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Why are there so many Marines inside Iraq, fighting non-water related battles? 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. 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. I mean, what's the difference between them, and where is it actually written out and defined? 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.
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. 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. 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. 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. 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. html Return to Sea Flags home page Flags on Army Watercraft Vessel flags used by the Army are authorized by AR 840-10, the Army regul ation on flags. They are in the colors of the branch operating the vess el and have the branch insignia on the center. Vessel flags are authori zed in six by ei ght foot, four by six foot, and two by three foot sizes. In addition, ce rtain Department of the Army officials and general offi cers are authori zed to fly boat flags in Army watercraft. For general o fficers, these f lags are scarlet, three by four feet, with the appropria te number of wh ite stars indicating the officer's rank centered in a hor izontal line. The Army Transportation corps operates a fleet of some 90 name d oceango ing ships and other watercraft. These are primarily landing cr aft and v essels associated with logistics-over-the-shore operations. Th ey displa y the national ensign and union jack in the same manner as the Navy, exc ept that the ensign is always flown when under way between sunr ise and sunset. In addition, the Transportation Corps flag is flown fro m sunris e to sunset on the forwardmost mast, or on the outboard halyard of the p ort yardarm if there is a single mast. Shipboard courtesies and customs, including the use of flags, are laid down for Army vessels in Field Man ual 55-501, Marine Crewman's Handbook. The Army follows somewh at differ ent practices from those used by the sea services in naming and commissi oning its vessels. A vessel is formally named when it is actua lly deliv ered to the unit rather than at its launching. The larger craf t are off icially commissioned (rather than simply being placed in servic e) in a ceremony that begins with the crew in formation on the pier alon gside t he vessel. The officer conducting the commissioning addresses th e prosp ective master of the ship with the words "I hereby deliver the U S Army vessel ---------." The new master replies, "I hereby assume com mand of the US Army vessel ---------," then marches aboard accompanied by the co mpany guidon bearer, takes his place on the quarterdeck, and o rders the national ensign, union jack, and any other flags or pennants t o be hoi sted simultaneously. The rest of the crew then files aboard and mans the rail. The Army flag regulation, AR 840-10, provides for a Signal Cor ps vessel flag, which, under AR 56-9, should be flown according to the s a me rules used by the Transportation Corps. However, with the retiremen t of the last Army cable-laying ships, it is not clear whether this flag is still used in practice. In addition to their military duties, US Army engineers have been responsible since the early days of the Republic fo r a wide range of what are now termed "civil works" functions, including maintenance of navigable waterways and flood control. Accordingly, the Army Corps of Engineers operates a substantial number of dredges and oth er working ves sels at US ports and along inland and coastal waterways. Army engineers have used distinguishing flags since at least 1862, and s c arlet flags with castles since 1866. The flag shown was in use as a ve s sel flag by 1917, if not before. The "castle flag" is used only for th e civil works, research, and construction management functions of the Co r ps, not by such units as engineer battalions, and it is never flown at A rmy posts. Because the castle flag is used only in association with t he civil works functions of the Corps, its use afloat is governed by Eng in eer Regulation 840-1-1, rather than AR 56-9 as in the case of the Tra nsp ortation and Signal Corps. Nevertheless, the usage is virtually the sam e The castle flag is displayed from 8:00 am to sunset aboard vessels belonging to the Corps that are in commission and manned. The point of hoist depends on the configuration of the craft--generally it is placed either on the halyard of the port yardarm on vessels equipped with sing le masts, on the foremast of those with two masts, or on the bow staff f or those without masts. The national ensign is flown from the gaff or t he stern flagstaff according to the same practice followed by the Navy. In addition to the castle flag, division and district engi neers may au thorize the flying of a pennant to denote their presence ab oard a vesse l These pennants measure 29 by 45 inches and may be displa ced by the b oat flag of a general officer of the Army if one is aboard. The division engineer pennant is red, white and blue with the castle o n the center in red. Return to top of page Army Personal Boat Flags The US Army first introduced personal flags for civilian officials and general officers p rimarily so they would have appropriate flags to displ ay in the bows of boats when visiting units of the Navy. These flags ha ve since evolved into the embroidered, fringed flags carried on parade o r displayed in o ffices, but they are still flown at sea on occasions whe n senior offici als or general officers visit vessels of the Army. The Vice Chief of Sta f...
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