Should Army and Marines (or components of) consolidate?

Well as a Marine myself, just my two-cents worth. Was assigned to a small Marine Detachment (150+/-)of Marines enlisted & officers combined. Just a few of our unit (non of us COMBAT MOS) were asked to participate in a war game exercise with an Active duty and reserve unit combined. Well needless to say, the small force (15) non-combat MOS Marines defeated an entire Army unit. So as a Marine, don't think much of Army training and discipline, if any consolidation would agree with SSgt Estanislado Quinones USMC.

Any questions?

When I read the Army Officer concepts they all seem to miss one thing. It is called combined arms and that is where the Marines are totally different than the Army. A Marine MAGTF (AIR< GROUND, get it both air and ground combat operations) in one stop shop. A army officer would be totally lost in a marine unit and is not specialized enough to understand how marines fight and think. If anybody needs to change it is the Army and that was proven in the gulf wars and that fact the Marines were always able to do more with less. It is a mindset and a concept that is taught and engrained in the Marine warfighter. You also cannot say enough about the Marines warrior culture and cult like environment. They embodied the Spartan warrior concept unlike the armys touchy feely be all you can bee concept. Marines are trained and cultured to be warriors and very aggressive in doctrine and in nature. When shit gets real bad.....my choice is the Marine MAGTF on any day. Sorry army your culture as a whole is very pussified and go with the flow.

Please allow me to go back to 1982 when I went to Marine Boot Camp where I learned how to address this properly:

NO! You grabastic maggot infested crab eating bilge drinking maggot! Did the best part of you run down your mother's ass crack onto the wet spot that spawned your Naval ass?

Ahhh, much better.

Now to address this foolish question...

It takes 13 weeks of hellish training to earn the title Marine. Compare this to the Army's 8 week program to make a civilian turn into a Soldier. As military training schools that both Marines and Army attend, we see that the Soldiers are still under Drill control, while the way better disciplined Marine is on his own merit from wake up to end of day.
The Soldier goes through life surviving things. The Marine, on the other hand, finds himself Improvising, Adapting, and Overcoming all obstacles that come his way.
Then we have the personal standard. As I have witnessed in both services, the Army allows a most piggish standard of overweight individuality, and barley presentable uniform wear. The Marine looks most impressive in his physical fit body that also allows a most impressive presentation in Dress Blues, which we find is also very conducive to dropping panties.
Should the Army and Marines combine? Go back to your bilge water Sailor, because you have lost your mind.

If you can see me laughing right now, you may be ok. If you find extreme insult in my words, you only make me laugh even harder due to your thinskinned nature.

Would it be the army or marines? Let's be honest! It's not a put down if it's the truth. Marines are held to a higher standard. Would the army pick it up or would it be lowered for the marines? The latter would be unacceptable!

I don't think anything is gained by combining the Marines and the Army. Though the Marines and the Army DO share the combat arms disciplines, the Marines do have specialized missions that set them apart from most Army Missions. Combining the two services would either require yet another specialized force within the Army, OR require an additional level of training for ALL Army personnel. Working in close quarters with the Navy as expeditionary type forces is the Marine's specialty, and it isn't just something that should be added onto every Soldier's training for the (relatively) small number of Marines necessary to fulfill that mission. The Marines have a valid and specialized role in our Military, and should remain as their own entity. My opinion.

On another note, there are a host of questions that could arise from the "combination" argument... for example, should there be only ONE Air Force? That is, should Naval Aviators be integrated into the Air Force? For the same reasons listed above I'd argue no.

-------Why in hell can't the Army do it if the Marines can? They are the same kind of men; why can't they be like Marines.
Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, U.S. ARMY
--“If I had one more division like this First Marine Division I could win this war.”
General of the Armies Douglas McArthur in Korea
--"The deadliest weapon in the world is a MARINE and his rifle!"
GEN. PERSHING, US.ARMY
--"The more Marines I have around, the better I like it."
General Clark, U.S. Army
----There are only two kinds of people that understand Marines: Marines and the enemy. Everyone else has a second-hand opinion.
Gen. William Thornson, U.S. Army
--"There is no military body in our country of higher efficiency than the Marine Corps.
They take great pride in their profession. They never let things slack a bit."
Rear Admiral C.M. Wilslow, U.S. Navy
--"They (Marines) have given us our only real fight." Commanding Officer of the British, War 0f 1812
--“Marines know how to use their bayonets. Army bayonets may as well be paper-weights." Navy Times; November 1994
--"I have just returned from visiting the MARINES at the front, and there is not a finer fighting organization in the world!"
GEN DOUGLAS MACARTHUR, US.ARMY
--"The safest place in Korea was right behind a platoon of MARINES. LORD, how they could fight!"
MAJGEN FRANK LOWE, US.ARMY
--"You cannot exaggerate about the Marines. They are convinced to the point of arrogance, that they are the most ferocious fighters on earth - and the amusing thing about it is that they are."
- Father Kevin Keaney, 1st MarDiv Chaplain, Korean War
---We have two companies of Marines running rampant all over the northern half of this island, and three Army regiments pinned down in the southwestern corner, doing nothing. What the hell is going on?
Gen. John W. Vessey Jr.

----In 2003 when the Marines and the Army 3d Infantry Division had taken down Baghdad and had truck convoys scattered all the way into Kuwait, I was a plans officer at USCENTCOM when our intelligence intercepted an order from the Iraqi insurgency commander. It was a field order to all the insurgent unit commanders and it went something like this:

"Resistance Commanders, When attacking supply and truck units you must be aware that there are two different American "armies":

1. The US Army which wears tan desert uniforms like this (photo of a
Soldier wearing the old desert uniform); and.

2. The US Marine Corps which wears a different uniform like this (photo of a Marine wearing the newly issued USMC digital uniform).
When planning your attacks on supply lines and truck convoys ensure that you do NOT attack a US Marine unit. If you do, these supply-unit Marines will immediately act like Army infantry and they will attack you and hunt every one of your men down and kill them. The US Army truck and supply units will not pursue you. Attack them instead."

----In Iraq, the Contract Truckers started refusing to go on Convoys with the Army as security, because they knew they were safer with MARINES....I was there, I can attest to that.

..........I don't need to trump myself up. Others who are more respected can do that for me. But as the Standards of Marines are lowered, these negative comments from the Army and Navy are absolutely right. At some point, we'll be just like them.....but not yet.

The Army and Marines have two very different missions. The Army is designed to be a occupying force. While the Marine Corps is an expeditionary quick reaction force. This mindset is part of their ethos, and as such cant be separated. If they tried to combine the two unfortunately you'd end up with one of the other not both.

Absolutely not. Although both are combat focused the Marine Corps is actually taught how to fight and win. I can speak from experience here as I was in the Marine Corps and all of my brothers were in the army...one was a tanker, and the other two were in the 82nd. When asked the most basic of tactical questions, none of them could give a fit, sound response. My wife is an officer in the Army, and she had to go through boot camp. I must say, I am unsure what the point of Army boot camp is...no basic infantry skills, no courtesy and customs...no pride.

Add to this the stark differences in missions and capabilities between the two forces. The Corps is, for lack of a better term, linearly integrated. We have land sea and air, and we can combine them without much fuss, the army has no such capability. You would either have to lower the Marine training standards or raise Army training standards. Either way, not going to happen.

The Marines and the army serve two different functions, and should be keep as separate services. The army is not trained to serve as a Fleet force, and, except for the rapid response units, the army is not able to be on station within 24 hours. This has nothing to do with the capabilities of the individuals, it's about training. I have been proud to have served, which I did in 1966, beside a Marine, an Air Force forward observer, or a navy corpsman (who saved my life).

I, however, can't fathom why all the services have an air wing. At one time it was just the army. Then the navy wanted naval aviators. Then the Air Force separated from the army. Then the Marines wanted their own aircraft. The army then reformed it's own air arm with rotary and light fixed wing aircraft. Add the Coast Guard and NOAA and the only uniformed service without aviation capability is the Public Heath Service.

What a waste.

NO!!! Marines are trained much different and better than the Army. Marine basic training is 13 weeks vs Army's 8 week. Every Marine (male and female) are basically trained riflemen. PT and uniform standards are much stricter with USMC doling a 3 mile run vs the Army's 2 mile jog. And let's not forget the Marine Corps combat fitness course. Simple put the army couldn't hack it and the Marines should not be expected to "dumb down" standards to become "all-inclusive".