Should Army and Marines (or components of) consolidate?

We are all one team .

What about just consolidating certain aspects, like medical, police, warrior transition units.

The question should be this. They all have planes. should we just have one big Air Force.

I brought this conversation up with a Former Marine that I know, and his response was this (loosely paraphrased):

The Marine Corp is a truly expeditionary force (nothing was mentioned of the amphibious capability) that the president can order anywhere in the world without being required of informing congress (or have congressional approval) beforehand, where he does not have that luxury with the Army.

No, I don't have time for the Marine corp ego. I don't need the fancy uniforms.

After 240 years, some degree of institutional mind-set is going to occur. Emotionally speaking, the traditions of all the services are different and just cannot be cast aside.

Objectively thinking, and judging by the responses, this has occurred to no one, but here are some points to think about...

First off, we are pretty much all part of the same team, and that is called the Department of Defense. Which, is a misnomer in of itself, as NONE of the services of the DOD can be used in the defense of the United States (posse comitatus act). In fact, up until shortly after WWII, it was called the War Department. Not since the US Civil war has our military conducted military operations on US soil (PCA was written into law in the 1870's). All operations have been aimed at protecting our allies and interests overseas.

Traditionally speaking, the AUS has been considered an invasion and occupation army, while the USMC is specialized in amphibious assault. However, consider the two largest amphibious invasions of the past century. One was conducted by three divisions of Marines (3rd, 4th, and 5th MDs), while the other was conducted by three Army divisions (1st, 4th and 29th IDs). Not taking away from the 101st and the 82nd ABD's, but they didn't come across on boats.

Now, look at Iraqi Freedom...both the Army and the Marines were used, as land infantry, coming up from the south. And made better time than expected, but it seems that someone in the IRG must have read Sun Tzu, as it resulted in a bitter insurgency for the next 5-odd years.

Frankly, this question always seems to come up in times of military recession. But do we really want to be like Red China (yes, I said it), and have all of the 'ancillary' services fall subordinate to the Army?

I think these are two VERY different cultures. How would that be addressed? The Army could probably stand becoming more like The Marines but will Marines be forced to be more like the Army? The Corps has more discipline, more widespread traditions practiced among all ranks, a closer lifelong camradery w each other compared to soldiers. Just my opinion, obviously, but I think culturally the Marines would be especially resistant.

Absolutely not. And tradition is entirely my reason. 300 years of it. It's built into their dna, it effects their psyche, their mentality, the way they associate with one another. Their very synergy. It cannot be removed as an issue in order to 'objectively' examine this idea. It just can't.

I feel the same thing about the Navy. 300 years of tradition...I love all of that shit, it made it interesting, fun, educational. It makes you feel like you're part of something larger, not just an organization, but an ENTITY with a life of it's own, stretching back centuries.

So no. Leave them alone. Anyway, they're already rolled into the Navy.

I have been telling my co-workers for years that the separate Services should be consolidated into one with a ground, air, and sea component. One, it would save the taxpayers’ a lot of money. Instead of each Service having their own communications equipment that doesn’t always work together well, there would be one communications equipment set and no need to worry about integrating four different communications packages. Instead of the Army and Marines having different armored platforms they have the same tank. The same with helicopters and aircraft. Two, it would streamline the Services since we are downsizing. It would also make them more efficient. Third, we can all wear the same uniform instead of wasting tons of money on different ones. We all used to wear the BDUs.

There are many differences between the Marines and the Army. Attitude is just one, training is another. The country is well served by the mystique of the Marines. The country as well as both services would lose something if both are combined into one service. It almost impossible to explain but Soldiers and Marines know it to be true. Politicians and civilians will never understand this.