Should Army and Marines (or components of) consolidate?

I've heard that argument from Navy coworkers but it doesn't hold up under scrutiny. Did the USMC "invade" Helmand province, Afghanistan for the last several years? Did the Army "occupy" Grenada or Panama or Kuwait/Iraq during the Gulf War?

The fact is the two components have much more in common than differences and their missions do overlap quite a bit.

You know, I truly wish that those of you who were not Marines, stop disparaging the Corps. "ONLY TRADITION KEEPS THE USMC ALIVE, NOT NECESSITY."
OK, your view, sir, I believe is wrong, and this is why:
On the whole, the Corps is a fast-attack, quick response unit, with highly trained marksmen, and nearly to the person, a deep commitment to the Corps, not just whatever unit we serve in. We may not like each other, but we will still defend each other because that is their training. We are taught from day one, that we are not singular warriors, we are a part of a whole, never "An Army of One."
Yes, we have traditions, and we honor those traditions, as much as we honor and respect those Marines who came before us. Doesn't matter what unit, doesn't matter what war, they are Marines and that is all we need to know.
IF its only tradition that keeps us alive, then its a tradiiton that America needs... a singular group that has produced results on very little at times, and the training is still just as strong, keeping it an elite group in some ways, but AMERICA'S 911 in all others.
Getting off my soapbox now, and asking others to forgive me for having pride in seven generations of Marine Green in my blood.

Maj Ballinger you state that your soldiers can be trained to do what we do, well we already have that training and have been doing it for decades. Experience does matter, if this is the stance for your whole argument it is invalid any branch can train to do what another branch does, by your logic the Marine Corps should be the only branch we can train our guys to do what you do and in fact we already do.

Really, We "occupied" Al Asad airbase and others for over 7 years.

true, And I agree. I would like to see some individual thinking o the battlefield by Marines. To many I need permission to late.If they could train the marine corps to be as tough and knowledgeable as they are.They need to make the individual marine make a little more individual decisions when to shoot and when not. He is capable of doing that. In the military Army or Marine should not have to worry if they accidently in battle take a civilian down. If that idividual is in the wrong place camping along side the enemy to fucking bad he should go too. Its a shame that the politicians try to civilize war, if it were up to them, we would be handing out cookies and giving f in high fives. be well.

MAJ, I read comments like this, but I have to ask, what do you make of this?

"At the start of 2010, Marines lead Operation Moshtarak, the largest military operation since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan and reclaimed cities across southern Afghanistan, including the Taliban stronghold of Marjah. The War in Afghanistan officially became the longest war in U.S. history in June of 2010. Marines continue to fight the Taliban and train Afghan soldiers to eventually shoulder the burden of Afghanistan's national security."

Source: http://www.marines.com/history-heritage/timeline

How do you define strategic and tactical missions or needs?

On the contrary, SAC has been dissolved and with the need for more close air support, the plight of the A-10 and the over budget F-35 'multi-role' fighter which is an awesome video game on paper, but failing to deliver. Why not merge Army Air Corps back into the Army and keep the Navy and Marines (as well as the Coast Guard) under their own umbrella?

Better yet, make aircraft carriers fall under the Air Force. Any thing that flies in the skies is Air Force, everything that floats is Navy, everything on the ground is Army?

Sir, I am aware that the Marines have been used throughout the duration of OEF and some of OIF as a more long term force but were they not in ahead of the 3rd ID in Iraq? I guess what I'm trying to understand is what are we calling "employment as a shock force" vs being used as such? I honestly thought that's what they did at the outset of OIF. As far as the AF I was actually being facetious.

The Marine eastern advance up the Tigris valley in OIF 1 was used as a diversion/secondary effort to confuse the Iraqi Army as to where the main assault was coming. They weren't the "tip of the spear." They were the guys making noise on the side to pull the enemies eyes to them while the main punch was coming at them from the blind side. Same as they were used in Desert Storm. The Marines didn't have the armor or the firepower to conduct the main effort assault up trhough the Karbala gap.

Don't worry, it'll never happen.

A lot of Marines join the Army because the standards are lower. I.E. PT and uniform. The discipline is also way easier from what I'm told from my friends that did it.

It might be like that now. I hear the same thing about the Army, But years ago when i went through OSUT at Ft.McClellan 1983 military police academy and our boot camp or basiic training and M.O.S training was all in one 18 weeks. It was hell as we all know it to be. There was a shock phase in the training,it was very similar, but now I here it is like being on a football team, cell phones etc. We used to get dogged day and night,put in lockers and thrown down stair cases after being dogged by the D.Is in the squad bay, etc etc. constant day and night, now I hear they give everyone 6 to 7 hours sleep? yeah, I wish but I cant confirm what is going on today, i hear a lot has changed much softer and i don't know why.

After active duty 8 years in the active Army Military Police, i had to fullfill a 2 year reserve obligation. It sucked and was a waste. It was torture for me with such a lack of military standard, it was a mess. To me a bunch of out of control civilians wearing uniform. Only a handful that were doing 2 year 1year after active were ok, there were others in for 20 years just collecting a check that were pathetic with rank. It made me sick. I was active 1983 to1992 , had a rewarding experience, but then had to be in an active reserve component from 1993 to 1995. The reserves were bad. Dont know about today???

Most Marines join Army Reserve or National Guard units simply because those units happen to be closer to where they live than Marine Reserve units. But, yea, it is a lot easier in the National Guard than in the Marines; the difference is like night and day.

Sir, Capt Andrew Cosgrove recently posted some numbers that detail the bang for the buck that the Marine Corps provides. The Army would be hard pressed to do what the Marine Corps does on the budget it gets... Apples to Apples.

The problem that most large organizations have is that the larger they get, the less efficient and bogged down in bureaucratic red tape they get as well. So growing the size of the Army by adding the Marines to it, is simply going to add cost -- even taking into consideration the elimination of duplication of services... much in the same way that Obamacare was supposed to do the same thing and LOOK AT IT NOW!

Lets add SF to the Marines and get rid of the rest of the Army period..!.. We will allow you to keep the Ranger regiments as a Army reserve!

I'm not for taking in ANY Army units or capabilities. The Army, however, isn't content to do the same and they refuse to leave well enough alone.

Every year, when budgets are gone over, this discussion comes up in Congress. The Army would loooove to see the Marine Corps go away, but try as they might, they can't convince Congress to get rid of the Marines. Congress holds the purse strings and they are also looking at the bang for the buck each service branch provides.

The Army keeps saying that they can do everything the Marines can do as good as the Marines, but they have yet to convince Congress, the American public, OR OUR ENEMIES! that this is true.