Does one US military branch think it's superior?

Yes, the marines think they are the best.

Well of course. They all KNOW the Air Force is superior.

Actually all the branches are the same, because there are only two jobs in the entire military. Things are really simple this way and thus all work together in one of the two jobs.

Oh what are the two jobs you ask? They are Infantry and then Infantry Support. If your are not Infantry then you are there to support the Infantry and thus Infantry Support. This was a simple question!

Go Army. Beat Navy.

COL - There will always be an interservice rivalry... Quite frankly, it is a necessary evil. I agree with your philosophy of keeping it on the field of play in sports. As a former All-Army Sportsman, there was nothing finer than beating our rivals! That said, when we got back to work at our joint assignment, it was pure professionalism. The brotherhood is alive and well, even upon retirement and still competing against one another. Some of this activity was instilled in us as Privates when going through Basic and AIT. It was a good and needed rivalry. That said, over the years, a professional troop can look at the different missions of the services and see the relationship values each has in supporting one another. Our leaders have done a fine job at assessing, valuing and mandating joint operations. We truly could not function and be as successful as we have as a DoD in our past almost 20 years without that mandate! We have been quite successful in all joint activity and have gained much respect for one another across the service elements! However, back on the field, we bring back the basic PLT rivalry within ones own company, only at a much higher level. It is instilled on day one of our service and should remain strong moving forward - it's basic sibling rivalry and Brotherhood! All the best my Brothers and Sisters, thank you for your continued service... Be smart, remain vigilant, bring'em home, come home!

I picked the Marines because of its history. I only learned later how heavy the rivalry between other branches was. However, I have always noticed that when faced with an outside force regardless of your service branch the others would set aside this rivalry and come to your aid. I was in a bar a few years back that was for Navy. When they found out I was a Marine vet they gave me some shit. When a guy came in dress like a fugitive from a hip hop video and punch me in the jaw. (I guess he wanted to pick a fight) him and his buddies suddenly found themselves not just dealing with me but the entire group of Active and Veteran Navy in the bar.

If I'm being honest, the one branch I look down upon is the Air Force, and yes, it has to do with a really, really bad experience I had.

We shared a runway with the Air Force, a logistics squadron. This squadron had a history of sending in half-filled out flight plans that I would have to reject as the Flight Planning Branch Supervisor, which caused no end of trouble because inevitably their air traffic controllers would have to call the maintenance personnel on the flight deck to speak with the pilots to have them file a new flight plan. It usually took about an half hour or so and the whole time the squadron had a C-130J just sitting on the flight deck with fuel burning. This happened usually about 2-4 times per week.

The day that I'm speaking of in particular, I received a call from a destination station stating that an aircraft had not arrived. They were claiming 30 minutes late. This is a big deal for air traffic controllers, so I looked up the flight plan and the destination station had not yet accepted the responsibility, so I was the spearhead for this search. It was already 23 minutes past (the specific time is very, very important to us), and I had exactly 7 minutes to find this aircraft before I would have to call Virginia and literally make this thing a federal case. I sent out a request for information for every RADAR station, tower, and enroute station along the flight plan. 4 minutes later, I had negative responses from everybody. I had to call Virginia, and from that moment we had 1 hour before the USCG would launch, literally, over 20 aircraft to search for the corpses of the crew of this C-130J. At this point I widened the search to anywhere within 200 miles of the flight plan. After 48 minutes of searching, I got nothing.

The whole time I was trying to get the squadron to help, but I kept getting people who DID.NOT.CARE. that their squadron mates could have crashed in to the side of a mountain and died. I literally ended up on the phone with their XO before I found out that the pilots and crew had all left their phones behind and the squadron would not be able to contact them.

Less than 2 minutes before the USCG launched, the destination station contacted me to say that their transponder had been spotted on a RADAR scope. I called Virginia and stood down the search. For an aircraft 88 minutes overdue. From a squadron where exactly 2 people, the CO and the XO, even cared what happened to them.

Well we don't but Semper Fortis

I think it all part of Esprit de Corps.

All branches of service work for the same boss. Each branch has its own specialty. Of course, one thinks they are better than the other. That's just the way man thinks. Say what you want; think what you think; contrary to popular belief, one cannot work without the other!! We serve under the same flag, for the same reason. Be proud of what you brought to the table.