United States Marine Corps

The United States Marine Corps (USMC) also referred to as the United States Marines, is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations with the United States Navy as well as the Army and Air Force.

Overview
The USMC was set up as an infantry striking arm of the Navy, as well as ship's troops. It slowly evolved into a separate strike arm on its own, still part of and allied with the Navy, but capable of performing independent missions on its own. Eventually the Marines, not weighed down with the heavy equipment and top-heavy administration that dog the Army, came to be considered a sort of rapid-deployment force, a group of military troubleshooters who could be at the scene of military trouble swiftly.

Despite the fact that the Marines now work hand·in·hand with the Army, once their most bitter rivals, the Marines still maintain separate training and operational guidelines. Even their unit organization is slightly different. Because of their rigorous entry and training standards, and their mental conditioning, the Marines are still perceived as being the most elite of the U.S. land forces. (Even so, they are primarily light infantry; the Army still has the edge in mobility/firepower.)

Marine conditioning has long been portrayed as a matter of turning young people into mindless, wholly-obedient killers. This is not completely true; while Marines just out of basic training seem like this, this training is later refined to turn each Marine into a self-motivated, courageous soldier. Others interpret the results as brainwashing, and frequently see Marines as in need of serious attitude adjustment in order to fit into society, but the end result is that the average Marine is better motivated and more confident than the average Army soldier.

Organization
USMC organization is similar to Army organization; after all, Marines are just infantry and tank forces, like Army units. However, Marine forces aren't as bulky, since they don't usually have exactly the same duties as Army forces. Individually, a Marine battalion is almost the same as its Army counterpart, but Marine units stop at the regimental level; the USMC doesn't have larger units. Marine armor units are quite rare, and in an aquatic role are replaced with hovercraft units. Marine air units are more plentiful, since the Marines have a long history of their own air branch.

Deployment
Marine units are usually deployed in coastal defense roles, where they can make good use of their relationship with the Navy. Marine units are also deployed as ships' troops; a PB-20 patrol boat, for instance, usually carries a fire team or a squad of Marines on its patrols. These Marines are carried in crew positions, as gunners or other qualified ship's crew.

Tactics
As ground forces, Marine units use the same sort of tactics employed by the Army, with the addition of amphibious assault (a Marine specialty). Marine armor prefers to outflank the enemy and either provide stiffening firepower for Marine units, or swiftly move into the enemy rear area, using tanks for the former and hovercraft for the latter.

Equipment
Marine infantry equipment and armor is the same as Army equipment. Armor tends to be light; they have a few M-11 MBT's, but most Marine armored units have either M-75's or M-40 hovercraft. Hover-trucks and jeeps are popular Marine transports when the terrain is flat or near open expanses of water; these are supported by wheeled, amphibious APCs/IFVs. Marine air units use the Wasp or A-01 attack planes. Normal infantry units also make good use of AVs and helicopters.