number of trips around Bastogne in the Ardenne Forest and had some medals related to combat. However, I recall him telling us how glad he was that he wasn't in the Pacific even when he was freezing cold in Belgium in '44.

[oljames3]

I wore my Army infantry blue cord with pride. I challenge any of y’all to talk about the blue cord.

The King of Battle always gives due deference to the Queen. Y'all are ever my favorite customers.

[Vol Texan]

Li'l Miss Vol Texan has known since about age five that there are five types of people in the military, "Jarheads, squids, flyboys, coasties...and soldiers like my daddy was."

But she also learned very early on that such names were just a characteristic of inter-service rivalries, and every one of them is to be respected.

She asked me once, "Do people in one service ever pick on each other the same way they do on the other services?"

I explained that, "Yes, we sure do. A tanker (like me) calls infantry soldiers 'crunchies'." and "Anyone who graduated jump school calls everyone else 'legs'." But then I added that even though I'm no leg, her uncle Tony would call me a 'five jump chump', because he served an an airborne unit, and I was armored cav who never jumped again after my three glorious weeks in Fort Benning one summer"

I've tried to teach her that it's all in fun, but when it comes time to go to work, we all fight for the same team - and everyone (even the flyboys) deserve all the respect that we can give them.

I trained alongside some coasties (while enlisted) and some marines (at my armor officer's basic course). Each and every one of them was incredibly professional - and two of the marines graduated 1st & 2nd in our course of 65+ students.

God bless all our service members - especially our snipers.

[howdy]

I am a Marine, not a Soldier. I was a Marine Pilot therefore I am a Naval Aviator. I am proud of both terms. I have no objection to another Veteran calling me Jarhead but I don't get a warm feeling when a non-veteran calls me that (I just ignore the comment). I have equal respect for all Veterans and all active duty. We all took the same oath and are expected to perform to the same level.

[rotor]

I was Air Force but I worked with many Marines during the Viet Nam war. They were all crazy tough. "Walk through that minefield" and they would do it. Marines are more than soldiers.

[srothstein]

I might have a different viewpoint from most since I served in the Marine Reserves before I went active duty in the Army. To service members, there is a difference between Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, and Airmen. My father was a Korean War Marine and made sure I never forgot that there was a difference. It became a running joke between us on which was better, Marines or Soldiers.

But, I also know that to the average civilian, all of us are soldiers. Many do not understand that there are technical differences. Of course, many people do know, and I would expect that most of the people who tend to frequent gun forums probably do understand the difference and would use the right terms.

And I agree with the older Marine in the first story too. If it came down to doing what the military does, we were all the same and brothers in arms. No one would mind if someone called us by the wrong term, as long as it was done with respect.

I think that the inter-service and inter-branch rivalries and jokes are something not many outside the military will ever truly understand though. It is a lot like a family. We may fight amongst ourselves, but we always stand united against the enemy.

[dlh]

Read all you can about WW2. I read several books on The Battle of The Bulge. We lost approximately 75,000 men killed,wounded, or missing in action. Sadly, newer generations know little about what our brave men and women suffered during that War.

[stash]

This is not my quote but nevertheless accurate - "THERE ARE NO EX-MARINES THERE ARE NO LESSER MARINES THERE ARE ONLY MARINES" AND "YOU DON'T JOIN THE MARINES YOU BECOME ONE".

[Soccerdad1995]

Well if you go back far enough, you would have the Army Air Corps instead of the Air Force. Not sure what Army Air Corps members were called.

Sir... they were called Sir.

Most probably were, but I'm sure there were at least a few who actually worked for a living.

[OldCurlyWolf]

I've got about 6 Marine buddies/acquaintances.

I used the term "former Marine" one time.

Just once.

That I fully believe.
A Marine is always a Marine. Either Active nor Not currently Practicing, but ALWAYS a Marine.

[flechero]

Civilians will call any service member a soldier as a generic term, but there is a difference.

The name Xerox comes to mind as an everyday analogy that mirrors this. I've never actually had a Xerox brand copier in any of the offices I worked in. But most still call it the "Xerox machine."

[Lynyrd]

I've got about 6 Marine buddies/acquaintances.

I used the term "former Marine" one time.

Just once.

There is no such thing as an ex-Marine!