User blog comment:Griever0311/Ask A Marine/@comment-1260687-20100316004408

@Juan Jose Rodriguez: A number of countries have a Marine Corps; but they often don't have the warrior tradition and ethos held by ours; we're not just naval infantry, or soldiers that happen to use landing craft a lot; we're an elite force that exists to destroy our enemies in any environment, using any weapon. Also, as I mentioned in the Marine Corps article; the vast majority of infantry Marines end up special operations-capable (myself included).

@Gen.Cain: 1) Olive Drab, or Khaki, 2) Go back through the Recon indoc and finish the schools, 3) You can get in shape, and you can learn, you can't fix stupid; a quick, agile mind is the most potent, valuable weapon a soldier can possess, 4) I consider myself to be politically moderate, with right-wing leanings, 5) I personally don't believe that openly gay personnel should be allowed to serve in frontline/combat arms units; I've seen gay personnel outed, and hardly anything destroys unit cohesion quicker, and I feel the same about females for several reasons. Females, for the most part, are not as agile or strong as the average male, and do not have as easy a time maintaining their physique as males. We operate for weeks, sometimes months at a time in incredibly unsanitary conditions, and that's not exactly compatible with monthly female physiology. I've noticed that even a vast majority of the most well-adjusted female troops balk and hesitate behind the trigger, and just have a problem with any "hardcore" combat in general. I served in a mixed-gender unit during my last deployment, this is all personal observation. Most importantly, there's the "boys and girls" aspect of it I ended up hooking up with my driver (call it Bodyguard syndrome), and I'm afraid now that it would have compromised my decisions had I been forced to make a choice between her life or another. Females can serve in non-combat arms units. Just leave the fighting to us; we're built for it.