Question for USMC DUers

[dionysus]

is it normal for the Corps to hold the other branches of the service in low esteem? Two of my best friends from back home have served in Iraq. One is a Guardsman who was in Kuwait since the war began and the other is regular Army.

The other week a coworker's Marine son came back from Iraq. He was stuck in the room with me while his dad was in a meeting.

I tried to chat with the guy, thanked him for his service, and thought I'd mention my friends who are serving.

I mentioned my best friend (Army), who is running ammo convoys to the Marines, and this guy says (I quote) "yeah, all they do is drive back and forth, thats nothin"

Now, please tell me that isn't a typical attitude. Please. Because I was stunned. This guy came back on leave to do recruiting duty at high schools and...... fuck it pisses me off. Chris is risking his life delivering supplies to these fellows and this guy says
"it's nothing much"
On Edit if you can't tell i'm beyond pissed
:grr:

[Cobalt Violet]

1. I have seen that attitude in Marines I've met too.

[dionysus]

2. I was stunned by it

n/t

[ezekiel333]

3. It's normal

But inter service rivalry is common to all branches. Sometimes it is good natured and sometimes not.

[dionysus]

4. well, all friendly rivalry aside, that shit is fucked up

this poor guy was clocking in at 145lbs at best. pouring over maps of iraq... i bring up my friend serving and he responds with a diss on the guys service? the guy delivering AMMO to his brothers!?!!? WTF?!?!?!!??

[ezekiel333]

6. It is a common mindset for some

And it does not apply to all. SOME of the guys who serve up front and personal resent those in the rear with jobs they "perceive" as being easier. Is it fucked up, well, that depends upon the situation. In the instance you cited no it is not fair given the hazards faced to convoys in Iraq. But there are cases where that judgment might be justified.

[dionysus]

8. My buddy Joe who made it back already

Is in the Guards from Maine. He was in Iraq for 1 1/2 years, starting in the April before we invaded, doing conveys as well. They all had old equipment. I saw a picture of these guys after an IED went off, they all made it. Joe was wearing only 1/2 of his Oakley's after that, because a piece of shrapnel took it off.

[FM Arouet666]

5. Ex Marine

I was a "Jar head" in the late eighties, fortunately, education and exposure to the world cured me of the ignorance and intolerance I was poisoned with in my late teens. Marines go through the most rigorous training of any of the regular services and are constantly told that they are superior to any other service. The USMC is designed to be the elite fighting force of the US. Needless to say, this kind of brain washing in a young impressionable mind leads to the the kind of behavior you witnessed.

[dionysus]

7. At the same time I was angry at the guy, I felt bad for him

very, very skinny, and although he wouldn't talk to me he'd be calling his friends. I heard him mention that he could only get a half hour a sleep at night, it was what he was used to in Iraq.

[FM Arouet666]

12. They can really be messed up

Every single person stuck in the quagmire of Bush's folly are victims. The sad part is that most military people are blinded by obedience, honor, service etc. Hence, the huge percentage that support Bush. Most are not ignorant, just lacking in life's experience and education to see the world from a more tolerant view point. The sad part is that many will never have the chance.

[BoX o BooX]

13. FM nailed it.

We are indoctrinated with that stuff before we even sign the contract. Some of it is good-natured, some of it is justifiable pride in undergoing the most rigorous training of all the services (all Marines receive combat training; every Marine is a rifleman, first and last.) But there's no excuse for this kid's attitude; in or out of the service, all work is honorable, and therefore to be honored. He's just got a bit of a perspective problem; most youngsters do. It is to be hoped that he will grow out of it.

Edited because there is only one 'r' in "perspective."

[ET Awful]

9. Well as an ex Army mechanized Infranty soldier, I can say

that we had a definite disdain for Marines. More good-natured than anything else, but anyone on the outside looking in would have seen it as much more bitter than it really was.

It's not my fault those leathernecked jarheads decided to join the brainwash brigade :) :) :) (j/k to all you marines out there).

[FM Arouet666]

14. I am offended

Jarhead!!!!! I prefer the term Skillethead. ;)

[ET Awful]

18. Well, jarhead is better than what we called the regular infantry grunts

Better to be called a jarhead than track grease :).

Yes, we had a fucked up mentality.

[getoffmytrain]

10. It's this simple

unless you've been 'in country' in the military during during war time... don't try to get in the head of those that have... how you perceive things is not how those that have been there perceive things.

An ammo truck driver isn't a REMF (as long as he/she is driving ammo to the lines)... but in the mind of an 11B Marine that was humping ground this last spring, they may be...

If you're going to try to talk to combat vets, leave your view from 'the world' behind.

[dionysus]

11. dude's not a truck driver

he's the guy in the unit with a SAW, but riding in an aluminum HumV

[BamaGirl]

15. Lol, typical

I was Army and my husband is Guard and that's how we feel about the Marines lol. It's service rivalry. Nothing new.

Edited to add...in jest, sort of lol, I'd put my Army MP training up against every female Marine I've ever known. This whole idea that Marine training is so superior, so much better is part of the problem. Everyone in the Army also has to qualify with a rifle every year. You have to maintain that qualification to get deployed. I know plenty of people, and many men in the Army, that could not have done the training I did as an MP. Training and expectations are MOS specific. I also might add that there are levels of indoctrination in the Army. MP's, grunts, and specops are all, well a little more Army if you know what I mean, and the attitude in those corps is definitely different. Ok, I admit, Marines bug me lol. :P

[UTUSN]

16. "good natured rivalry" Is Hostile

Too bad, and it's not confined to any one branch. If you go where vets are drinking (as opposed to other vet places) it gets downright nasty: Combat vets dissing support types, branches dissing one another. The poor USN tends to get the worst of it, with crude sexual-(it's about power)-innuendo. Army usually complains about lack of air strikes from the Air Force. MC gets hit for being p.r. poster boys. As FREUD said, "Humor has hostility in it." (paraphrasing).

[BrotherBuzz]

17. The Marines are mad at the other branches of service

because they truly beleive they won the war in Vietnam while the army, air force, and navy lost it...at least that's what all the Marines I meet tell me. Hell, this gullible dumb draftee can't argue with that logic. :crazy: