There isn’t really a British equivalent of the US Marines.

There isn’t really a British equivalent of the US Marines.


I know some will say the Royal Marines, however, although they share the same title ‘Marines’ (and a bit of a shared lineage), the Royal Marines are a small special operations-capable force. Their training is longer, harder, and they are, man-for-man, more elite (no shade on the US Marines - the US Marines have MARSOC etc at their more elite end)

Others will say the British Army. Their training is probably of an equivalence, but the Marines are a true combined arms force, with an infantry force bigger than the British Army, an air force probably similarly sized to the RAF, and then the whole US Navy behind them.

The US Marines are a fairly unique proposition in the world’s combat forces, one that probably only the US could afford to have as a stand-alone combined arms force.

We Brits can replicate some elements (but not all), exceed some, but, overall, we do not have anything that equates to the US Marines, for good or for bad.

To steal from the US Marines … Semper Fi.

Many will say the Royal Marines are US Marine-equivalents, however their size, training and mission profile means there is a wide difference between the two forces. That said, they both seem to treat each other as brothers and with respect, which is all that matters at the end of the day.


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