General Discussion

Irish_Dem

(78,109 posts)

33. The Marines wanted to differentiate from the Army?

Reply to MarineCombatEngineer (Reply #31)

Mon Oct 27, 2025, 05:23 PM

Oct 27

Marines always seemed like a tougher, more dedicated, maybe more professional than the army?
I know that doesn't sound right because the Army is professional and dedicated too.
They seemed more tightly wired, the Marines.

Edit to add, maybe more of the Army guys were drafted and not happy or gung ho.
And it showed?

I am just going by my childhood memories.
We lived on remote military spots in Southeast Asia during the Viet Nam war.
And the Air Force bases were crammed next to Navy, Marine, Army bases.
We were allowed to ride military buses to all the bases, so we saw the guys
and observed. We didn't talk to them. They didn't talk to us. But we had our eyes
wide open watching them all the time.

We liked to take the bus quite a distance from the Air Force base to watch the paratroopers
drop out of airplanes. The sky would be covered in guys jumping from the planes.
I guess that would be Army? Maybe Marines?

Edit history

Please sign in to view edit histories.

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

55 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

So I ran the Marine Corps Marathon today... [View all] sir pball Oct 26 OP

How anyone in service could support bone spurs is beyond me. spanone Oct 26 #1

I get the gist of this, but am getting my Marines mixed up. usonian Oct 26 #2

Pvt. Pile. Harker Oct 26 #4

Military will call civilians "Sir" and "Ma'am " when on duty haele Oct 26 #7

Part of my mixup. Forgot that. usonian Oct 26 #10

Good luck and good hunting for events. haele Oct 26 #12

Many thanks. usonian Oct 26 #14

Yeah, every Marine I spoke to called me Sir sir pball Oct 27 #25

Sounds like Kegsbreath was there. Or one of his drinking buddies. erronis Oct 26 #3

No, it was very non-militaristic actually. sir pball Oct 27 #20

Thanks. Good words about the personal challenges in a marathon. erronis Oct 27 #29

They like language and terms IronLionZion Oct 26 #5

Yeah but ... DoBW Oct 26 #6

Outstanding Marine! Aviation Pro Oct 26 #8

Thank you! This was my third... sir pball Oct 27 #24

The fact that I've never been in the service, but I still winced immediately when I read "soldier"... Iggo Oct 26 #9

Calling a Marine a soldier is an insult to Marines, active, reserve, discharged or retired, MarineCombatEngineer Oct 27 #50

Ah heard. Iggo Oct 27 #51

Yes, I was just pointing out how your post was spot on. MarineCombatEngineer Oct 27 #52

Congrats - that bridge at the end is killer TBF Oct 26 #11

The bridge is awful sir pball Oct 27 #21

maga assume that military automatically equals red hatter. . . . nt Bernardo de La Paz Oct 26 #13

They know who the pretenders are. paleotn Oct 26 #15

LOL, my Dad was a Marine - learned early NEVER call a jarhead "Soldier"! n/t TygrBright Oct 26 #16

You got a medal. Does that mean you won it, or placed? Sogo Oct 26 #17

Every finisher gets a medal. sir pball Oct 27 #22

3% sounds the percentage of questions he had right on his ASVAB. Crowman2009 Oct 26 #18

.... MarineCombatEngineer Oct 26 #19

Unfortunately that's not technically against the rules sir pball Oct 27 #23

You're right, MarineCombatEngineer Oct 27 #32

Sadly I expect sir pball Oct 29 #53

Congrats on your running of the MCM. MarineCombatEngineer Oct 30 #54

Thank you, Marine. sir pball Oct 30 #55

Well USAF aren't soldiers, USN aren't soldiers, USMC aren't soldiers. Irish_Dem Oct 27 #26

The U.S. Army. BannonsLiver Oct 27 #27

So only the army are called soldiers. Irish_Dem Oct 27 #28

The US Army are usually refered to as soldiers, MarineCombatEngineer Oct 27 #31

The Marines wanted to differentiate from the Army? Irish_Dem Oct 27 #33

Each branch of the military has their own jump qualified units, MarineCombatEngineer Oct 27 #34

Oh thanks, wow I did not know this. Irish_Dem Oct 27 #35

The AF Pararescue are considered some of the best trained combat medics in the world, MarineCombatEngineer Oct 27 #36

I will have to go look them up. Irish_Dem Oct 27 #37

Here ya go: MarineCombatEngineer Oct 27 #38

Thanks I was just reading about it. Irish_Dem Oct 27 #40

Yep, because so many pilots were being shot down behind N. Vietnam lines, AF and Navy. MarineCombatEngineer Oct 27 #43

Yes I remember when they were getting shot down in greater numbers. Irish_Dem Oct 27 #45

Thank you for this, I knew your dad flew dangerous missions in VN, but this is the first time you MarineCombatEngineer Oct 27 #46

Oh I must say it was not just my Dad. It was all the men, all the guys were doing dangerous work. Irish_Dem Oct 27 #48

I looked it up. Very interesting. Irish_Dem Oct 27 #39

Yep, these men and women are the Air Force's special forces, like the Army's Delta Force, MarineCombatEngineer Oct 27 #41

Wow thanks, I never knew about them. Irish_Dem Oct 27 #42

Believe it or not, even the Coast Guard have their own special forces. MarineCombatEngineer Oct 27 #44

Wow wouldn't it be neat to see all of these groups in action? Irish_Dem Oct 27 #47

Great movie, MarineCombatEngineer Oct 27 #49

Congrats on running the MCM! My husband also ran yesterday. I think it's his 4th or 5th time running MCM. Raftergirl Oct 27 #30