Hard-core CEG\'er
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,816 |
Originally posted by PlatoSVT:
Second off...I'll let you know when the Marines will have stealth. Never. The Marines are the elite because they take the equipment and supply leftovers and hand me downs from the other Branches, specialize them to their needs, and do more with them than the other branches ever could, generally speaking. That is why they are the Marines and that's what seperates them from you fellas. While your Air Force politicians are bargaining to fund the latest JSF and making nifty powerpoints, the Marines are retooling within their means for the F/A-18 to stay in service for another 20 years.
There's always exceptions to this, such as the resourcefulness of the SpecOps community, but typically, once you go SpecOps, you're more a SOC member, and not quite as much a member of your branch. Of course, now that Marines have a SOCCOM branch, I don't see them just swallowing their pride and forgeting where they came from. Now the Marines esprit and the funding that will come from SOCCOM, that should make for some damn good times in that community.
Fact is, the difference lies in the mentality. Air Force guys want the latest and greatest. They don't care that they might have 30 different types of aircraft for 10 different mission statements. They've got the best we can offer, whether it's needed or not. The Marines take what they're given, make it their own, and utilize the crap out of it. Until it just can't be any more efficient. And then they use it some more. To me, that's one of many things that attracts me to the Marine Corps moreso than a branch like the Air Force.
How you explained it, sounds like my job... I'm not in a traditional "military" specialty. When we go deploy, we have to work with what is left over from years ago... The stuff we have to go maintain has been lying there for 15 years... We just have to deal with it since whoever has the say says it's all just "temporary" 
I see you may end up as an officer... some food for thought... don't get in there all high and mighty that you outrank all enlisted people, so you must be smarter than them. IMO, a good leader also can follow when it's appropriate... and sometimes you may be "following" a low ranking enlisted person because he's "been there, done that."
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