Marine

For the article dealing with the branch of the United States Military, see United States Marine Corps.

Marine is from the Latin mare, maris ("sea"^[1]), and can refer to certain studies of sea and ocean creatures as marine life, such as marine biology, and others more generally dealing with water, such as marine research and oceanography.

Marine jellies are jellyfish; while marine jelly is an alternative name for the trademark-registered rust-removal product called Naval Jelly.^[2]

A marine scene is "a picture of a ship or a sea scene."^[3]

Most typically however, the word Marine is used to designate a certain division of military duty: a marine "corps" generally denotes the combat service division of a nation's navy, which today includes both sea and air combat capabilities.^[4]

Anciently, marines are those security forces or troops of warriors assigned to naval vessels of maritime nations. More recently in history (17th through 21st century), marines are those military forces dedicated to both defense aboard ships and to amphibious combat operations abroad on land (for example, forces of the United States Marine Corps in the Pacific Theater of operations in World War II, and the Mekong Delta during the Vietnam War). In WWII, Kriegsmarine was the German name for Nazi naval military personnel in general, and in particular, Karl Dönitz' submariners.

One who is a U.S. Marine is iconically understood to be a military person who is ideally expected to be self-disciplined, moral ("Death before dishonor"), physically trained and conditioned to endure hardship with purpose, and who seeks to embody most outstandingly the ideals of unswerving dedicated devotion to "duty, honor, courage, country" (see Patriotism^[5]). A U.S. Marine is first and foremost trained to be a warrior.

A Marine is not properly either a "sailor", assigned to naval duty as a member of a ship's company or crew, nor a "soldier", assigned to active duty as a member of an infantry combat unit in an army.

Humorous quip[edit]

See also[edit]

• Ship
• American Marine Painting

Marine scene with "Fort of Qaitbay" at Alexandria, on the back.

References[edit]