United States Marine Corps Organization - Relationship With Other Uniformed Services

Relationship With Other Uniformed Services

Since the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Army both believe that their combat capabilities overlap each other, they have both historically viewed the other branch as encroaching on their capabilities and have competed for money, missions, and fame. Most significantly, in the aftermath of World War II, Army efforts to restructure the American defense establishment involved the dissolution of the Marine Corps and the folding of its capabilities into the other services. Leading this movement were such prominent Army officers as General Dwight Eisenhower, who later became the President of the United States, and Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall.

The Marine Corps is directly a subordinate branch of the U.S. Navy under the Department of the Navy. Both the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) and Commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC), heads of their respective services, report directly to the Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV). As a result, the Navy and Marine Corps have a close relationship, more so than with other branches of the United States Military. Recent whitepapers and promotional literature have commonly used the phrase "Navy-Marine Corps Team" . This relationship stems from the Navy providing transport, logistical, medical, and religious service as well as combat support to put Marine units into the fight where they are needed. Conversely, Marines are responsible for conducting land operations to support Naval campaigns, including the seizure of naval and air bases. All Marine Aviation programs except for specific Command and Control and Air Defense programs are funded by the Navy and Marine Officers are assigned to the Office of Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV) Air Warfare Branch (N88) to represent their interests and serve as action officers. By Congressional mandate, the OPNAV Expeditionary Warfare Branch billet (N85) is filled by a Marine general.

The Marine Corps cooperates with the Navy on many institutional support services. The Corps receives a significant portion of its officers from the United States Naval Academy and Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC), which are partially staffed by Marines. Marine Corps Drill Instructors contribute to training Naval officers in Officer Candidate School. Marine aviators are trained in the Naval Aviation training pipeline, and utilize Naval weapons and test pilot schools. Currently, Navy aircraft carriers deploy with a Marine Hornet squadron alongside Navy squadrons. The Navy's Blue Angels flight team includes at least one Marine pilot and is supported by a Marines C-130 Hercules aircraft.

Since the Marines do not train Chaplains or medical personnel, officers and enlisted sailors from the Navy fill these roles. Some of these sailors, particularly Hospital Corpsmen, generally wear Marine uniforms emblazoned with the Marine insignia but US Navy name tags in order to be distinct to compatriots but indistinguishable to enemies. The Marines also operate a network security team in conjunction with the Navy. Marines and Sailors share the vast majority of branch-specific awards, with Marines earning the Navy Cross, the highest honor awarded short of the Medal of Honor (which Marines also are awarded, in the Navy version of the Medal of Honor), and other like medals; while an example of the few Marine-only awards is the Good Conduct Medal.