Should Army and Marines (or components of) consolidate?

Marines wear MARINE patches...
Army wears ARMY patches...
Navy wears NAVY ribbons...
Air Force wears AIRFORCE ribbons!!
I find some of these comments extremely RUDE and disrespectful! I'm a CORPS brat, ARMY mom and NAVY wife. Shame on ya'll for being soo disrespectful with your finger pointing and accusational opinions. I'm not talking down ANY branch, but DAMN YOU who do!!

Camaraderie and traditions aside, we should have a single Defense Force as Canada does to minimize beauracracy and redundancy. We should have a single aviation directorate to manage all aircraft issues, shipboard or land based, etc.

No the Army is our ground force. It has heavy artillary tank (armored) divisions, an Airborne Division etc. The USMC is naval amphibious oriented smaller force. It's orientation is Naval Infantry. It's support Air, Artillary are organic to support of their mission. The USMC assiciation with the Navy is essential to the smooth functioning of both. In that respect it is unique and seperate from the Army and it's mission.

Not just no, hell no!!!
Two different missions, two different traditions, totally different branches.
Combine the Army with the Airforce if it is so necessary.

Who, in all seriousness, asks these questions? They just dont seem legit.

Having 2 services thinking about similar problems is helpful, I think.

All of the Armed Forces are combined in 1 group. DOD. And in the group there are special departments asked to prepare for a specific missions. Net question.

This consolidation discussion points our what I see as a real problem in Washington, D.C. The White House, Congress, and the judiciary are almost exclusively folks that have never served. They have no idea of the importance of tradition and pride in your branch. I will always be proud I am a Marine. I would expect old folks like me (70 years old) from the other branches would also be proud of their branch. This would be 100 time more difficult that the most complicated private sector merger. We would go through a lengthy period where we would no ability to do anything other than argue over turf and positions.

To ensure than air power is properly used strategically it would be better to consolidate the Army, Navy and Marine air forces with the existing United States Air Force. After this consolidation the President could select from these pilots and air crews those qualified for his new Space Corps.

The answer, I think, is to let the components do what they were designed for. USMC is the nations QRF, and the Army is designed for sustained campaigns. The Navy and Air Force are designed to get everyone there, and provide the air support to the ground components in combat. (USMC air and Army rotory wing notwithstanding) The special ops communities already operate in a fairly joint fashion, so have almost become a separate branch. I don't think any consolidation that removes an entire component will do anything to increase efficiency.