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I have a couple of places I go where I run into the old school vets and there were a few young Marines that came in.
One of the Older Marines said Thank you young man for your service. The Young Marine said thank you and to you as well.
The Older Vet then says it is a totally different world to be a soldier in now a days.
To that the young Marine stuck out his chest and proudly said "I am a Marine not a soldier." (Sort of respectfully but the Older Vet got an evil grin. Then replied.
" Young man I hope you will one day never learn the hard way that we are all soldiers."
The young Marine got a puzzled look on his face. The older Marines Navy Buddy decides to pipe in with "We fought side by side and lost the same friends and honor all of our fallen soldiers, and just to be technical (Clears his throat) The definition in the Dictionary is a Marine is a Navy Soldier."
The young marine just said yes sir and walked out.

I was just curious if this is actually an age thing or not. I know a few older Marines that would say the same thing.

I was Army, not Marines, and have never known many Marines personally. But I always thought of "Soldier" as Army, just like "Airman" = Air Force, "Sailor" = Navy, and "Wannabe" = Coast Guard.

I would never think to call a Marine "Soldier", any more than I would call him a "Sailor". Maybe that is just me.

Soccerdad1995 wrote:I was Army, not Marines, and have never known many Marines personally. But I always thought of "Soldier" as Army, just like "Airman" = Air Force, "Sailor" = Navy, and "Wannabe" = Coast Guard.

I would never think to call a Marine "Soldier", any more than I would call him a "Sailor". Maybe that is just me.

Exactly.

Marines will tell you that they are not soldiers. The Army has soldiers and the Marines have Marines. Just like the Air Force has airmen and the Navy has sailors. Civilians will call any service member a soldier as a generic term, but there is a difference.

The young Marine is technically correct, but the puffing of the chest is intraservice rivalry. But when it is time to go to work, we are all the same team.

As a Marine, I can tell you that it has nothing to do with age...except perhaps that older Marines are sometimes a little less tactful when they correct the terminology. I will politely correct anyone who refers to Marines as "soldiers" both as a pride issue and an accuracy issue. As Soccerdad said, you wouldn't call a soldier or Marine "sailor," so it shouldn't be acceptable to call a Marine "soldier" either. We work dang hard for that prestigious title.

cyphertext wrote:Marines will tell you that they are not soldiers. The Army has soldiers and the Marines have Marines. Just like the Air Force has airmen and the Navy has sailors. Civilians will call any service member a soldier as a generic term, but there is a difference.

The young Marine is technically correct, but the puffing of the chest is intraservice rivalry. But when it is time to go to work, we are all the same team.

That's pretty much how I felt as well. My Father was a Marine also and he was one of the we are all brothers in arms and a soldier is a soldiers kind of guy.

I've got about 6 Marine buddies/acquaintances.

I used the term "former Marine" one time.

Just once.

imkopaka wrote:As a Marine, I can tell you that it has nothing to do with age...except perhaps that older Marines are sometimes a little less tactful when they correct the terminology. I will politely correct anyone who refers to Marines as "soldiers" both as a pride issue and an accuracy issue. As Soccerdad said, you wouldn't call a soldier or Marine "sailor," so it shouldn't be acceptable to call a Marine "soldier" either. We work dang hard for that prestigious title.

I understand completely. I had boot camp in Ft. McClellan Alabama. I was Army and there were Army, Marines and Navy training together.
When I said older Vet I am meaning Korean War and WWII Vets. They have a totally different view on the armed forces. I find it interesting to listen to the banter and stories they tell.

Even the Corps has called them "soldiers".

SkullCop wrote:

imkopaka wrote:As a Marine, I can tell you that it has nothing to do with age...except perhaps that older Marines are sometimes a little less tactful when they correct the terminology. I will politely correct anyone who refers to Marines as "soldiers" both as a pride issue and an accuracy issue. As Soccerdad said, you wouldn't call a soldier or Marine "sailor," so it shouldn't be acceptable to call a Marine "soldier" either. We work dang hard for that prestigious title.

I understand completely. I had boot camp in Ft. McClellan Alabama. I was Army and there were Army, Marines and Navy training together.
When I said older Vet I am meaning Korean War and WWII Vets. They have a totally different view on the armed forces. I find it interesting to listen to the banter and stories they tell.

Well if you go back far enough, you would have the Army Air Corps instead of the Air Force. Not sure what Army Air Corps members were called.

This is my rifle, this is my gun...

Soccerdad1995 wrote:I was Army, not Marines, and have never known many Marines personally. But I always thought of "Soldier" as Army, just like "Airman" = Air Force, "Sailor" = Navy, and "Wannabe" = Coast Guard.

I would never think to call a Marine "Soldier", any more than I would call him a "Sailor". Maybe that is just me.

Of course, I never miss an opportunity to remind my younger brother, retired USMC LtCol, that he was in the Navy!

Further, in the Army, all tend to call all Sergeants "Sergeant", except for the Sergeant Major, of course. Try that with a Marine and you will get an education.

I honor all my brothers in arms, but only the Army makes soldiers.

oljames3 wrote:

Soccerdad1995 wrote:I was Army, not Marines, and have never known many Marines personally. But I always thought of "Soldier" as Army, just like "Airman" = Air Force, "Sailor" = Navy, and "Wannabe" = Coast Guard.

I would never think to call a Marine "Soldier", any more than I would call him a "Sailor". Maybe that is just me.

Of course, I never miss an opportunity to remind my younger brother, retired USMC LtCol, that he was in the Navy!

Further, in the Army, all tend to call all Sergeants "Sergeant", except for the Sergeant Major, of course. Try that with a Marine and you will get an education.

I honor all my brothers in arms, but only the Army makes soldiers.

The Marine Corps is a department of the Navy... The Men's Department.

I'm an old Marine. Never a soldier. Although the term Naval Infantry is applicable (notice I didn't say Navy infantry :) ) I was happy to call myself a "naval officer" in the Department of the Navy, but never in the Navy.

I always had an appreciation for the Vietnamese term for Marine however - "Tuy Quan Luc Chien" or TQLC, literally "water soldier who fights on land" has a certain poetry to it.

I wore my Army infantry blue cord with pride. I challenge any of y’all to talk about the blue cord.