Does one US military branch think it's superior?

I have had occasion to be asked in one form or another the basic question as to which branch is the best. With 22 years in the Army of course i would have to say Army but I have a standard answer I give to most all of these questions.
1st off if you are military and not Army I wil pull your leg a bit, but that's just comradeship.

The real answer?

Different uniforms;
Different missions;
Same Flag........................

You're asking us to be objective? Really? We sweat, bled, and cried to be a part of a military organization. We gave some portion of our lives to it for duty, honor, and country. And you expect us to be objective, to think that those others compare? Fah!

To be fair, every branch exists to contribute to the same mission. Each has its role to play. However, in the final analysis, that mission is never accomplished until an infantryman can occupy a piece of ground against all forces that prevented him to be there and those that would drive him away. He is the pawn that checkmates the king.

Of course the infantryman owes his success to all who support him. Those who allow him to move, shoot, and communicate, be it by air, land, or sea.

All the service branches THINK they're superior, or better, or more elite, or smarter (well, maybe not THAT one)... Like almost everyone here has said, it's a natural part of being a warrior.

However, there is only ONE service where a single unit (from anywhere on 70% of the earth's surface) can END HUMAN LIFE on the earth without leaving their chairs, and be perfectly safe doing so.

Army, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard... Your argument is INVALID!

7:^D

•••••Caution: possibly controversial comment. Please read until the end and I promise you will understand how and why this wasn't written to offend any branch, or make any other better than the rest. These are simply my opinions, so I want to encourage everyone to render an opinion if so desired, even if it is to argue against it. However, we are all professionals and adults, so lets keep all responses in a manner that reflects such. If you're looking for an argument, I'm not your guy, LOL)•••••

"Shot, Over"
"Shot, Out"

I believe that "balanced" rivalry is good.

If I had to say one branch actually believed themselves superior, it would be the Marines. Sadly, having come from the Army, I would have to bow down and give credit to it.

I've seen more "fit" Marines than soldiers, which is pretty amazing considering the Army has 541,291 and the Marines have only 195,338.

From the outside looking in, it appears the Marines go more "by the book" when it comes to physical fitness standards, and Marines have an individual drive to maintain fitness and uniform standards.

Here is one exception; infantry units and combat arms units in the Army. These soldiers are mostly fit and ready.

I attribute this to, in part, self preservation. When I was a medic assigned to a medical company, we "did" PT, but it was not the "get your but up and drive on!!!!" kind of PT. We were never really driven to excel.

Infantry units and combat arms all "live and die by the sword", meaning that their ability to constantly push themselves in order to ensure that they are not only fit enough to ensure their survival, but also fit enough for their brothers, and now sisters in arms, and their equipment as well. Meaning if a soldier goes down during an engagement, you may have to pull that soldier off the "X". If your 70 pounds overweight and your last meal was a Coke and a bag of barbecue pork rinds, you are going to have a less than stellar performance.

Now, all of this is dependent on whether or not you have a strong chain of command with a great desire for integrity; i.e. Instead of pencil whipping PT scores and "pencil/pen" weapons qualifications to keep the numbers up, a chain of command that doesn't want to guarantee troop strengths by the power of the pen, but instead keeps troop strengths up by assuring PT, weapons qual, height and weight, and uniform are enforced daily so that when all of these are done for record, thereby maintaining troop strength by ensuring compliance daily, do the soldiers do not have a chance to not simply go with the motion, but to be the force that drives the motion.

Another thing I had noticed was the difference in services. In basic training we were told everyone's primary MOS was 11B. I did not see many of our support companies live this belief.

However, you look at the Marines, and they say that every Marine's primary MOS is 0311 Rifleman, and the majority of all MOS's in the Marines life this belief.

I am not intending to offend anyone, but 11B and combat arms (19D, etc), more closely matches to the Marines.

I know there are officers like yourself COL Mikel J. Burroughs, who did not only require the standards be met, but also led by example, and lived out the standards.

Just my take, and I may be completely off. I pray that my fellow soldiers, airmen, Coast Guardsmen and sailors do not get offended, because when it all comes down to it and rivalry becomes an issue, everyone better remember that the military is like human physiology, where if one system of the body shuts down or doesn't function properly, THE OTHER SYSTEMS WILL SUFFER. It is the same way for the sum total of our military; when one suffers, we all suffer.

Always remember this and realize that rivalry can be fun and bring forth a sense of esprit de corps, if taken to an extreme, the body can suffer.

God bless and keep each and every branch of our military strong with a desire to make each other branch strong and compliment them, as was the original concept.

"Splash, Over"
"Splash, Out"

"Fire for effect!"

I like to think of it as good old sibling rivalry ;)
We're all in this together, people!

It takes Jarheads to storm the beach and secure area to move forward...It takes grunts on the ground to continually hold it...it takes flyboys to provide cover to ensure freedom of maneuverability...it takes squids to keep the seas and lanes open and to fly interdiction...it takes puddle pirate coasties to ensure borders are safe and international shipping laws and lanes are open. In all seriousness...each service is the expert in their field of operation and are superior in that field of operations. But none are more superior than the other as a service. Too many joint operations rely on the best of each branch.

Superior, No. Different, Yes.

I've seen Corpsmen dive after guys. Saw Navy guys on ship work harder AND longer than anyone should.

Each service just has a different "mentality" that works for them. I'd never try to make Air Force into Marines, or Army do what the Navy does. It just wouldn't work. Just look what happens when you have Marines & Army who are "similar" doing similar things... The Marines look like we're winging it and the Army looks like they're over-regulating or over-planning everything.

I think that there may be some good-natured trash talking but that most people realize that everyone in the military serves. It has a purpose and we do our part.