[solrflare]

lol

[Paintballin_Dan]

as soon as i get out of PSSP at Jackson im headed to benning. then no more CBRN **** for the foreseeable future

GAWD Fort Jackson sucks.

[Nick36oh]

i think all in all marine and army are pretty much the same. its whats inside the 2 that counts. GO INFANTRY!!!!!!!!! AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! KIIIILLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!

[wdpballa4life]

well if you do join the Corps don't come to oki... unless you hate your liver. and a officer? for real dude, thats not even the real Corps. can't wait till a gunny gets to you...
as for the sticks on your car, well lets just say after a while you'll rip them off by yourself, i used to be "moto" like a year ago, never again, 2 years, 2 months and 13 days left... ****

[wdpballa4life]

Originally Posted by Keith0147

hahaha fat ****. i havent seen a fat marine yet but have seen some fat *** army guys. But also not around a marine base.

i've seen fat Marines, try going to any base, gotta look hard but i've found a few.... hell one of my cpls is fat, ***** can't even run a pft....

[kida2]

Originally Posted by Paintballin_Dan

as soon as i get out of PSSP at Jackson im headed to benning. then no more CBRN **** for the foreseeable future

GAWD Fort Jackson sucks.

When are you going to be at Benning? I'll be there on Sunday.

[bangbang530]

is the training for mariens really intese

[Paintballin_Dan]

Originally Posted by kida2

When are you going to be at Benning? I'll be there on Sunday.

to tell you the truth i dont know anymore. it sounded like i would be leaving monday, but i havent got confirmation because me and some others did not clear finance. so it could be like a week-2 weeks before i get there.

[the other one]

Originally Posted by solrflare

Infantry and Armor are still ridiculously tough.

having spent 3+ months at ft. knox surrounded by the Army Armor basic training and AIT.... it's not that tough.

Is it hard? yes, absolutely.... but it's pretty easy compared to my side of the house.

[solrflare]

My bad mr marine man.

Infantry however....

[the other one]

Originally Posted by solrflare

My bad mr marine man.

Infantry however....

Oh, I won't knock rangers, 10th mountain, etc... Or any of the Army infantry in A-Stan right now. As far as I've been told, they're on the ball.

...but whichever mechanized infantry unit I saw in Iraq, they were ****ty.

It seems like there's a real gap between army units... and the luck-of-the-draw on if you see a good one or a bad one. Whatever, the same could be said of Marines.

[xxxarsonist]

Thats because theyre mech

[berserker19]

That's funny, because I remember when your "airborne" division couldn't figure out how to get across the Euphrates without a mech unit taking the bridges first...

[xxxarsonist]

yeah....well.....


your breath smells bad!


if youre referring to WWII battles, how many towns did the abn secure for the mech advance?

[berserker19]

Nobody who was in the division in WWII is still currently in it, so that is irrelevant. And my breath is bad so the VC can't smell me coming...
It is just silly talking about "this unit is high speed and this one is ate up blah blah..." The way it works is some general has a hard on for some unit, so they get cut a huge chunk of funding for equipment and training, plus they get the quota of guys they ask for in transfers and new soldiers. All of a sudden.. everyone is like "duh they must be high speed look at all the highspeed **** they do and have"... and everyone else is set up for failure and not surprisingly their unit looks like it is 10 years behind. It's all ****ing politics, the soldiers in one unit will for the most part be just as good as those in another.

[solrflare]

Originally Posted by the other one

Oh, I won't knock rangers, 10th mountain, etc... Or any of the Army infantry in A-Stan right now. As far as I've been told, they're on the ball.

...but whichever mechanized infantry unit I saw in Iraq, they were ****ty.

It seems like there's a real gap between army units... and the luck-of-the-draw on if you see a good one or a bad one. Whatever, the same could be said of Marines.

cough 3rd ID cough?

but seriously, truth. 3rd ID is standing up a new light brigade. A bunch of high speed dudes are headed there...good things to come

[Aero$mitty]

In my experience, the units that "looked the most ate up" were usually the best. Not spoiled like say, the 82nd or 101st. Had to make do with what they had.

[zerominded]

Originally Posted by Praetor

I've been in the USMC reserves for a little over three years(two of which have been on active duty), one Iraq deployment down...

Obviously I have a bias toward the Marine Corps... no better basic boot camp out there. It was one of those experiences that you love to hate, and will remember and appreciate for the rest of your life. And it truly is an awesome fraternity. My barber is a retired gunnery sgt and despite the age gap, there's an awesome camaraderie there and we love to exchange boot camp/deployment stories. Overall it's been one of the best decisions I've ever made and it's been a great experience. I've had to put up with a lot of BS, but that's a given in every branch(it is a government entity after all ). It's given me an appreciation for other cultures, a love of traveling, much greater confidence and self-discipline, and kept me in better physical shape. Not to mention, there's just no other uniform like the dress blues

Having said that, there are definite disadvantages. The USMC has a lower budget and usually ends up with the army's hand-me-downs in terms of weapons and gear. Also, while some MOS's offer decent bonuses, don't join expecting a huge bonus(I didn't get one at all). And, on the enlisted side at least, you start at the bottom rung and work your way up, so expect to deal with at least a few hardass NCO's and get your *** chewed here and there. Water off a duck's back though, as they say- you take it, fix yourself, and move on.

On the other hand, the Army, while I look upon their lax training and discipline standards with disdain, acknowledge that they have great opportunities in terms of bonuses, as well as great training programs if you decide to go the officer route. Everything I've read(a lot from Michael Yon) has shown Army officers in Iraq to have done an excellent job in Iraq especially. Not that USMC officers are any worse- it is primarily due to the tactical thinking of a 2/24 Colonel that things completely turned around in Anbar Province in dispersing Marine units in small forward operating bases throughout the region and blanketing the area with security convoys.

Personally, I joined the USMC reserves to finish college with the goal of going the officer route eventually to become a Cobra pilot. Another option I have is to transfer to the Army once I pick up Corporal to become a warrant officer, receive a 40K bonus, and fly Apaches. We'll see what happens. I have a cousin in the Army and I don't hold anything against them that he doesn't, but I love USMC standards, I love the camaraderie, and I love the uniform, so I don't know if I can bear to give it up for an Army one.

One more factor to consider- USMC deployments are typically 7 months. Army deployments now are 15 months. This can go both ways... you have the opportunity to save twice as much tax free money on an army deployment, BUT you're stuck in a hot, boring *** country away from friends and family for twice as long too. And you WILL get deployed in the USMC at least...probably the same odds of deployment in the Army, but I can't say for sure.

Hope that helps.

I agree to a certain extent. I am currently on my second tour(hopefully not 15 months again) and I have operated and conversed with marines on the FOB. Marines have the better/rougher life. They'll do 6-7 month rotations. spend 6-9 months home, and sometimes come right back, as with the army, especially combat arms, we do 12-15 month rotations with only 12 months back. but this is also 1st cavalry division. Marines do have a lower budget which does suck for them, but trust me, if in the army, we dont see to much of it come down to the actual soldiers either. they need tvs and the highspeed stuff in the command areas. Bonuses are going away because they keep saying theres too many of us but they keep recruiting. Who knows what the hell is going on there. The army is also trying to do more for families as such. they're trying to establish and grow new programs all the time for families to get support while their spouse is either home or deployed. i have no info on marines about that information.

However, we stay either on the FOB(basically a post) or a COP(combat out-post, which is some secure craphole), and the marines usually stay out for a week or two at a time sleeping in their vehicles in the middle of nowhere. But with all the security aggrements in iraq, and the marines pulling out of iraq and focusing more on afgahnistan, i dont know whats in store. Either way you chose there will be benefits. Marines basic is way harder. Ive seen first hand our basic training a few years ago, after i was already in for 4 years, and its become a joke. the army needed people, so they dropped the standards, and im still waiting to raise them back up. you should see some of the people we have. makes you wonder how they survived childhood.. but, comparing marines to army would be like comparing sugar to sweet-n-low. they both have their ups and downs.

any specific questions on the army, just ask. been in for 7 years as a scout. worked with infantry, engineers, and some of the support side.

[xxxarsonist]

Originally Posted by berserker19

Nobody who was in the division in WWII is still currently in it, so that is irrelevant. And my breath is bad so the VC can't smell me coming...
It is just silly talking about "this unit is high speed and this one is ate up blah blah..." The way it works is some general has a hard on for some unit, so they get cut a huge chunk of funding for equipment and training, plus they get the quota of guys they ask for in transfers and new soldiers. All of a sudden.. everyone is like "duh they must be high speed look at all the highspeed **** they do and have"... and everyone else is set up for failure and not surprisingly their unit looks like it is 10 years behind. It's all ****ing politics, the soldiers in one unit will for the most part be just as good as those in another.

basically what it boils down to. we had a guy just get here from 1st armored, or some place like that, and probably couldnt find his *** with a gps tracker, but we just got a group of dudes from stewart, and they were on par with anyone else. most of the time, its not the units, just a few stray dudes that make everything look like ***.

[shocker4me]

10th mountain is replacing us here... haha

[rebel492991]

isnt 3rd id going over seas soon.