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| - So, you think you miserable lot of baby-faced tropers want to make a trope about us? If you work hard enough you might be good enough to lick our boots. For we are the best in the world and you better know it. When you answer me, the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be 'sir'! Is that clear, troper?! Louder! I CAN'T HEAR YOU! That said, the "Marine myth" is a myth. Marines are as fallible and human as the rest of the species, and while they are invariably well-trained and dedicated, you find just as many Jerkasses among Marines as you do among every other group on the planet.
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| - So, you think you miserable lot of baby-faced tropers want to make a trope about us? If you work hard enough you might be good enough to lick our boots. For we are the best in the world and you better know it. When you answer me, the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be 'sir'! Is that clear, troper?! Louder! I CAN'T HEAR YOU! Yes, United States Marines are just better. They are a Proud Warrior Race all their own. Every Marine is a Blood Knight and they are held in check only by their Drill Instructor Nasties. They are commanded by Colonel Badasses and General Rippers, and they are the truest devotees of The Spartan Way. They are so committed to their job that they are almost a Church Militant. Do not mess with the Corps. Ooh-rah! That is the Marine myth. Like most successful myths, it has some basis in fact. A propagandist can't really create such things unless it is plausible and fulfills some natural human impulse. The Marine myth is recognizably similar in kind with the myths of several other elite military units, like the French Foreign Legion or the Gurkhas. What makes the Marine myth special is simply that many Americans take pleasure in it and therefore Hollywood does, creating wider mileage. That said, the "Marine myth" is a myth. Marines are as fallible and human as the rest of the species, and while they are invariably well-trained and dedicated, you find just as many Jerkasses among Marines as you do among every other group on the planet. The earliest American Marines were based on their British counterparts, although the modern USMC is a quite different thing. For one, the Royal Marines are a special operations force, whereas the USMC are primarily advanced infantry (with integral close air support, artillery, heavy armor and motor transport abilities but oddly missing Combat Medic personnel). The present role of the USMC is to serve as a multipurpose rapid response force. So at any given time they are more likely to see action even in supposedly "peaceful" times. In World War II the Marines were a specialized amphibious force. They were originally formed to provide an onboard force of infantry for the wooden sailing vessels, both to keep order among the crew, and to form the core of a Boarding Party when that was still a viable tactic in naval warfare. Though we think about this less, they also provided military police at a time when mutiny was a reasonable fear. The concept of "marines" is soldiers that fight aboard ships, going back to when ships would grapple each other and send over forces to fight. In earlier days, a ship's crew would be assumed to handle both their shipboard duties and fighting. Later on, they specialized into crew members who handled the ship and marines who handled the fighting. This distinction is, at the very least, Older Than Feudalism: the Roman Navy had several dedicated marine legions that could be deployed on ships or as auxiliary units on land. The current U.S. Marines still have their naval traditions, as well as patrolling with the world's largest amphibious fleet (by far) provided by the Navy to this day, but generally just consider themselves the first troops to go into the battle, wherever it is. The U.S. Marine's official motto, "Semper Fidelis" means "Always Faithful" in Latin. It is commonly shortened to "Semper Fi", hence the trope name. If you happen to run across a now-civilian who served in the USMC, be careful that you don't address them as an ex-Marine; that ignoble distinction is (usually) reserved for personnel who receive a dishonorable discharge from the Corps. In one Marine's words , "Lee Harvey Oswald is the only ex-Marine." The title of Marine is permanent once it is earned, as long as it is not revoked for dishonorable behavior. Former or Veteran Marine is preferred, though if you know it you can also use their last achieved rank before leaving the service. Retired Marine works too, depending on the context. It's kind of odd to refer to a 25-year-old currently working in the same place as you as "retired." The Marines' attitude is summed up by this statement: "Once a Marine, always a Marine". For that matter, don't call 'em "soldier". Most of 'em don't like that, either. Don't try debating them at it, either; it's a whole thing. If you want to make a Marine even more badass, make him a member of USMC Force Reconnaissance ("Force Recon"). If you want to make him even more badass than that, make him a member of MARSOC (Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command), which is so new (2006) that nobody even knows how badass it is yet. Compare Space Marine and A Space Marine Is You, where most of their behaviors, practices and general worldview will remain totally unencumbered by the march of time. A subtrope of Elites Are More Glamorous. Fun fact: Semper Fidelis is also the motto of the following military units across the world...
* The Devonshire Regiment (and antecedents)
* The West Nova Scotia Regiment
* Cadet Corps of the Dutch Royal Military Academy
* 11th Infantry Regiment of the United States Army]
* Portuguese Marine Corps
* Canadian Forces Base Valcartier
* Swiss Grenadier Regiment
* The Republic of China Marine Corps
* Hungarian Government Guard
* Serviciul de Protecţie şi Pază (actually a paramilitary force, and rather like a mashup of the US Secret Service and FBI).
* Submarine Force, Chilean Navy
* 47th Infantry Regiment of the French Army But how many of you knew that? And by the way, the quote in the page picture was actually said in a very fitting situation. Examples:
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