Do marines fight on the front lines?

[linazelle]

I have a coworker whose brother was deployed to Iraq. As a marine, will he be required to pick up a gun on dry land? What do marines do/how do they work without water and the vessels that they are trained to use in water?

[ET Awful]

1. Yes, they do.

Marines are not simply a maritime force. They are a land/air/maritime force that fulfills many different capacities.

What this particular marine will do depends more on his individual job in the marine corp than it does on the fact that he's a marine.

[linazelle]

4. I'm sorry to hear that. My coworker was pretty sure that her

brother would not have to "fight" so she's been very laid back about the whole thing. I don't know what his duties/skills are, but I am going to send up a few extra prayers for him.

[nosmokes]

9. the marines are the classic 'bullet catchers' - but they

are also one of the best and most highly trained infantry fighting forces in the world. prayers and good thoughts for your friend's brother. may thay all come home soon and the iraqis find some sort of peaceful solution once our stick is out of their hornets nest.

[Walt Starr]

8. One other thing, every Marine is a Marine first and their specialty second

Depending upon where he is stationed in Iraq, he may come under fire even if his job is typing reports for a general.

[ET Awful]

12. Of course, and any soldier in the Army is an infantryman (or woman)

first. That's why we all qualified with an M16, all had to do a 25 mile road march with full ruck-sack, etc.

[Walt Starr]

13. Yup n/t

[400Years]

2. Yes

[Toots]

3. Yes they do

In fact they are usually the first ones to the front...in this new age of warfare it is getting much harder to distinguish where any lines might be let alone front lines...

[enigami]

5. "From the land and sea and air"

Marines ARE the front line.

[TahitiNut]

6. What "front lines"?

People talk as though we're engaged in something like WW-I - the last war with battle lines. Even WW-2 abdicated battle lines as the Germans engaged in a 'new' form of warfare, part of which was called "Blitzkrieg" (lightening war). (I think we should probably teach 'Historical Techniques of Warfare' in high school.) "Shock and Awe" was merely an updated form of Blitzkrieg.

Viet Nam was probably the first war where all combatants abandoned the obsolete notion of battle lines - a notion derived from battle squares and troop movements prior to long range artillery and (most significantly) airplanes.

Most important, however, is the fact that we're not at 'war' in Iraq. We're engaged in the occupation and oppression of a foreign nation after its invasion and conquest. The actions of our military are those of a police force under marital law. As always, military personnel are organized into 'strike forces' and logistical support forces as a function of their training and tactical objectives. The patriots/insurgents in Iraq primarily engage in offensive operations against the 'soft targets' - our logistical support forces, command structure, and those helping them.

[Jara sang]

15. "Shock & awe" was terroristic bombing of civilians.

Think about it, doesn't "shock & awe" really mean "terrified"?

[TahitiNut]

16. I've never been very respectful of the prohibition on attacking ...

... "civilians." "Civilians" manufacture weapons systems, provide funding, feed and clothe the military, and engage in warfare with an assumed 'protected' status. War is insanity. When countries were ruled by monarchs, it made some perverted sense. As countries become more and more democratic and their wars waged with the rabid approval of the 'civilians' then those 'civilians' become de facto participants. War is such a horror that it's like sorting turds to separate the moderate horror from the greater horror.

Iraq is a totally different deal - they NEVER posed a threat to the US. Never. All they did is pushed back at predatory global corporatists and attempted to limit the 'entitlements' (government-assisted plunder) those corporatists demanded. Our military has become nothing more than the hired guns for global corporatism - akin to the Pinkertons for the railroads and the private guards that busted union heads for Ford.

[Left_Winger]

7. Here is something to think about

I am a former Marine and I can tell you firsthand that each and every Marine is a trained rifleman so that if needed they can serve in that capacity regardless of their primary assignment.

I have a former student who enlisted in the Marines in 2002 to learn how to become a jet mechanic. He was deployed to Iraq with a Marine Air Wing Unit, but owing to a shortage of infantry he was assigned to an infantry unit and had to experience the fight for Fallujah.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

10. "Every marine is a rifleman".

When I spent my 4 miserable years in the "crotch" we had to qualify every 6 months no matter what we did for a living. They didn't give us those guns with the intent of making fashion statements. Also, the only "vessel" I was ever trained to use in water was me.

[brmdp3123]

11. Is this a serious question?

[linazelle]

14. Yes it is a serious question. I know nothing about the armed forces. nt