Posted on Dec 30, 2013
MSgt Visual Information Chief
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Should former marines who join another service give up the title
I first joined the Army and after my enlistment, I joined the Marine Corps.  I no longer call myself a Soldier, but a Marine.  Should former Marines give up the title of Marine once they join another branch of service?  It's analogous to a woman taking the name of her husband, then once the marriage has ended, she re-marries and takes her new husband's name. Me, I'm married to the Corps!
Posted in these groups: B04bb539 Marines
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Responses: 358
SSG Leonard Johnson
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No, of course not. You earned that title. Whatever title you are awarded or that you earned in the Army that's yours. I cannot claim yours and you cannot claim mine.
For example, back in the early 1900s when they came out with the aiming stakes for artillery... I was considered even to this day the best and most accurate artillery man ever :-).... You cannot take that title way for me, just like I cannot take the title away from you as Marine... Giggling
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SPC Shane Farlin
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You would look silly and alienate yourself in your unit, if you walk around calling yourself a marine as your in an army uniform. And the people in your unit would probably wish you had stayed a marine.
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LCpl Mark Lefler
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There are no former Marines, once a marine always a marine.
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SSG Program Control Manager
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You are still a soldier, soldier is just your maiden name.
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Cpl Craig Meaux
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Edited 9 y ago
Once a Marine ,always a Marine. I received a honorable discharge in 1995, but I will be a Marine for life. The same is true if you transfer into the Navy or Air Force from the Marine Corps.
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PO3 Ben Wakefield
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If you want to be called a Marine, be a Marine. If you want to remain a Marine, re-up with the Marines. Seems pretty simple to me, but I was never a Marine, so I don't know.
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SGT Robert Riley
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It is way of life. Once a Marine...always a Marine even when you cross deck and come over into the Army or any other Branch,
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Cpl Robert Espeleta
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Never, once you made it you made it through Marine Corps bootcamp, you are always a Marine.
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MSgt RF Transmission Systems
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Devil's advocate question - if you want to keep the title so bad, why did you switch services to begin with?
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LCpl Mark Lefler
LCpl Mark Lefler
9 y
The title isn't something a Marine can simply give up, no matter where he/she goes, they are still marine, even if they do not verbally express it, its there in their mannerisms, its in their way of thinking. Just because a Marine goes and does something else does not mean they stop being Marine.
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SFC Senior Transportation Supervisor
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MSGT, once a Marine, always a Marine
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