Should Army and Marines (or components of) consolidate?

No

As an Army vet, I agree with all the “No” votes. In ‘68, my unit shared Quang Tri with the third Marines. We fought alongside them. I have no intention of saying who was better or worse, but we WERE different. Our missions were different and Lord knows our attitudes were different. We need them both, but we need then separate.

No, they are 2 complete different types of units.

You aske that we put aside camaraderie and traditions aside. The Marines are the door kickers, the first boots on the ground. Yes the Army has Airborne and Rangers. But there’s much more to the Marine Corps than just beans, bullets and beers. Marines don’t give up. It’s in our DNA. First to Fight against any country that wants to stick their nose into our business. Marines don’t give up, nor do they give in. They, we, are all devoted to God, Country and Corps. We will fight hard and expect no support outside of ourselves and our Navy brethren.
You cannot separate Marines from their esprit de corps, camaraderie nor traditions. Without them, you have a typical Army unit. And that’s not showing disrespect to the Army. We eat, breath, occasionally sleep, live for each other and the Marine Corps. Where other units say “we can’t do that”, the Marines say “step aside, we’ll clean this cluster flack up right and proper”. This may not be what you are looking for but it’s the best answer I can give.
Cpl, USMC, 6113/6167
SMSgt USAF, 2A572/2A590

Though I respect each services traditions I find that the Navy is well suited to carry out its mission on both land and sea. As for the USAF which I have more experience I find that we do better in combat by the needs of both the Army and Marines when they are in need of having someone to bail them out.

Being a double jeopardy vet(both a Marine and a Soldier[ being in combat in Vietnam as both] I would like to say that there are distinct differences in both branches. However in combat those differences are not relevant to the activity at hand. I wear both the Combat Action Ribbon and the Combat Infantryman's Badge and am honored that I can wear both with an equal sense of pride. They were hard to get.

I was stationed in Viet Nam 67-68 with the IST Air Cavalry we were up north I recall saving some Marines who where about to get wiped out not once but 3 times because we were all on the same team so to me as a squadleader with 2 bronze stars we where all in Gods hands

No, the Marines and Navy are a team and always will be! Just kidding, but why would they want to downgrade?

I have to agree with the SSGT Luck on this one. The army and marines have a different function. Where there is room for training and exercises to be conducted together then by all means work together.

Not only NO but HELL NO!!! ARMY stands for ain’t ready for Marines yet. There is a reason for that.