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USMC vs Canadian Army..whos better?

daftandbarmy said:
Mainly good ol' fashioned combat arms type stuff: fitness, skill at arms and other individual training standards, initiative etc.
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Pffffffft.......dinosaurs !
 
We're all gentlemen here, are we not? This should be settled either in a dance off or a game of fisty cuffs.
 
Alright. Let me rephrase...what are the differences between the two? What do we excel at and what do they excel at?
 
Exodia said:
Alright. Let me rephrase...what are the differences between the two? What do we excel at and what do they excel at?
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We excel at being Canadian. They excel at being American.
 
Haggis said:
And, like the USMC, neither is ever likely to wear kilts.  :piper:
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That all kinda depends on who one wakes up with in the morning......and how abruptly ......... ;D
 
Exodia said:
Alright. Let me rephrase...what are the differences between the two? What do we excel at and what do they excel at?
Click to expand...

I had the pleasure of serving with the Parachute Regiment and the Royal Marines for a few years, and we exercised against the USMC in arctic Norway each year in the winter time. They were the 'bad guys', intent upon seizing NATO North for the breakout from Murmansk, and we were the 'good guys', intent upon preserving the right of northern Europeans to eat at Macdonalds.

They were awful at anything related to individual or small unit stuff. We literally identified their positions because their sentries were snoring, and I'm not claiming we were arctic Ninjas or anything, just plain old recce patrols wandering around and discovering piles of snoring leathernecks. On one occasion, we skied a whole battalion 20 miles across a mountain range to attack the rear area of a 'MAU', and got to within 50 metres of their postions (all lined up on a road for miles hanging out in their LVTPs keeping warm), two companies up in extended line, before they saw us. It was a 'mock massacre' as they say. A quote from my signaller "How could they have missed us? We looked like a footbal crowd letting out and wandering across the car park for a plate of chips". They were pretty much confined to the roads all the time, much like we would have expected from a Soviet style enemy. They hated the cold, lacked any sort of tactical skill or intitiative at the lower levels (which we always took for granted amongst ourselves) and seemed trapped in a web of military process and red tape.

They all dressed exactly the same, right down to the right angled flashlight on their left shoulder straps, talked like robots and used words like 'duty, honour, democracy' like we used 'egg, chips and beans': fully indoctrinated, and much like you'd expect a mass army during wartime to behave. They didn't get irony or sarcasm or any of the usual types of jokes we threw around. They thought we were crazy, we thought they were wierd and geeky.

On the other hand, their companies were huge: 5 platoons. Fully equipped with everything we didn't have like a variety of mortars and anti-tank weapons, armoured vehicles, service support: the full Monty. We attacked a bridge demolition guard company once and ran out of ammo and steam half way through the fight through. There were millions of 'em! The general consensus was that they were ready to go to a 'real war', and we weren't, on the materiel and manning front. They could also move a battalion like we move sections. Need a couple of dozen choppers with air cover? Coming right up! They were fully integrated with all their air/naval support assets, and had access to nearly instant air support from as many F-18s as you needed - absolutely no comparison to our lack lustre performance in this area - and they proved it all the time by flying over and 'bombing' things whenever they felt like it. Their communications were always falwless whereas ours always crashed for some reason or another. 

I did an AWT course with the Norwegian army that included a bunch of US Marines and, in general, I found them to be good guys but a little 'wooden' and formulaic, but generally fit and good shots. I got tired of hearing 'HUA' all the time....

As good as us one on one? Probably not. Better than us as an organization ready to fight World War 3 at the drop of a hat? Absolutely.
 
Exodia said:
Alright. Let me rephrase...what are the differences between the two? What do we excel at and what do they excel at?
Click to expand...

I bet we could kick their ass at Harry Potter trivia, being he is British and all that.  But, when it comes to the Batman know how, hands down to the USMC for sure.

dileas

tess
 
daftandbarmy said:
I had the pleasure of serving with the Parachute Regiment and the Royal Marines for a few years, and we exercised against the USMC in arctic Norway each year in the winter time. They were the 'bad guys', intent upon seizing NATO North for the breakout from Murmansk, and we were the 'good guys', intent upon preserving the right of northern Europeans to eat at Macdonalds.

They were awful at anything related to individual or small unit stuff. We literally identified their positions because their sentries were snoring, and I'm not claiming we were arctic Ninjas or anything, just plain old recce patrols wandering around and discovering piles of snoring leathernecks. On one occasion, we skied a whole battalion 20 miles across a mountain range to attack the rear area of a 'MAU', and got to within 50 metres of their postions (all lined up on a road for miles hanging out in their LVTPs keeping warm), two companies up in extended line, before they saw us. It was a 'mock massacre' as they say. A quote from my signaller "How could they have missed us? We looked like a footbal crowd letting out and wandering across the car park for a plate of chips". They were pretty much confined to the roads all the time, much like we would have expected from a Soviet style enemy. They hated the cold, lacked any sort of tactical skill or intitiative at the lower levels (which we always took for granted amongst ourselves) and seemed trapped in a web of military process and red tape.

They all dressed exactly the same, right down to the right angled flashlight on their left shoulder straps, talked like robots and used words like 'duty, honour, democracy' like we used 'egg, chips and beans': fully indoctrinated, and much like you'd expect a mass army during wartime to behave. They didn't get irony or sarcasm or any of the usual types of jokes we threw around. They thought we were crazy, we thought they were wierd and geeky.

On the other hand, their companies were huge: 5 platoons. Fully equipped with everything we didn't have like a variety of mortars and anti-tank weapons, armoured vehicles, service support: the full Monty. We attacked a bridge demolition guard company once and ran out of ammo and steam half way through the fight through. There were millions of 'em! The general consensus was that they were ready to go to a 'real war', and we weren't, on the materiel and manning front. They could also move a battalion like we move sections. Need a couple of dozen choppers with air cover? Coming right up! They were fully integrated with all their air/naval support assets, and had access to nearly instant air support from as many F-18s as you needed - absolutely no comparison to our lack lustre performance in this area - and they proved it all the time by flying over and 'bombing' things whenever they felt like it. Their communications were always falwless whereas ours always crashed for some reason or another. 

I did an AWT course with the Norwegian army that included a bunch of US Marines and, in general, I found them to be good guys but a little 'wooden' and formulaic, but generally fit and good shots. I got tired of hearing 'HUA' all the time....

As good as us one on one? Probably not. Better than us as an organization ready to fight World War 3 at the drop of a hat? Absolutely.
Click to expand...

That is really interesting to read. I always thought the Canadian army and USMC were trained very similar. I've read a lot about the quality > quantity of the two, even advertises that on the posters at my local RC.
 
the 48th regulator said:
I bet we could kick their *** at Harry Potter trivia, being he is British and all that.  But, when it comes to the Batman know how, hands down to the USMC for sure.

dileas

tess
Click to expand...

Hey not so fast there skippy. Some of us old fart hosers grew up on Batman Comics and the Adam West TV series and have never ready a Harrys whatshisname book.  ;D
 
Oldgateboatdriver said:
Just to satisfy Haggis, we should take them on at Caber tossing. :)
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Some of the Marines i have met could probably put one of those into orbit without breaking a sweat.
 
Marines blouse their pants too in garrison and field.  I'm sure the USMC Silent Drill team loves drill as well.
 
And apparently some of them wear kilts too  8)

Farr.jpg


http://dave.dsak.com/2004/06/marine-piper-in-iraq-receives-proper.html
 
That is... I don't really have words for it...  ???

Danjanou said:
And apparently some of them wear kilts too  8)

Farr.jpg


http://dave.dsak.com/2004/06/marine-piper-in-iraq-receives-proper.html
Click to expand...
 
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