Should the saying "every Marine a rifleman" be changed?

In the Marines even the Navy Corpsman is trained on various weapons of that particular unit he is attached to. Corpsman need to defend themselves & their wounded. Three years as FMF 8404 with 2nd Mardiv we trained on everything our Marines did. Our proficiency on various weapons may not have been as good as our Marine counterparts but if needed we were ready and conditioned to respond.

Take it from this old (RVN - 1967-68) grunt - get your head out of your arrogant 0311 ass. After boot camp and ITR, I went to Supply School and my first “job” was government contract administration in Philadelphia. This was outside my official 3041 MOS. One day, the Corps decided it needed more grunts for the war. After spending a year+ in Supply, I got about 25 days of refresher training and then went straight to ‘Nam as an 0311. I spent my entire 13 month tour, serving in every platoon level position (from fire team leader, to squad leader, to right guide to platoon sgt and, yes, even platoon commander for a brief period after the battle of Dai Do). I remained an 0311 until I separated from the Corps about 9 months after returning from ‘Nam.
I was one of about 2500 Marines who got yanked from other MOSs to serve as grunts. To the best of my knowledge, that was done only one time. The Corps made the BIG mistake of lowering enlistment standards to make up 0311 ranks thereafter and the Corps suffered from that decision for many years after the war.

Ultimately, land combat comes down to a simple thing. One person, planting their feet shoulder width apart and saying, "this square meter is mine, and to take it, you have to remove me." The 0311 is the professional. But every Marine can, and will do it when required. My other comment refers. "nuff said.

The difference is that you are a 0311 Rifleman with a capital letter 'R' and every marine is expected to be a rifleman with a lowercase 'r'. Yours is a proper noun the other is an adjective.

The issue with what youre saying is that you think rifleman implies infantryman, which it most definitely does not. Rifleman as in qualified with to use a rifle.

From what I saw all Marines are riflemen. I myself was a 0331 so I had to qual with the M16, 45 and the M60. Once I was transferred Marine Barracks the same thing with no less expectations. During this time I would see cooks, engineers...etc doing the same. And I would say straight forward if at a base and it was hit I feel a lot more better to see a paper pusher with the eagle, globe and anchor on his uniform coming out with a rifle then a sailor with one. I mean the sailor may end up shooting me first by mistake. All Devil Dogs are Riflemen, you just maybe a better shot!

Based on my own experience I do believe every Marine is a rifleman. I was motor T in an infantry regiment. I spent a lot of time training right along side the infantry, and I even spent some time with a recon company. I was also a PMI. Therefore, even though I was not an 03XX, if I ever found myself in a situation where I had to be infantry, I would have been just fine.

No, it is a USMC tradition and it is true. You should not feel like it devalues your MOS. The saying "Every Marine is a Rifleman" has the same meaning as the Army saying that you are a "Soldier First". What that means is that in a combat zone, every pair of boots on the ground regardless of MOS must have the ability and capability to engage the enemy, support the mission in any capacity necessary, and survive on the battlefield. OIF/OEF proved that.

When shit hits the fan and perimeters are in danger of being breached, ALL Admin and Logistical Military Professions goes out the window and All hands on deck is called. This is true from all branches on the ground in the AO. Every Marine is a Rifleman and Every Soldier is Infantry. That is called Basic Training OR in the case of the Marines, Boot Camp. The basic fundamentals are taught to all personnel. Then you go to Advanced Schools for more in depth training within your chosen profession. Throughout everyone's careers while in service, everyone is required to maintain the "basic" fundamentals that were taught and learned in Basic or Boot (Depending on which Branch you went into.) IF those basic fundamentals are not kept strong then that is the Failure of Leadership.

As a Marine who was in a support unit, we took pride honing our rifleman skills when we could. We understood we were not infantry but supported infantrymen. This was when I was a 2841 at an ELMACO in OKinawa, Japan in 1991-1994. When a Supply Sgt in the US Army in a combat unit getting ready for deployment to Iraq observing a support unit in the Army do some training to do some basic "rifleman" tasks that showed themselves to be so woefully unprepared so close to deployment to Iraq...yes every Marine is a rifleman!