Hi. I am a twenty year old man very seriously considering joining the USMC. Why? I work at a dead end job, with no future there. I tried college and I hated it. The military has always appealed to me, as my Dad and some of my Uncles were in the US Army in the 60s, and my Dad served in Vietnam. Now, I'll be the first to admit I'm kind of a heavy set guy, so I was also wondering if anybody could give me any tips on exercises I need to do, and what to expect at boot. Any help would be greatly appreaciated.

Hello, I am also twenty and I am enlisted in the USMC and my dad and entire family before me are ex-army. Joining is a serious decicion but I think you'll be happy when if you do. If your family is anything like mine their gunna ask why you chose the USMC over the Army...tell em what I did, they'll get a kick out of it but its true....Lets just say the Army is like hitting a fly with a flyswatter..sure it gets the job done...Now the Marines...thats like hitting a fly with a sledgehammer. But to answer your question start running. and than run some more. The IST (Initial Strength Test) that you must pass to ship to boot are a 1and a half mile run in 13:30 or less, a minimum of 44 situps in two minutes and 2 "dead hang" pull-ups. It may sound easy but trust me its not as easy as it seems, especially the first time you do it. The sit-ups are probably the easiest but work on mainly your upper body and run. Start out by walking if you cant run and work your way up but you have to do it a a consistent basis. Hope this helped. Good Luck.

"Lets just say the Army is like hitting a fly with a flyswatter..sure it gets the job done...Now the Marines...thats like hitting a fly with a sledgehammer"

It's actually the other way around...

Well my USMC buddies may differ in opinion, but in my opinion there is no best. I´ve met good infantrymen both in the US Army and the US Marines. The Marines have higher standards in physical fitness and rifle marksmanship but Army infantry also do alot of grueling physical fitness training as well as plenty of marksmanship training and I´m sure would have no trouble meeting USMC standards. Marine infantry specialize in amphibious assault but Army infantry can do this if required. Likewise Marines do most of the stuff Army infantry do. Marine philosophy however is more like Army airborne philosophy.

if it's what you really want to do then do it, if you want a accurate description of Marine life check out terminallance.com

Originally Posted by NP8901

Well my USMC buddies may differ in opinion, but in my opinion there is no best. I´ve met good infantrymen both in the US Army and the US Marines. The Marines have higher standards in physical fitness and rifle marksmanship but Army infantry also do alot of grueling physical fitness training as well as plenty of marksmanship training and I´m sure would have no trouble meeting USMC standards. Marine infantry specialize in amphibious assault but Army infantry can do this if required. Likewise Marines do most of the stuff Army infantry do. Marine philosophy however is more like Army airborne philosophy.

You just made my point, if the USMC infantry are better trained, and have higher dicipline than they are obviously supirior to the Army infantry. Im not knocking the army by any means. We all fight for the same common goal. Army generals are quoted in the past to saying there is no greater fighting force than the USMC.
A few examples:

-"There are only two kinds of people that understand Marines: Marines and the enemy. Everyone else has a second-hand opinion" -Gen. William Thornson, U.S. Army

-"I have just returned from visitng the Marines at the front, and there is not a finer fighting organization in the world!" -General of the Armies Douglas MacArthur, Korea

-"the Marine Corps has just been called by theNew York Times 'The Elite of this country.' I think it is the elite of the world." - Admiral William Halsey, U.S. Navy

-"If I had one more division like this first Marine division I could win this war." -General of the Armies Douglas MacArthur

-"We have two companies of Marines running rampant all over the northern half of this island, and three Army regiments pinned down in the southwestern corner, doing nothing. What the hell is going on?" Gen. John Vessey Jr.,USA, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff during the assault on Grenada, 1983


Nuff said.

Originally Posted by USMCPoolee03xx

You just made my point, if the USMC infantry are better trained, and have higher dicipline than they are obviously supirior to the Army infantry. Im not knocking the army by any means. We all fight for the same common goal. Army generals are quoted in the past to saying there is no greater fighting force than the USMC.
A few examples:

-"There are only two kinds of people that understand Marines: Marines and the enemy. Everyone else has a second-hand opinion" -Gen. William Thornson, U.S. Army

-"I have just returned from visitng the Marines at the front, and there is not a finer fighting organization in the world!" -General of the Armies Douglas MacArthur, Korea

-"the Marine Corps has just been called by theNew York Times 'The Elite of this country.' I think it is the elite of the world." - Admiral William Halsey, U.S. Navy

-"If I had one more division like this first Marine division I could win this war." -General of the Armies Douglas MacArthur

-"We have two companies of Marines running rampant all over the northern half of this island, and three Army regiments pinned down in the southwestern corner, doing nothing. What the hell is going on?" Gen. John Vessey Jr.,USA, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff during the assault on Grenada, 1983


Nuff said.

Bollocks!

Get some range time mate. I've experienced them both in combat. That superior, you´re not.

With that marines attitude, RMP are more superior and that's saying something!!!

With that "Yee-Haw", "We're better than them." attitude, that will get you nowhere. Any US Army men that you meet, will rip the piss out of you if you go around saying that the Marines are better. And it probably won't be well accepted within the Corps.

You all fight under the same flag. Why make it a pissing contest?

You guys completly miss understand where im going with this. Im trying to help this young guy whos thinking about enlisting out, not trying to start an argument. I have tons a freinds and family in the Army. We always give each other sh*t over whos better than who, theres always a friendly competion over whos the more elite. It probably makes it better in the long run because we try to outdo each other. But when the sh*t hits the fan it truley doesnt matter whos better than who because we know that we got each others back.