Given how important tabs are in the Army, should a prior service Marine now in the Army have a special tab indicating their background?

"Rangers" are interesting people. Have you ever taken a close look at a "Ranger Compound"? Did you notice that the barbed wire on the fence is faced so as to make it difficult to get OUT? (The barbed wire on most fences is faced so as to make it difficult to get in.)

However, the Colonel from Lewis-McChord is 100% correct "There isn't a GD thing on a uniform that can take the douche-bag out of someone."

Why do they need a tab? Just look at their vehicle with 40 USMC stickers on it...

As a former Marine who knew soldiers who joined the Corps and had friends who joined the Army after leaving the Corps. A badge isn't necessary. They'll tell you all about their time in the other branches. Most of the people both civilian and vets seem surprised when I tell them I was in the Corps and most of them say things like "You don't act like a Marine. Or Really? How come you don't have that tough guy bad ass Marine attitude." It ain't about how you act it's about how you carry yourself and do your duty. Be proud of what you do not what you did.

Ive read most of the comments on here some good some bad.just for starters i did 8 years as a marine and 4 army.that said,tabs mean nothing to me.when i joined the army i saw privates with more ribons than i had.the army gives you a ribon or tab for everything from blowing your nose to throwing a grenade. I did all of that and more in the marines and never got ribbons or awards. Though i was in combat i never got a cib but army guys have them.so in short ot dosnt matter whats on your chest or shoulder. Ive net assholes with and without that didnt deserve to be called solder or marine.ive met more dedicated men and women with nothing on theyre chest that deserved more respect than some with a chest full of ribbons

I don't think this is necessary. Can I get a huge Velcro patch on my back so I can wear all the patches from every unit I've served in???? HAHAHA

SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4" What do these responses have to do with this question unless the author changed the question on the thread to show these responses as an example.

I am also a prior service Marine and I have come across this a lot since I switched branches. To be honest, have special tabs just because I was a Marine doesn't matter to me at all. There is only one that is stupid in my opinion. The fact that I can not wear a combat patch just because I was not deployed as a Soldier is ridiculous. If a Solider can wear a Marine Corps patch, I think that a prior service Marine should be allowed to wear a patch as well. The rest is whatever in my opinion.

A big and really important difference between the Army and the Marine Corps is that the Army focuses on Branch loyalty and of course all that Christmas Tree ornamentation the Army favors on its uniforms. Loyalty to the Army as whole is denigrated and belittled.

In the Marine Corps loyalty to the whole institution is stressed. Marines don’t need unit patches or tabs or any of that. It’s “My Corps, Your Corps, Our Corps, Marine Corps!”

Some won’t accept my opinion, although of course you should. The Marine Corps has developed institutional values that are simply better than the Army’s. Most Marines can name off the top of their head, Dan Daley, Manilla John Basilone, Smedley Butler, Chesty Puller, Jason Dunham, Mitchell Paige. They know that Camps Hansen and Schwab on Okinawa are named for Marines that died saving their friends. They know about Guadalcanal and Tarawa and Iwo Jima and Chosin Reservoir and Hue City and Fallujah.

Because the Marine Corps has made a point to keep it alive, Marines who are now in 1/8 or 3/5 or 1/7 know the history of those units. The Marines in 1/9 know it is “The Walking Dead.” The Army doesn’t do that. I remember when I first got to PI one of the Marines telling a former soldier now a USMC recruit: “The Army doesn’t teach history because it doesn’t have any history worth teaching.”


Walt

You should have gone back to the MARINES where there are no trinket games. Your either enlisted or officer, but all MARINES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From my time in the Corps ('68-72), the USMC maroon and blue Good Conduct medal differs from the red and white one issued by the Army. (Luckily my interaction then with Marine MPs didn't get in the way of my getting one {10 years in the Corps you might even have clusters!}). The Army should let you wear your MC awards. Anyone saw the MC ribbons they'd have to ask, eh? Perhaps just being honorably discharged from the Corps, or any Service, ought to give one to go. Pointedly it could be brown and instead of a star it could have the prior service emblem - quite a brownie point! Wouldn't matter to anyone not planning on switching Services; when I got to be a vet it was "Semper Fi...nally!"