11/13   I thought the purpose of the Marines is to get on the boat and
        land on the coast to secure a place for barge, equipments and
        for more reinforcements, like exactly what they did in D-Day.
        Why are there so many Marines inside Iraq, fighting non-water
        related battles?
        \_ marines do the initial battle to clear up for the
           army to maintain and hold ground.
        \_ Marines are the toughest of the regular services. Their
           physical standards are held to a higher standard and their
           boot camps is longer than the typical Army GI. BTW, D-Day
           had more Army units doing amphibious assaults.
                \_ That still doesn't answer the question, though. !op
                   \_ if you need it spelled out... marines > army
                      \_ Except for the airborne. -ausman
                         \_ Ah.  People who get paid to run up beaches at
                            machine guns vs. people who get paid to jump out
                            of planes on top of machine guns.  Great.  -John
           \_ marine(adj)-- 1 a : of or relating to the sea <marine life>
              b : of or relating to the navigation of the sea : NAUTICAL
              <a marine chart> c : of or relating to the commerce of the
              sea : MARITIME <marine law> d : depicting the sea,
              seashore, or ships <a marine painter>
        \_ On perhaps a related note, does each branch of the military
           (navy, army, airforce, etc) have a documented responsibilities?
           I mean, what's the difference between them, and where is it
           actually written out and defined?
           \_ Yes you guessed it, they have turf wars all the time. -- ilyas
           \_ The Marine Corp and Navy have their own air forces as
              does the Army to a lesser degree. Every force except
              for the marines has their own ground troops: the Marines
              are supposed to be the Navy's ground troops, but don't
              tell a squid that. I don't think the Air Force has too
              many ships, but I wouldn't be surprised to discover that
              the Army does. -ausman
              \_ Army's only ships are contract prepositioning ships.
                 \_ Not quite -- http://tinyurl.com/3zzo7 .  You can see
                    an ACoE ship in SF Bay sometimes.  -John
        \_ As someone pointed out above, the Marines are simply better
           and more comprehensively trained and better equipped for
           rapid deployment than most Army units. One can view the name
           as largely historical and the fact that they remain a separate
           branch as a testament to their effectiveness and perhaps
           more importantly the PR and political skills of their leadership
           over the years. The classical amphibious assault itself is
           arguably an obsolete tactic - the last significant US amphibious
           assault I can think of is McArthur's landing in Inchon in
           late 1950, during the Korean War. In addition, the Marines
           are generally less specialized than the more elite Army units
           such as Airborne and the Rangers - unlike the Army, they have
           their own fixed-wing ground-support aircraft, their own UAVs,
           their own armour (including M1 tanks) and can more easily execute
           a "combined arms" operation (up to a certain scale, of course)
           on their own. This makes them an attractive option for military
           planners in difficult but constrained engagements such as in
           Fallujah. This of course, has its price - Marines are often
           disporpotionately represented in the casualty figures when
           serious fighting takes place. -pvg
        \_ As I recall, the Marines were originally for boat-to-boat
           combat.  I could be wrong though.
           \_ They were just a warship's military contingent.  They guarded
              ships and watched prisoners, so the whole ship-to-ship thing
              kind of naturally evolved.  And instead of having to carry
              a bunch of seasick army guys around to go beat up on some S.
              Pacific natives, it was easier to just have your on-board
              security detail do it.  That's where the beach invasion force
              bit comes from; because warships were also the first on the
              scene in faraway places, marines were usually the guys you
              had guard colonists and embassies, just because they were
              easiest and quickest to get there; that's also the reason why
              they're the most mobile bunch, and it's historically why you'll
              be more likely to find them blowing up stuff in faraway places
              than the regular army.  -John
              \_ To get mildly pedantic, historically, marines were not
                 so much a security unit but  what the name
                 implies - a ship-borne group of soldiers. Their 17th
                 century Royal Navy name - "Maritime Regiment of Foot"
                 pretty much tells the story as does the "Gibraltar"
                 on Royal Marines insignia, a reference to a 1704 battle
                 where their role was neither primarily that of ship-to-ship
                 combat nor protective detail. -pvg
                 \_ "security" includes preventing guys with swords from
                    climbing on your boat :-)  -John
        \_ so based on the above they should change the name Marines -/
           since it has nothing to do with water nowadays
           \_ Absolutely! And while at it, one might decimate all instances
              of such wildly inappropriate naming! Sure, Airborne jumps from
              planes but when's the last time there was a significant airborne
              operation? Rename the 10th Mountain, all units designated
              "cavalry" and british fusiliers, grenadiers, etc. Wait, and
              the word "decimate" doesn't really mean "reduce to a 10th of"
              so excise that from dictionaries as well. And stop calling
              computers and other equipment "digital" since it has nothing
              to do with fingers nowadays. -pvg
              the