Posted on Mar 14, 2014
Should the Army think more like the Marine Corps? - Combat Arms MOS
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This is the first in a series of questions I intended to ask concerning the future of the Army and how it might be a more effective fighting force. So this question focuses on the specialization in combat arms that the Marine Corps has that the Army does not. The Marines have at least 8 types of Infantryman, the Army? Just 2. The Marines have soldiers tasked to drive all manner of Armored Vehicles. The Army, outside of tankers, simply tasks people into those positions. The Army has one type of Combat Engineer, while the Marines, again, have specialized with various Combat Engineering positions. So my question is should the Army be more like the Marine Corps in it's specialization of soldiers to become more effective?
MOS
Marine Corps
Army
Edited 10 y ago
Posted 10 y ago
Responses: 11
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This list is pretty accurate for USMC MOS's.
https://www.manpower.usmc.mil/portal/page/portal/M_RA_HOME/MM/B_EA/A_mmea8/C_mmea82
Shows what the Corps considers Combat Arms MOS's which is probably a lot different then yours but keep in mind the emphasis the Corps makes of every Marine a rifleman.
Eventually all MOS's merge as you climb rank. For me, I was an 0656 (Tactical Data Network Operator) that merged into 0651 which was formally a "garrison" operator but the Corps saw that with technology advancement that we were using commercial gear in combat in addition to tactical equipment. Now I am a data chief in charge of all 065x's but fill a Transmissions billet (0629 - Radio Chief) which isn't a bad thing considering I will eventually be a Comm Chief (0699) which will oversee all communications from Radio-062x, Data-065x , and Wire-061x. I'm sure there is cross training involved so I don't see why separate MOS's is a necessity. Ask any Marine TOW gunner if they were doing their job, they probably were a machine gunner. Even mortorman sometimes are just rifleman. You may be trained in a specific field but you will crossed trained because you may not fill that role all the time. Ive held billets that cover all the main communication fields and even infantry fields, whatever the Corps asks of you regardless of your assigned number you just do it.
https://www.manpower.usmc.mil/portal/page/portal/M_RA_HOME/MM/B_EA/A_mmea8/C_mmea82
Shows what the Corps considers Combat Arms MOS's which is probably a lot different then yours but keep in mind the emphasis the Corps makes of every Marine a rifleman.
Eventually all MOS's merge as you climb rank. For me, I was an 0656 (Tactical Data Network Operator) that merged into 0651 which was formally a "garrison" operator but the Corps saw that with technology advancement that we were using commercial gear in combat in addition to tactical equipment. Now I am a data chief in charge of all 065x's but fill a Transmissions billet (0629 - Radio Chief) which isn't a bad thing considering I will eventually be a Comm Chief (0699) which will oversee all communications from Radio-062x, Data-065x , and Wire-061x. I'm sure there is cross training involved so I don't see why separate MOS's is a necessity. Ask any Marine TOW gunner if they were doing their job, they probably were a machine gunner. Even mortorman sometimes are just rifleman. You may be trained in a specific field but you will crossed trained because you may not fill that role all the time. Ive held billets that cover all the main communication fields and even infantry fields, whatever the Corps asks of you regardless of your assigned number you just do it.
List of United States Marine Corps MOS - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The United States Marine Corps's Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) is a system of categorizing career fields. All enlisted and officer Marines are assigned a four digit code denoting their occupational field and specialty.
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I am not a Marine so take this with a grain of second-hand salt. The guy who does Terminal Lance was an 0351 Assaultman, and according to him he hardly ever did his job but rather found himself doing other infantry tasks. So I don't necessarily think, based off that information alone, that the Army should be more like the USMC in its specialisations of grunts.
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SGT James Elphick
The question then becomes is that due to poor planning, implantation, and utilization of resources or are those actually superfluous specializations? I believe it is the first rather than the latter
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SSG Tim Everett
Naturally it's the former. That doesn't negate the issue. We all know that our chosen branch of the service is going to have a lot of issues with things not being done properly or smartly. I don't see a reason to add another one to the Army's list. And based on the feedback from some of the actively-serving leaders, that reinforces my belief that this is unnecessary. The biggest one for me was CPT (Join to see)'s post talking about dead-end careers for leaders who didn't switch back to 11B.
Also, my apologies: I didn't realise that I had thread-necro'd something that was several months old.
Also, my apologies: I didn't realise that I had thread-necro'd something that was several months old.
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CPT (Join to see)
This was a major issue as you have addressed. But have additional skill identifiers were the Army's answer to this. I think this works better. I am Airborne and Ranger Qualified. So i can be in an Infantry slot or one with a "G", "P", or "V". Now each of these required for a duty position. A "P" is for airborne. But any infantry officer that is airborne can get it. After that he could to a mechanized unit. He is not limited by his MOS. This is the same for enlisted.
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I think the Marines should have more tanks.
11B: Operate weapons and equipment in ground combat operations. Duties include operating and maintaining weapons, such as rifles, machine guns, mortars, and hand grenades; locating, constructing, and camouflaging infantry positions and equipment; evaluating terrain and recording topographical information; operating and maintaining field communications equipment; assessing need for and directing supporting fire; placing explosives and performing minesweeping activities on land; and participating in basic reconnaissance operations. We are specialized and generalized at the same time.
11B: Operate weapons and equipment in ground combat operations. Duties include operating and maintaining weapons, such as rifles, machine guns, mortars, and hand grenades; locating, constructing, and camouflaging infantry positions and equipment; evaluating terrain and recording topographical information; operating and maintaining field communications equipment; assessing need for and directing supporting fire; placing explosives and performing minesweeping activities on land; and participating in basic reconnaissance operations. We are specialized and generalized at the same time.
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