Joshua Nall

Rebecca Agosta
UWRT 1102-002
24 November 2014
Identity of United States Marines
Who is the Marine Corps? In 1775, the Marine Corps was established and would bring
about a military branch unlike any other. Marines are taught core values of honor, courage and
commitment. These core values are what Marines live and stand by, and what makes them the
fighting force that they are. Marines are trained to the highest and toughest standards to prepare
them for all types of conflicts. This is done to create a fighting force capable of combining air,
land and sea operations. The Marine Corps has been involved in nearly every conflict in history
since they were established. They have had many roles in different wars and conflicts, and have
been most known as being the first to fight. Although the smallest branch of the military, they
make a significant impact from their presence in the War of 1812, to the most current conflicts in
Iraq and Afghanistan. Marines are known for being the first to fight because of their culture and
the way we are trained from day 1 of training, to the last day of your service.

When people think of the military, everyone has a different opinion and idea of the
different branches. Some of the biggest comparisons that come up are the differences between
the Army and the Marine Corps. Who is better? Who is the toughest? To these types of questions
there is no simple answer. First of all is the training for each branch. The Army basic training is
10 weeks long and is meant to train soldiers to have the basic understanding of military
operations, hand-to-hand combat, weapon handling and knowledge of the history and

fundamentals of the Army. The Marine Corps basic training is 13 weeks long and is considered
to be the toughest of all branches. Recruits are put through tough situations both physically and
mentally. It challenges them to push to their breaking point and then to push past it.

Training Marines is much like the Army in what is taught but is taken a step further by
breaking them of their way of doing things and teaching them to have the self-control and will
power to overcome anything they faced with. This type of training is to establish Marines to be
able to complete a mission no matter what obstacles they face. This can be taken into everyday
life to where Marines will do whatever it takes to do something no matter what, whether it be
helping a random stranger in need or saving someones life in combat. This is not to say the
Army doesnt do the same. They are taught similar fundamentals and would help in ways that
Marines do.

When people think of Marines there are a lot of different opinions of who they are and
how they act. Marines are looked at in both a positive and a negative way depending on
situations they are faced with and encounters they have either with other military branches or
with civilians. First the positive outlook on Marines is that they trustworthy. Many Marines I
came in contact with while I was on active duty have been trustworthy and I know that I could
trust them with anything whether it was something I told them or something I asked of them. An
example of this is when I was deployed to Afghanistan my counterpart was there to help me and
I was there to help him. Being the production manager I was in charge of getting products
completed for different units that needed support and I knew that I could count on him to take
care of the products I assigned him with and also to handle the work when I wasnt there.

Another positive is how dependable Marines are, and how you can always count on them
to get the job done both in their jobs and at home. For me this was also when I was deployed.
When I left for deployment it was 4 days before Thanksgiving and my wife was 8 months
pregnant. Although it was one of the hardest things to leave my wife when she needed me the
most, I knew I had people that I could count on to take care of her and my daughter when she
was born. While I was gone I had Marines in my unit and my close friends in the Marine Corps
there to take care of her and do anything for my family because I couldnt be there. To me this
was an amazing thing to know that I had people in my life that would go out of their way to help
my family and me in a time of need.

Negative views of a certain people can be devastating to an identity and can create
bad reputations. Marines have many positive views but also have negative as well. Sometimes
they can be unstable and be unable to function fully as they used to. I have a very close friend in
the Marine Corps who deals very severely with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from
when he was in combat. Having to deal with this has made it hard for him to be able to function
normally at times and to be able to have relationships because people who werent in the
situation cant relate to what he is going through.

Marines can also have the negative outlook of being psychotic and crazy. When you
meet a Marine a lot of times they are crazy and not afraid to do anything. We act that way
because we are taught to the best at everything we do and to take charge of anything we can.

Marines can take this to the point of not stepping away from anything and this can get people
into trouble because it can usually end someone doing something stupid and getting into trouble.

I began my research by looking up articles about how Marines are viewed from both
civilians and other military branches. That led me to articles on how they are compared to other
branches, more specifically the Army. Next I researched on yahoo questions about the views on
Marines. I received a lot of different feedback both positive and negative. Most people wrote
that they had good experiences with Marines, but some people may have had a bad experience
with one or more Marines that left them with a bad image. This research shaped how I would
write about the views of Marines both positive and negative.

Who is the Marine Corps? Throughout my research on who Marines are both from a
perspective of civilians and from other military members and also how Marines compare to other
branches of the military, I found that there are many different views and opinions. Although
there are differing ideas on who they are, Marines are known for being a fighting force that is
dependable both deployed and at home. As being a former Marine I have realized that Marines
and other military branches have an institutional identity that stems from their core training and
history behind them. They are trained and molded to be a certain way and even though everyone
has their own identity before they join the military, they take on a new form of their identity and
it is molded to fit the lifestyle that they have decided to be a part of.