title: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

text: In 1999 Rai participated in a world tour called the "Magnificent Five", along with Aamir Khan, Rani Mukerji, Akshaye Khanna and Twinkle Khanna. In the same year, she was appointed as Longines Ambassador of Elegance. In 2003, she became the first Indian actress to be a jury member at the Cannes Film Festival. In the same year she became a global brand ambassador of L'Oréal, alongside Andie MacDowell, Eva Longoria and Penélope Cruz. Rai is the brand ambassador for The Eye Bank Association of India's nationwide campaign to promote eye donation in India. In 2005, she became a brand ambassador for Pulse Polio, a campaign established by the Government of India in 1994 to eradicate polio in India. In the same year, Rai was appointed spokesperson for the International Year of Microcredit, raising awareness of the main goals and priorities of the United Nations' poverty alleviation efforts.


title: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

text: In February 2005 Rai performed with other Bollywood stars at the "HELP! Telethon Concert", an event to raise money for the victims of the 2004 tsunami earthquake. Along with other members of the Bachchan family, she laid the foundation of a special school for underprivileged girls in Daulatpur village in Uttar Pradesh in 2008. Construction is being funded by the Bachchan family and the school will be named after Rai. She appeared along with various other Bollywood actors at the closing ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. The performance showcased Indian culture as a lead-up to India hosting the 2010 Commonwealth Games.


title: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

text: She supports PETA India. She pledged to donate her eyes to the Eye Bank Association of India and appeared in a public awareness film on eye donation. In November 2004, Rai created the Aishwarya Rai Foundation to help needy people in India.


title: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

text: In 2009 Rai was appointed as the first Goodwill Ambassador of Smile Train, an international charity that provides free Cleft lip and palate surgery to children in need. Her work with Smile Train will focus not only on India, but on 76 different developing countries around the world.


title: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

text: In September 2012, Rai had joined United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and renowned Hollywood actor Michael Douglas at a ceremony to commemorate the International Day of Peace in New York. Later that week, she was appointed as the new international Goodwill Ambassador for UNAIDS, the joint United Nations programme on AIDS and HIV. She will raise global awareness on protecting children from HIV infection and increasing access to antiretroviral treatment.


title: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

text: Rai has received several accolades, which include two Filmfare Awards for her roles in "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam" (1999) and "Devdas" (2002).


title: Antonio Banderas

text: José Antonio Domínguez Bandera (born 10 August 1960), known professionally as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish actor and singer. Known for his work in films of several genres, he has received various accolades, including a Cannes Film Festival Award and a European Film Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, a Tony Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and five Golden Globe Awards.


title: Antonio Banderas

text: Banderas began his acting career with a series of films by director Pedro Almodóvar in the 1980s; he then appeared in several Hollywood films, such as "Philadelphia" (1993), "Interview with the Vampire" (1994), "Desperado" (1995), "Assassins" (1995), "Evita" (1996), and "The Mask of Zorro" (1998). He also appeared in the first three films of the "Spy Kids" series (2001-2003) and provided the voice of Puss in Boots in the "Shrek" franchise (2004-present) and its spin-off films "Puss in Boots" (2011) and "" (2022).


title: Antonio Banderas

text: In 2003, Banderas made his US theatre debut as Guido Contini in "Nine", for which he was nominated for a Tony Award and won a Drama Desk Award. He received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his roles in the television film "And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself" (2004) and the second season of "Genius" (2018); his portrayal of Pablo Picasso in the latter garnered him critical praise.


title: Antonio Banderas

text: For the 2019 film "Pain and Glory", Banderas earned the Cannes Film Festival Award, European Film Award and Goya Award for Best Actor, and received nominations for the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor.


title: Antonio Banderas

text: José Antonio Domínguez Bandera was born on 10 August 1960 in Málaga, to Civil Guard gendarme officer José Domínguez Prieto (1920–2008) and schoolteacher Ana Bandera Gallego (1933–2017). He has a younger brother named Francisco. As a little boy, Banderas wanted to become a professional football player until a broken foot sidelined his dreams at the age of 15. He showed a strong interest in the performing arts and formed part of the ARA Theatre-School run by Ángeles Rubio-Argüelles y Alessandri (wife of diplomat and filmmaker Edgar Neville) and the College of Dramatic Art, both in Málaga. His work in the theater and his performances on the streets eventually landed him a spot with the Spanish National Theatre.


title: Antonio Banderas

text: Banderas began his acting studies at the School of Dramatic Art in Málaga, and made his acting debut at a small theatre in Málaga. He was arrested by the Spanish police for performance in a play by Bertolt Brecht, because of political censorship under the rule of General Francisco Franco. Banderas spent a whole night at the police station; he had three or four such arrests while he was working with a small theatre troupe that toured all over Spain and was giving performances in small town theatres and on the street. Banderas began working in small shops during Spain's post-dictatorial cultural movement known as the La Movida Madrileña.


title: Antonio Banderas

text: While performing with the theatre, Banderas caught the attention of Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, who cast the young actor in his 1982 film debut "Labyrinth of Passion". Five years later, he went on to appear in the director's "Law of Desire" (1987), making headlines with his performance as a gay man, which required him to engage in his first male-to-male onscreen kiss. After Banderas appeared in Almodóvar's 1986 "Matador", the director cast him in his internationally acclaimed 1988 film, "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown". The recognition Banderas gained for his role increased, years later, when he starred in Almodóvar's controversial "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!" (1989) as a mental patient who kidnaps a porn star (Victoria Abril) and keeps her tied up until she returns his love. His breakthrough role in "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!" helped spur him on to Hollywood. Almodóvar is credited for helping launch Banderas's international career, as he became a regular feature in his films throughout the 1980s.


title: Antonio Banderas

text: In 1991, Madonna introduced Banderas to Hollywood. (He was an object of her desires in her pseudodocumentary film of one of her concert tours, "".) The following year, still speaking minimal English, he began acting in U.S. films. Despite having to learn all his lines phonetically, Banderas still managed to turn in a critically praised performance as a struggling musician in his first American drama film, "The Mambo Kings" (1992).


title: Antonio Banderas

text: Banderas then broke through to mainstream American audiences in the Jonathan Demme film "Philadelphia" (1993), as the life-long partner of lawyer Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks), who has AIDS. The film's success earned Banderas wide recognition, and the following year, he was given a role in Neil Jordan's high-profile adaptation of Anne Rice's "Interview with the Vampire" (1994), sharing the screen with Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, and Kirsten Dunst. He appeared in several major Hollywood releases in 1995, including a starring role in the Robert Rodriguez-directed film "Desperado" and the antagonist on the action film "Assassins", co-starred with Sylvester Stallone. In 1996, he starred alongside Madonna in "Evita", an adaptation of the musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice in which he played the narrator, Che, a role played by David Essex in the original 1978 West End production. He also had success with his role as the masked swordsman Zorro in the 1998 film "The Mask of Zorro" starring Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones. In 1999, he starred in "The 13th Warrior", a movie about a Muslim caught up in a war between the Northman and human eating beasts.


title: Antonio Banderas

text: In 2001, he collaborated with Robert Rodriguez who cast him in the "Spy Kids" film trilogy. He also starred in Michael Cristofer's "Original Sin" alongside Angelina Jolie the same year. In 2002, he starred in Brian De Palma's "Femme Fatale" opposite Rebecca Romijn and in Julie Taymor's "Frida" with Salma Hayek. In 2003, he starred in the last installment of the trilogy "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" (in which he appeared with Johnny Depp and Hayek). Banderas' debut as a director was the poorly received "Crazy in Alabama" (1999), starring his then wife Melanie Griffith.


title: Antonio Banderas

text: In 2003, he returned to the musical genre, appearing to great acclaim in the Broadway revival of Maury Yeston's musical "Nine", based on the film "8½", playing the prime role originated by Raul Julia. Banderas won both the Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk awards, and was nominated for the Tony Award for best actor in a musical. His performance is preserved on the Broadway cast recording released by PS Classics. Later that year, he received the Rita Moreno HOLA Award for Excellence from the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA).


title: Antonio Banderas

text: Banderas' voice role as Puss in Boots in "Shrek 2", "Shrek the Third", and the last film in the "Shrek" franchise, "Shrek Forever After", helped make the character popular on the family film circuit. In 2005, he reprised his role as Zorro in "The Legend of Zorro", though this was not as successful as "The Mask of Zorro". In 2006, he starred in "Take the Lead", a high-set movie in which he played a ballroom dancing teacher. That year, he directed his second film, "El camino de los ingleses", based on the novel by Antonio Soler and also received the L.A. Latino International Film Festival's "Gabi" Lifetime Achievement Award on 14 October.


title: Antonio Banderas

text: He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2005, the 2,294th person to do so; his star is located on the north side of the 6800 block of Hollywood Boulevard.


title: Antonio Banderas

text: In 2011, the horror thriller "The Skin I Live In" marked the return of Banderas to Pedro Almodóvar, the Spanish director who launched his international career. The two had not worked together since 1990 ("Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!"). In "The Skin I Live In" he breaks out of the "Latin Lover" mold from his Hollywood work and stars as a calculating revenge-seeking plastic surgeon following the rape of his daughter. According to the Associated Press Banderas' performance is among his strongest in recent memory. He again lent his voice to Puss in Boots, this time as the protagonist of the "Shrek" spin-off prequel, "Puss in Boots". This film reunited Banderas with Salma Hayek for the sixth time.


title: Antonio Banderas

text: In 2018, Banderas starred in the National Geographic limited series "Genius: Picasso", as the noted sculptor and painter Pablo Picasso. For his performance he received a Primetime Emmy Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, and Golden Globe Award nomination. He also starred in the ensemble drama "Life Itself" (2018) which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.


title: Antonio Banderas

text: In 2019, Banderas starred in the Spanish film "Pain and Glory" ("Dolor y gloria"), directed by Pedro Almodóvar.


title: Antonio Banderas

text: The film centers around an aging film director, played by Banderas who has a chronic illness and writer's block as he reflects on his life in flashbacks to his childhood. The film has been described as semi-autobiographical, according to Almodóvar. The film premiered at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival to critical acclaim. On 25 May 2019, Banderas won Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his role in the film. He was later nominated for his first ever Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for "Pain and Glory". Also in 2019, Banderas starred in Steven Soderbergh's Netflix film, "The Laundromat" alongside Meryl Streep, and Gary Oldman.


title: Antonio Banderas

text: In 2020, he appeared alongside Robert Downey Jr. in the fantasy adventure film "Dolittle". In 2022, Banderas appeared as Santiago Moncada, the antagonist of the "Uncharted" film. In 2023, he is appearing in the "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" with Harrison Ford, Mads Mikkelsen and Toby Jones. He also returned to work for DreamWorks Animation reprising his voice as Puss in Boots in the sequel "". He is also appearing in "The Enforcer" which filmed in Greece in 2022.


title: Antonio Banderas

text: A longtime supporter of Málaga CF, Banderas is also an officer ("mayordomo de trono"m) of a Roman Catholic religious brotherhood in his hometown of Málaga and travels during Holy Week to take part in the processions, although he once described himself as an agnostic in an interview with "People" magazine.


title: Antonio Banderas

text: In May 2010, Banderas received an honorary doctorate from the University of Málaga. He received an honorary degree from Dickinson College in 2000.


title: Antonio Banderas

text: Banderas has always struggled with the pronunciation of certain English words, as he mentioned in a 2011 article with "GQ" magazine: "The word that really gets me is 'animals', I just can never say it properly, whenever it is in a film I have to get it changed for a synonym. In "Zorro", I had a line changed from 'you look like a bunch of animals' to 'you look like a collection of beasts'. It worked much better, so I don't care."


title: Antonio Banderas

text: In August 2015, Banderas enrolled in a fashion-design course at Central Saint Martins. As of 2016, Banderas resides in the United Kingdom in Cobham, Surrey.


title: Antonio Banderas

text: Banderas married Ana Leza in 1986 or 1988 (sources differ) and divorced in 1996. He met and began a relationship with American actress Melanie Griffith in 1995 while shooting "Two Much". They married on 14 May 1996 in London. They have a daughter, Stella del Carmen Banderas (born 24 September 1996), who appeared onscreen with Griffith in Banderas' directorial debut "Crazy in Alabama" (1999). In 2002, the couple received the Stella Adler Angel Award for their extensive philanthropy. Griffith has a tattoo of Banderas' name on her right arm.


title: Antonio Banderas

text: In June 2014, Banderas and Griffith released a statement announcing their intention to divorce "in a loving and friendly manner". According to the petition filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court, the couple had "irreconcilable differences" that led to their separation. The divorce became official in December 2015. Despite being divorced Banderas and Griffith remain close friends. His former stepdaughter Dakota Johnson has stated she considers Banderas part of the family calling him a "bonus dad"..


title: Antonio Banderas

text: Speaking at the Málaga Film Festival in March 2017, Banderas revealed he had had a heart attack on 26 January 2017, but said it "wasn't serious and hasn't caused any damages". Following that incident, he had heart surgery to put in three stents in his arteries. In a "Fresh Air" interview in September 2019, he recalled it as being life changing. He said, "It just gave me a perspective of who I was, and it just made the important things [go to] the surface. When I say this, people may just think that I'm crazy, but it's one of the best things that ever happened in my life."


title: Antonio Banderas

text: In 1996, Banderas appeared among other figures of Spanish culture in a video supporting the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party lists in the general election.


title: Antonio Banderas

text: In 2013, he called on Europe and the United States to emulate Hugo Chávez in Venezuela and nationalize big corporations as a solution to the global economic crisis.


title: Antonio Banderas

text: In June 2015, Banderas demonstrated his support for Israel by taking part in a fund-raising event organized by Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces (FIDF), which raised $31m for Israeli soldiers.


title: Antonio Banderas

text: He has invested some of his film earnings in Andalusian products, which he promotes in Spain and the US. He owns 50% of a winery in Villalba de Duero, Burgos, Spain, called Anta Banderas, which produces red and rosé wines.


title: Antonio Banderas

text: He performed a voice-over for a computer-animated bee which can be seen in the United States in television commercials for Nasonex, an allergy medication, and was seen in the 2007 Christmas advertising campaign for Marks & Spencer, a British retailer.


title: Antonio Banderas

text: He is a veteran of the perfume industry. The actor has been working with fragrance and beauty multinational company Puig for over ten years becoming one of the brand's most successful representatives. Banderas and Puig have successfully promoted a number of fragrances so far – "Diavolo", "Diavolo for Women", "Mediterraneo", "Spirit", and "Spirit for Women". After the success of "Antonio for Men" and "Blue Seduction for Men" in 2007, he launched his latest "Blue Seduction for Women" the following year.


title: Antonio Banderas

text: Banderas has received many award nominations throughout his career including an Academy Award nomination for "Pain and Glory". He also received five Golden Globe Awards nominations for his work ranging from films to television. He has also received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his work on the television projects, "And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself" (2004), and "" (2018). He also received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for his performance as Pablo Picasso in "Genius: Picasso". In 2003, he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance in the Broadway musical production of "Nine". That year he did however win the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical for his performance in "Nine". In 2019, he won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor, the European Film Award for Best Actor, the Goya Award for Best Actor, and the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor for his performance in Almodovar's "Pain and Glory".


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combined arms, implementing its own infantry, artillery, aerial, and special operations forces. The U.S. Marine Corps is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Marine Corps has been part of the U.S. Department of the Navy since 30 June 1834 with its sister service, the United States Navy. The USMC operates installations on land and aboard sea-going amphibious warfare ships around the world. Additionally, several of the Marines' tactical aviation squadrons, primarily Marine Fighter Attack squadrons, are also embedded in Navy carrier air wings and operate from the aircraft carriers.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The history of the Marine Corps began when two battalions of Continental Marines were formed on 10 November 1775 in Philadelphia as a service branch of infantry troops capable of fighting both at sea and on shore. In the Pacific theater of World War II the Corps took the lead in a massive campaign of amphibious warfare, advancing from island to island. As of 2022, the USMC has around 177,200 active duty members and some 32,400 personnel in reserve.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: As outlined in and as originally introduced under the National Security Act of 1947, three primary areas of responsibility for the U.S. Marine Corps are:


title: United States Marine Corps

text: This last clause derives from similar language in the Congressional acts ""For the Better Organization of the Marine Corps"" of 1834, and ""Establishing and Organizing a Marine Corps"" of 1798. In 1951, the House of Representatives' Armed Services Committee called the clause "one of the most important statutory – and traditional – functions of the Marine Corps". It noted that the Corps has more often than not performed actions of a non-naval nature, including its famous actions in Tripoli, the War of 1812, Chapultepec, and numerous counter-insurgency and occupational duties (such as those in Central America, World War I, and the Korean War). While these actions are not accurately described as support of naval campaigns nor as amphibious warfare, their common thread is that they are of an expeditionary nature, using the mobility of the Navy to provide timely intervention in foreign affairs on behalf of American interests.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Marine Band, dubbed the "President's Own" by Thomas Jefferson, provides music for state functions at the White House. Marines from Ceremonial Companies A & B, quartered in Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C., guard presidential retreats, including Camp David, and the marines of the Executive Flight Detachment of HMX-1 provide helicopter transport to the President and Vice President, with the radio call signs "Marine One" and "Marine Two", respectively. The Executive Flight Detachment also provides helicopter transport to Cabinet members and other VIPs. By authority of the 1946 Foreign Service Act, the Marine Security Guards of the Marine Embassy Security Command provide security for American embassies, legations, and consulates at more than 140 posts worldwide.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The relationship between the Department of State and the U.S. Marine Corps is nearly as old as the Corps itself. For over 200 years, marines have served at the request of various Secretaries of State. After World War II, an alert, disciplined force was needed to protect American embassies, consulates, and legations throughout the world. In 1947, a proposal was made that the Department of Defense furnishes Marine Corps personnel for Foreign Service guard duty under the provisions of the Foreign Service Act of 1946. A formal Memorandum of Agreement was signed between the Department of State and the Secretary of the Navy on 15 December 1948, and 83 marines were deployed to overseas missions. During the first year of the program, 36 detachments were deployed worldwide.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Marine Corps was founded to serve as an infantry unit aboard naval vessels and was responsible for the security of the ship and its crew by conducting offensive and defensive combat during boarding actions and defending the ship's officers from mutiny; to the latter end, their quarters on the ship were often strategically positioned between the officers' quarters and the rest of the vessel. Continental Marines manned raiding parties, both at sea and ashore. America's first amphibious assault landing occurred early in the Revolutionary War on 3 March 1776 as the Marines gained control of Fort Montagu and Fort Nassau, a British ammunition depot and naval port in New Providence, the Bahamas. The role of the Marine Corps has expanded significantly since then; as the importance of its original naval mission declined with changing naval warfare doctrine and the professionalization of the naval service, the Corps adapted by focusing on formerly secondary missions ashore. The Advanced Base Doctrine of the early 20th century codified their combat duties ashore, outlining the use of marines in the seizure of bases and other duties on land to support naval campaigns.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries, Marine detachments served aboard Navy cruisers, battleships and aircraft carriers. Marine detachments served in their traditional duties as a ship's landing force, manning the ship's weapons and providing shipboard security. Marine detachments were augmented by members of the ship's company for landing parties, such as in the First Sumatran expedition of 1832, and continuing in the Caribbean and Mexican campaigns of the early 20th centuries. Marines developed tactics and techniques of amphibious assault on defended coastlines in time for use in World War II. During World War II, marines continued to serve on capital ships. They often were assigned to man anti-aircraft batteries.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: In 1950, President Harry Truman responded to a message from U.S. Representative Gordon L. McDonough. McDonough had urged President Truman to add Marine representation on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. President Truman, writing in a letter addressed to McDonough, stated that "The Marine Corps is the Navy's police force and as long as I am President that is what it will remain. They have a propaganda machine that is almost equal to Stalin's." McDonough then inserted President Truman's letter, dated 29 August 1950, into the "Congressional Record". Congressmen and Marine organizations reacted, calling President Truman's remarks an insult and demanded an apology. Truman apologized to the Marine commandant at the time, writing, "I sincerely regret the unfortunate choice of language which I used in my letter of August 29 to Congressman McDonough concerning the Marine Corps." While Truman had apologized for his metaphor, he did not alter his position that the Marine Corps should continue to report to the Navy secretary. He made amends only by making a surprise visit to the Marine Corps League a few days later, when he reiterated, "When I make a mistake, I try to correct it. I try to make as few as possible." He received a standing ovation.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: When gun cruisers were retired by the 1960s, the remaining Marine detachments were only seen on battleships and carriers. Its original mission of providing shipboard security ended in the 1990s.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Marine Corps fulfills a critical military role as an amphibious warfare force. It is capable of asymmetric warfare with conventional, irregular, and hybrid forces. While the Marine Corps does not employ any unique capabilities, as a force it can rapidly deploy a combined-arms task force to almost anywhere in the world within days. The basic structure for all deployed units is a Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) that integrates a ground combat element, an aviation combat element and a logistics combat element under a common command element. While the creation of joint commands under the Goldwater–Nichols Act has improved inter-service coordination between each branch, the Corps's ability to permanently maintain integrated multi-element task forces under a single command provides a smoother implementation of combined-arms warfare principles.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The close integration of disparate Marine units stems from an organizational culture centered on the infantry. Every other Marine capability exists to support the infantry. Unlike some Western militaries, the Corps remained conservative against theories proclaiming the ability of new weapons to win wars independently. For example, Marine aviation has always been focused on close air support and has remained largely uninfluenced by air power theories proclaiming that strategic bombing can single-handedly win wars.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: This focus on the infantry is matched with the doctrine of "Every marine [is] a rifleman", a precept of Commandant Alfred M. Gray, Jr., emphasizing the infantry combat abilities of every marine. All marines, regardless of military specialization, receive training as a rifleman; and all officers receive additional training as infantry platoon commanders. During World War II at the Battle of Wake Island, when all of the Marine aircraft were destroyed, pilots continued the fight as ground officers, leading supply clerks and cooks in a final defensive effort. Flexibility of execution is implemented via an emphasis on "commander's intent" as a guiding principle for carrying out orders, specifying the end state but leaving open the method of execution.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The amphibious assault techniques developed for World War II evolved, with the addition of air assault and maneuver warfare doctrine, into the current ""Operational Maneuver from the Sea"" doctrine of power projection from the seas. The Marines are credited with the development of helicopter insertion doctrine and were the earliest in the American military to widely adopt maneuver-warfare principles, which emphasize low-level initiative and flexible execution. In light of recent warfare that has strayed from the Corps's traditional missions, the Marines have renewed an emphasis on amphibious capabilities.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Marine Corps relies on the Navy for sealift to provide its rapid deployment capabilities. In addition to basing a third of the Fleet Marine Force in Japan, Marine expeditionary units (MEU) are typically stationed at sea so they can function as first responders to international incidents. To aid rapid deployment, the Maritime Pre-Positioning System was developed: fleets of container ships are positioned throughout the world with enough equipment and supplies for a marine expeditionary force to deploy for 30 days.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Two small manuals published during the 1930s established USMC doctrine in two areas. The "Small Wars Manual" laid the framework for Marine counter-insurgency operations from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan while the "Tentative Landing Operations Manual" established the doctrine for the amphibious operations of World War II. ""Operational Maneuver from the Sea"" was the doctrine of power projection in 2006.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The United States Marine Corps traces its roots to the Continental Marines of the American Revolutionary War, formed by Captain Samuel Nicholas by a resolution of the Second Continental Congress on 10 November 1775, to raise two battalions of marines. This date is celebrated as the birthday of the Marine Corps. Nicholas was nominated to lead the Marines by John Adams. By December 1775, Nicholas raised one battalion of 300 men by recruitment in his home city of Philadelphia.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: In January 1776, the Marines went to sea under the command of Commodore Esek Hopkins and in March undertook their first amphibious landing, the Battle of Nassau in the Bahamas, occupying the British port of Nassau for two weeks. On 3 January 1777, the Marines arrived at the Battle of Princeton attached to General John Cadwalader's brigade, where they had been assigned by General George Washington; by December 1776, Washington was retreating through New Jersey and, "in desperate need of veteran soldiers," had ordered Nicholas and the Marines to attach themselves to the Continental Army. The Battle of Princeton, where the Marines along with General Cadwalader's brigade were personally rallied by Washington, was the first land combat engagement of the Marines; an estimated 130 marines were present at the battle.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: At the end of the American Revolution, both the Continental Navy and Continental Marines were disbanded in April 1783. The institution was resurrected on 11 July 1798; in preparation for the Quasi-War with France, Congress created the United States Marine Corps. Marines had been enlisted by the War Department as early as August 1797 for service in the newly-built frigates authorized by the Congressional "Act to provide a Naval Armament" of 18 March 1794, which specified the numbers of marines to recruit for each frigate.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Marines' most famous action of this period occurred during the First Barbary War (1801–1805) against the Barbary pirates, when William Eaton and First Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon led 8 marines and 500 mercenaries in an effort to capture Tripoli. Though they only reached Derna, the action at Tripoli has been immortalized in the Marines' Hymn and the Mameluke sword carried by Marine officers.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: During the War of 1812, Marine detachments on Navy ships took part in some of the great frigate duels that characterized the war, which were the first and last engagements of the conflict. Their most significant contribution was holding the center of General Andrew Jackson's defensive line at the 1815 Battle of New Orleans, the final major battle and one of the most one-sided engagements of the war. With widespread news of the battle and the capture of HMS "Cyane", HMS "Levant" and HMS "Penguin", the final engagements between British and U.S. forces, the Marines had gained a reputation as expert marksmen, especially in defensive and ship-to-ship actions. They played a large role in the 1813 defense of Sacket's Harbor, New York and Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia, also taking part in the 1814 defense of Plattsburgh in the Champlain Valley during one of the final British offensives along the Canadian-U.S. border. The battle of Bladensburg, fought 24 August 1814, was one of the worst days for American arms, though a few units and individuals performed heroic service. Notable among them were Commodore Joshua Barney's 500 sailors and the 120 marines under Captain Samuel Miller USMC, who inflicted the bulk of British casualties and were the only effective American resistance during the battle. A final desperate Marine counter attack, with the fighting at close quarters, however was not enough; Barney and Miller's forces were overrun. In all of 114 marines, 11 were killed and 16 wounded. During the battle Captain Miller's arm was badly wounded, for his gallant service in action, Miller was brevetted to the rank of Major USMC.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: After the war, the Marine Corps fell into a malaise that ended with the appointment of Archibald Henderson as its fifth commandant in 1820. Under his tenure, the Corps took on expeditionary duties in the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, Key West, West Africa, the Falkland Islands, and Sumatra. Commandant Henderson is credited with thwarting President Jackson's attempts to combine and integrate the Marine Corps with the Army. Instead, Congress passed the "Act for the Better Organization of the Marine Corps" in 1834, stipulating that the Corps was part of the Department of the Navy as a sister service to the Navy. This would be the first of many times that the independent existence of the Corps was challenged.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Commandant Henderson volunteered the Marines for service in the Seminole Wars of 1835, personally leading nearly half of the entire Corps (two battalions) to war. A decade later, in the Mexican–American War (1846–1848), the Marines made their famed assault on Chapultepec Palace in Mexico City, which would be later celebrated as the "Halls of Montezuma" in the Marines' Hymn. In fairness to the U.S. Army, most of the troops who made the final assault at the Halls of Montezuma were soldiers and not marines. The Americans forces were led by Army General Winfield Scott. Scott organized two storming parties of about 250 men each for 500 men total including 40 marines.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: In the 1850s, the Marines engaged in service in Panama and Asia and were attached to Commodore Matthew Perry's East India Squadron on its historic trip to the Far East.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Marine Corps played a small role in the Civil War (1861–1865); their most prominent task was blockade duty. As more and more states seceded from the Union, about a third of the Corps's officers left the United States to join the Confederacy and form the Confederate States Marine Corps, which ultimately played little part in the war. The battalion of recruits formed for the First Battle of Bull Run performed poorly, retreating with the rest of the Union forces. Blockade duty included sea-based amphibious operations to secure forward bases. In late November 1861, Marines and sailors landed a reconnaissance in force from at Tybee Island, Georgia, to occupy the lighthouse and Martello tower on the northern end of the island. It would later be the Army base for bombardment of Fort Pulaski. In April and May 1862, Marines participated in the capture and occupation of New Orleans and the occupation of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, key events in the war that helped secure Union control of the lower Mississippi River basin and denied the Confederacy a major port and naval base on the Gulf Coast.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The remainder of the 19th century was marked by declining strength and introspection about the mission of the Marine Corps. The Navy's transition from sail to steam put into question the need for Marines on naval ships. Meanwhile, Marines served as a convenient resource for interventions and landings to protect American interests overseas. The Corps was involved in over 28 separate interventions in the 30 years from the end of the American Civil War to the end of 19th century. They were called upon to stem political and labor unrest within the United States. Under Commandant Jacob Zeilin's tenure, Marine customs and traditions took shape: the Corps adopted the Marine Corps emblem on 19 November 1868. It was during this time that "The Marines' Hymn" was first heard. Around 1883, the Marines adopted their current motto ""Semper fidelis"" ("Always Faithful"). John Philip Sousa, the musician and composer, enlisted as a Marine apprentice at age 13, serving from 1867 until 1872, and again from 1880 to 1892 as the leader of the Marine Band.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: During the Spanish–American War (1898), Marines led American forces ashore in the Philippines, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, demonstrating their readiness for deployment. At Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the Marines seized an advanced naval base that remains in use today. Between 1899 and 1916, the Corps continued its record of participation in foreign expeditions, including the Philippine–American War, the Boxer Rebellion in China, Panama, the Cuban Pacifications, the Perdicaris incident in Morocco, Veracruz, Santo Domingo, and the Banana Wars in Haiti and Nicaragua; the experiences gained in counter-insurgency and guerrilla operations during this period were consolidated into the "Small Wars Manual".


title: United States Marine Corps

text: During World War I, Marines served as a part of the American Expeditionary Force under General John J. Pershing when America entered into the war on 6 April 1917. The Marine Corps had a deep pool of officers and non-commissioned officers with battle experience and thus experienced a large expansion. The U.S. Marine Corps entered the war with 511 officers and 13,214 enlisted personnel and by 11 November 1918 had reached a strength of 2,400 officers and 70,000 enlisted. African-Americans were entirely excluded from the Marine Corps during this conflict. Opha May Johnson was the first woman to enlist in the Marines; she joined the Marine Corps Reserve in 1918 during World War I, officially becoming the first female Marine. From then until the end of World War I, 305 women enlisted in the Corps. During the Battle of Belleau Wood in 1918, the Marines and U.S. media reported that Germans had nicknamed them "Teufel Hunden," meaning "Devil Dogs" for their reputation as shock troops and marksmen at ranges up to 900 meters; there is no evidence of this in German records (as "Teufelshunde" would be the proper German phrase). Nevertheless, the name stuck in U.S. Marine lore.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Between the World Wars, the Marine Corps was headed by Commandant John A. Lejeune, and under his leadership, the Corps studied and developed amphibious techniques that would be of great use in World War II. Many officers, including Lieutenant Colonel Earl Hancock "Pete" Ellis, foresaw a war in the Pacific with Japan and undertook preparations for such a conflict. Through 1941, as the prospect of war grew, the Corps pushed urgently for joint amphibious exercises with the Army and acquired amphibious equipment that would prove of great use in the upcoming conflict.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: In World War II, the Marines performed a central role in the Pacific War, along with the U.S. Army. The battles of Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Tarawa, Guam, Tinian, Cape Gloucester, Saipan, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa saw fierce fighting between marines and the Imperial Japanese Army. Some 600,000 Americans served in the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Battle of Iwo Jima, which began on 19 February 1945, was arguably the most famous Marine engagement of the war. The Japanese had learned from their defeats in the Marianas Campaign and prepared many fortified positions on the island including pillboxes and network of tunnels. The Japanese put up fierce resistance, but American forces reached the summit of Mount Suribachi on 23 February. The mission was accomplished with high losses of 26,000 American casualties and 22,000 Japanese.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Marines played a comparatively minor role in the European theater. Nonetheless, they did continue to provide security detachments to U.S. embassies and ships, contributed personnel to small special ops teams dropped into Nazi-occupied Europe as part of Office of Strategic Services (OSS, the precursor to the CIA) missions, and acted as staff planners and trainers for U.S. Army amphibious operations, including the Normandy landings. By the end of the war, the Corps had expanded from two brigades to six divisions, five air wings, and supporting troops, totaling about 485,000 marines. In addition, 20 defense battalions and a parachute battalion were raised. Nearly 87,000 marines were casualties during World War II (including nearly 20,000 killed), and 82 were awarded the Medal of Honor.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: In 1942, the Navy Seabees were created with the Marine Corps providing their organization and military training. Many Seabee units were issued the USMC standard issue and were re-designated "Marine". Despite the Corps giving them their military organization, military training, issuing them uniforms and redesignating their units, the Seabees remained Navy. USMC historian Gordon L. Rottmann writes that one of the "Navy's biggest contributions to the Marine Corps during WWII was the creation of the Seabees."


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Despite Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal's prediction that the Marine flag raising at Iwo Jima meant "a Marine Corps for the next five hundred years", the Corps faced an immediate institutional crisis following the war because of a suddenly shrunken budget. Army generals pushing for a strengthened and reorganized defense establishment attempted to fold the Marine mission and assets into the Navy and Army. Drawing on hastily assembled Congressional support, and with the assistance of the so-called "Revolt of the Admirals", the Marine Corps rebuffed such efforts to dismantle the Corps, resulting in statutory protection of the Marine Corps in the National Security Act of 1947. Shortly afterward, in 1952 the Douglas–Mansfield Act afforded the commandant an equal voice with the Joint Chiefs of Staff on matters relating to the Marines and established the structure of three active divisions and air wings that remain today.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Korean War (1950–1953) saw the hastily formed Provisional Marine Brigade holding the defensive line at the Pusan Perimeter. To execute a flanking maneuver, General Douglas MacArthur called on United Nations forces, including U.S. marines, to make an amphibious landing at Inchon. The successful landing resulted in the collapse of North Korean lines and the pursuit of North Korean forces north near the Yalu River until the entrance of the People's Republic of China into the war. Chinese troops surrounded, surprised, and overwhelmed the overextended and outnumbered American forces. The U.S. Army's X Corps, which included the 1st Marine Division and the Army's 7th Infantry Division regrouped and inflicted heavy casualties during their fighting withdrawal to the coast, known as the Battle of Chosin Reservoir.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The fighting calmed after the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, but late in March 1953, the relative quiet of the war was broken when the People's Liberation Army launched a massive offensive on three outposts manned by the 5th Marine Regiment. These outposts were codenamed "Reno", "Vegas", and "Carson". The campaign was collectively known as the Nevada Cities Campaign. There was brutal fighting on Reno hill, which was eventually captured by the Chinese. Although Reno was lost, the 5th Marines held both Vegas and Carson through the rest of the campaign. In this one campaign, the Marines suffered approximately 1,000 casualties and might have suffered much more without the U.S. Army's Task Force Faith. Marines would continue a battle of attrition around the 38th Parallel until the 1953 armistice. During the war, the Corps expanded from 75,000 regulars to a force of 261,000 marines, mostly reservists; 30,544 marines were killed or wounded during the war, and 42 were awarded the Medal of Honor.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Marine Corps served in the Vietnam War, taking part in such battles as the Battle of Hue and the Battle of Khe Sanh in 1968. Individuals from the USMC generally operated in the Northern I Corps Regions of South Vietnam. While there, they were constantly engaged in a guerrilla war against the Viet Cong, along with an intermittent conventional war against the North Vietnamese Army, this made the Marine Corps known throughout Vietnam and gained a frightening reputation from the Viet Cong. Portions of the Corps were responsible for the less-known Combined Action Program that implemented unconventional techniques for counter-insurgency and worked as military advisers to the Republic of Vietnam Marine Corps. Marines were withdrawn in 1971 and returned briefly in 1975 to evacuate Saigon and attempt a rescue of the crew of the SS "Mayaguez". Vietnam was the longest war up to that time for the Marines; by its end, 13,091 had been killed in action, 51,392 had been wounded, and 57 Medals of Honor had been awarded. Because of policies concerning rotation, more marines were deployed for service during Vietnam than World War II.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: While recovering from Vietnam, the Corps hit a detrimental low point in its service history caused by courts-martial and non-judicial punishments related partially to increased unauthorized absences and desertions during the war. Overhaul of the Corps began in the late 1970s, discharging the most delinquent, and once the quality of new recruits improved, the Corps focused on reforming the non-commissioned officer Corps, a vital functioning part of its forces.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: After the Vietnam War, the U.S. marines resumed their expeditionary role, participating in the failed 1980 Iran hostage rescue attempt Operation Eagle Claw, the Operation Urgent Fury and the Operation Just Cause. On 23 October 1983, the Marine barracks in Beirut was bombed, causing the highest peacetime losses to the Corps in its history (220 marines and 21 other service members were killed) and leading to the American withdrawal from Lebanon. In 1990, marines of the Joint Task Force Sharp Edge saved thousands of lives by evacuating British, French and American nationals from the violence of the Liberian Civil War.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: During the Persian Gulf War of 1990 to 1991, Marine task forces formed for Operation Desert Shield and later liberated Kuwait, along with Coalition forces, in Operation Desert Storm. Marines participated in combat operations in Somalia (1992–1995) during Operations Restore Hope, Restore Hope II, and United Shield to provide humanitarian relief. In 1997, marines took part in Operation Silver Wake, the evacuation of American citizens from the U.S. Embassy in Tirana, Albania.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Following the attacks on 11 September 2001, President George W. Bush announced the Global War on Terrorism. The stated objective of the Global War on Terror is "the defeat of Al-Qaeda, other terrorist groups and any nation that supports or harbors terrorists". Since then, the Marine Corps, alongside the other military services, has engaged in global operations around the world in support of that mission.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: In spring 2009, President Barack Obama's goal of reducing spending in the Defense Department was led by Secretary Robert Gates in a series of budget cuts that did not significantly change the Corps's budget and programs, cutting only the VH-71 Kestrel and resetting the VXX program. However, the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform singled the Corps out for the brunt of a series of recommended cuts in late 2010. In light of budget sequestration in 2013, General James Amos set a goal of a force of 174,000 Marines. He testified that this was the minimum number that would allow for an effective response to even a single contingency operation, but it would reduce the peacetime ratio of time at home bases to time deployed down to a historical low level.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Marines and other American forces began staging in Pakistan and Uzbekistan on the border of Afghanistan as early as October 2001 in preparation for Operation Enduring Freedom. The 15th and 26th Marine Expeditionary Units were some of the first conventional forces into Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in November 2001.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: After that, Marine battalions and squadrons rotated through, engaging Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces. Marines of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit flooded into the Taliban-held town of Garmsir in Helmand Province on 29 April 2008, in the first major American operation in the region in years. In June 2009, 7,000 marines with the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade (2nd MEB) deployed to Afghanistan in an effort to improve security and began Operation Strike of the Sword the next month. In February 2010, the 2nd MEB launched the largest offensive of the Afghan Campaign since 2001, the Battle of Marjah, to clear the Taliban from their key stronghold in Helmand Province. After Marjah, marines progressed north up the Helmand River and cleared the towns of Kajahki and Sangin. Marines remained in Helmand Province until 2014.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: U.S. Marines served in the Iraq War, along with its sister services. The I Marine Expeditionary Force, along with the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division, spearheaded the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The Marines left Iraq in the summer of 2003 but returned in the beginning of 2004. They were given responsibility for the Al Anbar Province, the large desert region to the west of Baghdad. During this occupation, the Marines lead assaults on the city of Fallujah in April (Operation Vigilant Resolve) and November 2004 (Operation Phantom Fury) and saw intense fighting in such places as Ramadi, Al-Qa'im and Hīt. The service's time in Iraq courted controversy with events such as the Haditha killings and the Hamdania incident. The Anbar Awakening and 2007 surge reduced levels of violence. The Marine Corps officially ended its role in Iraq on 23 January 2010 when it handed over responsibility for Al Anbar Province to the U.S. Army. Marines returned to Iraq in the summer of 2014 in response to growing violence there.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Throughout the Global War on Terrorism, the U.S. Marines have supported operations in Africa to counter Islamic extremism and piracy in the Red Sea. In late 2002, Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa was stood up at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti to provide regional security. Despite transferring overall command to the Navy in 2006, the Marines continued to operate in the Horn of Africa into 2007.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Department of the Navy, led by the Secretary of the Navy, is a military department of the cabinet-level U.S. Department of Defense that oversees the Marine Corps and the Navy. The most senior Marine officer is the Commandant (unless a Marine officer is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs or Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs), responsible to the Secretary of the Navy for organizing, recruiting, training, and equipping the Marine Corps so that its forces are ready for deployment under the operational command of the combatant commanders. The Marine Corps is organized into four principal subdivisions: Headquarters Marine Corps (HQMC), the Operating Forces, the Supporting Establishment, and the Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES or USMCR).


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Headquarters Marine Corps (HQMC) consists of the Commandant of the Marine Corps, the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, the Director Marine Corps Staff, the several Deputy Commandants, the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, and various special staff officers and Marine Corps agency heads that report directly to either the Commandant or Assistant Commandant. HQMC is supported by the Headquarters and Service Battalion, USMC providing administrative, supply, logistics, training, and services support to the Commandant and his staff.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Operating Forces are divided into three categories: Marine Corps Forces (MARFOR) assigned to unified combatant commands, viz., the Fleet Marine Forces (FMF); Security Forces guarding high-risk naval installations; and Security Guard detachments at American embassies. Under the "Forces for Unified Commands" memo, in accordance with the Unified Command Plan, Marine Corps Forces are assigned to each of the combatant commands at the discretion of the secretary of defense. Since 1991, the Marine Corps has maintained component headquarters at each of the regional unified combatant commands.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Marine Corps Forces are divided into Forces Command (MARFORCOM) and Pacific Command (MARFORPAC), each headed by a lieutenant general dual-posted as the commanding general of either FMF Atlantic (FMFLANT) or FMF Pacific (FMFPAC), respectively. MARFORCOM/FMFLANT has operational control of the II Marine Expeditionary Force; MARFORPAC/FMFPAC has operational control of the I Marine Expeditionary Force and III Marine Expeditionary Force.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The basic framework for deployable Marine units is the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF), a flexible structure of varying size. A MAGTF integrates a ground combat element (GCE), an aviation combat element (ACE), and a logistics combat element (LCE) under a common command element (CE), capable of operating independently or as part of a larger coalition. The MAGTF structure reflects a strong preference in the Corps towards self-sufficiency and a commitment to combined arms, both essential assets to an expeditionary force. The Marine Corps has a wariness and distrust of reliance on its sister services and towards joint operations in general.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Supporting Establishment includes the Combat Development Command, the Logistics Command, the Systems Command, the Recruiting Command, the Installations Command, the Marine Band, and the Marine Drum and Bugle Corps.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Marine Corps operates many major bases, 14 of which host operating forces, 7 support and training installations, as well as satellite facilities. Marine Corps bases are concentrated around the locations of the Marine Expeditionary Forces, though reserve units are scattered throughout the United States.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The principal bases are Camp Pendleton on the West Coast, home to I Marine Expeditionary Force; Camp Lejeune on the East Coast, home to II Marine Expeditionary Force; and Camp Butler in Okinawa, Japan, home to III Marine Expeditionary Force.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Other important bases include air stations, recruit depots, logistics bases, and training commands. Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms in California is the Marine Corps's largest base and home to the Corps's most complex, combined-arms, live-fire training. Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia is home to Marine Corps Combat Development Command and nicknamed the "Crossroads of the Marine Corps".


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Marine Corps maintains a significant presence in the National Capital Region, with Headquarters Marine Corps scattered amongst the Pentagon, Henderson Hall, Washington Navy Yard, and Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C. Additionally, Marines operate detachments at many installations owned by other branches to better share resources, such as specialty schools. Marines are also present at and operate many forward bases during expeditionary operations.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES/USMCR) consists of the Force Headquarters Group, 4th Marine Division, 4th Marine Aircraft Wing, and the 4th Marine Logistics Group. The MARFORRES/USMCR is capable of forming a 4th Marine Expeditionary Force or reinforcing/augmenting active-duty forces.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Marine Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) includes the Marine Raider Regiment, the Marine Raider Support Group, and the Marine Raider Training Center (MRTC). Both the Raider Regiment and the Raider Support Group consist of a headquarters company and three operations battalions. MRTC conducts screening, assessment, selection, training and development functions for MARSOC units. Marine Corps Special Operations Capable forces include: Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Companies, the Chemical Biological Incident Response Force, the Marine Division Reconnaissance Battalions, Force Reconnaissance Companies, Maritime Special Purpose Force, and Special Reaction Teams. Additionally, all deployed MEUs are certified as "special operations capable", viz. "MEU(SOC)", however Special Operations Capable forces are not considered to be special operations forces.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Although the notion of a Marine special operations forces contribution to the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) was considered as early as the founding of USSOCOM in the 1980s, it was resisted by the Marine Corps. Commandant Paul X. Kelley expressed the belief that marines should only support marines and that the Corps should not fund a special operations capability that would not directly support Marine Corps operations. However, much of the resistance from within the Corps dissipated when Marine leaders watched the Corps' 15th and 26th MEU(SOC)s "sit on the sidelines" during the very early stages of Operation Enduring Freedom while other conventional units and special operations units from the Army, Navy, and Air Force actively engaged in operations in Afghanistan. After a three-year development period, the Corps agreed in 2006 to supply a 2,500-strong unit, Marine Forces Special Operations Command, which would answer directly to USSOCOM.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Commandant of the Marine Corps is the highest-ranking officer of the Marine Corps, unless a marine is either the chairman or vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The commandant has the U.S. Code Title 10 responsibility to staff, train, and equip the Marine Corps and has no command authority. The commandant is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and reports to the Secretary of the Navy.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps acts as the chief deputy to the commandant. The Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps is the senior enlisted marine and acts as an adviser to the commandant. Headquarters Marine Corps comprises the rest of the commandant's counsel and staff, with deputy commandants that oversee various aspects of the Corps assets and capabilities. The current and 38th Commandant is David Berger, who assumed the position on 11 July 2019. The 36th and current Assistant Commandant is Eric M. Smith, while the 19th and current Sergeant Major is Troy E. Black.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Women have served in the United States Marine Corps since 1918. The first woman to have enlisted was Opha May Johnson (1878–1955). In January 2017, three women joined an infantry battalion at Camp Lejeune. Women had not served as infantry marines prior to this. In 2017, the Marines released a recruitment advertisement that focused on women for the first time. , female Marines make up 7.8% of the personnel.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: In December 2020, the Marine Corps began a trial program to have females integrated into the training companies at their recruit depot in San Diego as Congress has mandated an end to the male-only program there. For the 60 female recruits, scheduled to begin training in San Diego in February 2021, the Corps will transfer female drill instructors from their recruit depot in Parris Island, which already has a coed program. Fifty-three of these recruits successfully graduated from boot camp in April 2021 and became marines.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: In 1776 and 1777, a dozen African American marines served in the American Revolutionary War, but from 1798 to 1942, the Marine Corps followed a racially discriminatory policy of denying African Americans the opportunity to serve. The Marine Corps has a history of being last of the services to recruit African Americans, and its own history page acknowledges that it was a presidential order that "forced the Corps, despite objections from its leadership, to begin recruiting African American Marines in 1942..It accepted them as recruits into segregated all-black units. For the next few decades, the incorporation of black troops was not widely accepted within the Corps, nor was desegregation smoothly or quickly achieved. The integration of non-white Marine Corps personnel proceeded in stages from segregated battalions in 1942, to unified training in 1949, and finally full integration in 1960.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Today the Marine Corps is a desegregated force, made up of marines of all races working and fighting alongside each other. As of 2020, African Americans are currently underrepresented in the Marine Corps as compared to their overall percentage of the U.S. population. Concurrently, the Marine Corps is the only service where Hispanics are overrepresented per the same metric.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: As in the rest of the United States Armed Forces (excluding the Air Force and Space Force, which do not currently appoint warrant officers), Marine Corps ranks fall into one of three categories: commissioned officer, warrant officer, and enlisted, in decreasing order of authority. To standardize compensation, each rank is assigned a pay grade.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Commissioned officers are distinguished from other officers by their commission, which is the formal written authority, issued in the name of the President of the United States, that confers the rank and authority of a Marine officer. Commissioned officers carry the "special trust and confidence" of the President of the United States. Marine Corps commissioned officers are promoted based on an "up or out" system in accordance with the Defense Officer Personnel Management Act of 1980.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Warrant officers are primarily formerly enlisted experts in a specific specialized field and provide leadership generally only within that speciality.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Enlisted marines in the pay grades E-1 to E-3 make up the bulk of the Corps's ranks. Although they do not technically hold leadership ranks, the Corps's ethos stresses leadership among all marines, and junior marines are often assigned responsibility normally reserved for superiors. Those in the pay grades of E-4 and E-5 are non-commissioned officers (NCOs). They primarily supervise junior Marines and act as a vital link with the higher command structure, ensuring that orders are carried out correctly. Marines E-6 and higher are staff non-commissioned officers (SNCOs), charged with supervising NCOs and acting as enlisted advisers to the command.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The E-8 and E-9 levels have two and three ranks per pay grade, respectively, each with different responsibilities. The first sergeant and sergeant major ranks are command-oriented, serving as the senior enlisted marines in a unit, charged to assist the commanding officer in matters of discipline, administration, and the morale and welfare of the unit. Master sergeants and master gunnery sergeants provide technical leadership as occupational specialists in their specific MOS. The Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps also E-9, is a billet conferred on the senior enlisted marine of the entire Marine Corps, personally selected by the commandant. It is possible for an enlisted marine to hold a position senior to Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps which was the case from 2011 to 2015 with the appointment of Sergeant Major Bryan B. Battaglia to the billet of Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman, who is the most senior enlisted member of the United States military, serving in the Joint Chiefs of Staff.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) is a system of job classification. Using a four digit code, it designates what field and specific occupation a Marine performs. Segregated between officer and enlisted, the MOS determines the staffing of a unit. Some MOSs change with rank to reflect supervisory positions; others are secondary and represent a temporary assignment outside of a Marine's normal duties or special skill.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Every year, over 2,000 new Marine officers are commissioned, and 38,000 recruits are accepted and trained. All new marines, enlisted or officer, are recruited by the Marine Corps Recruiting Command.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Commissioned officers are commissioned mainly through one of three sources: Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps, Officer Candidates School, or the United States Naval Academy. Following commissioning, all Marine commissioned officers, regardless of accession route or further training requirements, attend The Basic School at Marine Corps Base Quantico. At The Basic School, second lieutenants, warrant officers, and selected foreign officers learn the art of infantry and combined arms warfare.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Enlisted marines attend recruit training, known as "boot camp", at either Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego or Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island. Historically, the Mississippi River served as a dividing line that delineated who would be trained where, while more recently, a district system has ensured a more even distribution of male recruits between the two facilities. All recruits must pass a fitness test to start training; those who fail will receive individualized attention and training until the minimum standards are reached. Marine recruit training is the longest among the American military services; it is 13 weeks long including processing and out-processing.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Following recruit training, enlisted marines then attend The School of Infantry at Camp Geiger or Camp Pendleton. Infantry marines begin their combat training, which varies in length, immediately with the Infantry Training Battalion. Marines in all other MOSs train for 29 days in Marine Combat Training, learning common infantry skills, before continuing on to their MOS schools, which vary in length.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Marine Corps has the most stable and most recognizable uniforms in the American military; the Dress Blues dates back to the early 19th century and the service uniform to the early 20th century. Only a handful of skills (parachutist, air crew, explosive ordnance disposal, etc.) warrant distinguishing badges, and rank insignia is not worn on uniform headgear (with the exception of an officer's garrison service cover).


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Marines have four main uniforms: dress, service, utility, and physical training. These uniforms have a few minor but very distinct variations from enlisted personnel to commissioned and non-commissioned officers. The Marine Corps dress uniform is the most elaborate, worn for formal or ceremonial occasions. There are four different forms of the dress uniform. The variations of the dress uniforms are known as "Alphas", "Bravos", "Charlies", or "Deltas". The most common being the "Blue Dress Alphas or Bravos", called "Dress Blues" or simply "Blues". It is most often seen in recruiting advertisements and is equivalent to black tie. There is a "Blue-White" Dress for summer, and Evening Dress for formal (white tie) occasions, which are reserved for SNCO's and officers. Versions with a khaki shirt in lieu of the coat (Blue Dress Charlie/Delta) are worn as a daily working uniform by Marine recruiters and NROTC staff.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The service uniform was once the prescribed daily work attire in garrison; however, it has been largely superseded in this role by the utility uniform. Consisting of olive green and khaki colors. It is roughly equivalent in function and composition to a business suit.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The utility uniform, currently the Marine Corps Combat Utility Uniform, is a camouflage uniform intended for wear in the field or for dirty work in garrison, though it has been standardized for regular duty. It is rendered in MARPAT pixelated camouflage that breaks up the wearer's shape. In garrison, the woodland and desert uniforms are worn depending on the marine's duty station. Marines consider the utilities a working uniform and do not permit their wear off-base, except in transit to and from their place of duty and in the event of an emergency.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: As in any military organization, the official and unofficial traditions of the Marine Corps serve to reinforce camaraderie and set the service apart from others. The Corps's embrace of its rich culture and history is cited as a reason for its high "esprit de corps". An important part of the Marine Corps culture is the traditional seafaring naval terminology derived from its history with the Navy. "Marines" are not "soldiers" or "sailors".


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The "Marine Corps emblem" is the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor, sometimes abbreviated "EGA", adopted in 1868. The Marine Corps seal includes the emblem, also is found on the flag of the United States Marine Corps, and establishes scarlet and gold as the official colors. The Marine motto "Semper Fidelis" means "Always Faithful" in Latin, often appearing as "Semper Fi". The "Marines' Hymn" dates back to the 19th century and is the oldest official song in the United States armed forces. "Semper Fi" is also the name of the official march of the Corps, composed by John Philip Sousa. The mottos ""Fortitudine"" (With Fortitude); "By Sea and by Land", a translation of the Royal Marines' "Per Mare, Per Terram"; and "To the Shores of Tripoli" were used until 1868.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Two styles of swords are worn by marines: the officers' Mameluke Sword, similar to the Persian shamshir presented to Lt. Presley O'Bannon after the Battle of Derna, and the Marine NCO sword. The Marine Corps Birthday is celebrated every year on 10 November in a cake-cutting ceremony where the first slice of cake is given to the oldest marine present, who in turn hands it off to the youngest marine present. The celebration includes a reading of Commandant Lejeune's Birthday Message. Close Order Drill is heavily emphasized early on in a marine's initial training, incorporated into most formal events, and is used to teach discipline by instilling habits of precision and automatic response to orders, increase the confidence of junior officers and noncommissioned officers through the exercise of command and give marines an opportunity to handle individual weapons.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Marines have historically had issues with extremism in their ranks, particularly White supremacy. In 1976 the Camp Pendleton Chapter of the Ku Klux Klan had over 100 members and was headed by an active duty marine. In 1986, a number of marines were implicated in the theft of weapons for the White Patriot Party. The USMC, along with the rest of the military, has since made a serious effort to address extremism in the ranks.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Corps encourages the idea that "marine" is an earned title, and most Marine Corps personnel take to heart the phrase, "Once a marine, Always a marine". They reject the term "ex-marine" in most circumstances. There are no regulations concerning the address of persons who have left active service, so a number of customary terms have come into common use.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: In 2001, the Marine Corps initiated an internally designed martial arts program, called Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP). Because of an expectation that urban and police-type peacekeeping missions would become more common in the 21st century, placing marines in even closer contact with unarmed civilians, MCMAP was implemented to provide marines with a larger and more versatile set of less-than-lethal options for controlling hostile, unarmed individuals. It is a stated aim of the program to instill and maintain the "Warrior Ethos" within marines. The MCMAP is an eclectic mix of different styles of martial arts melded together. MCMAP consists of punches and kicks from Taekwondo and Karate, opponent weight transfer from Jujitsu, ground grappling involving joint locking techniques and chokes from Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and a mix of knife and baton/stick fighting derived from Eskrima, and elbow strikes and kick boxing from Muay Thai. Marines begin MCMAP training in boot camp, where they will earn the first of five available belts. The belts begin at tan and progress to black and are worn with standard utility uniforms.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: As of 2013, the typical infantry rifleman carries $14,000 worth of gear (excluding night-vision goggles), compared to $2,500 a decade earlier. The number of pieces of equipment (everything from radios to trucks) in a typical infantry battalion has also increased, from 3,400 pieces of gear in 2001 to 8,500 in 2013.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The basic infantry weapon of the Marine Corps has been the M16A4 service rifle. Most non-infantry marines have been equipped with the M4 Carbine or Colt 9mm SMG. The standard side arm is the M9A1 pistol. The Colt M1911 is also being put back into service as the M45A1 Close Quarter Battle Pistol (CQBP) in small numbers. Suppressive fire is provided by the M27 IAR, M249 SAW, and M240 machine guns, at the squad and company levels respectively. In 2018, the M27 IAR was selected to be the standard issue rifle for the all infantry squads. In 2021, the Marine Corps committed to fielding suppressors to all its infantry units, making it the first branch of the U.S. military to adopt them for widespread use.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Indirect fire is provided by the M203 grenade launcher and the M32 grenade launcher in fireteams, M224 60 mm mortar in companies, and M252 81 mm mortar in battalions. The M2 .50 caliber heavy machine gun and MK19 automatic grenade launcher (40 mm) are available for use by dismounted infantry, though they are more commonly vehicle-mounted. Precision firepower is provided by the M40 series and the Barrett M107, while designated marksmen use the DMR (being replaced by the M39 EMR), and the SAM-R.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Marine Corps utilizes a variety of direct-fire rockets and missiles to provide infantry with an offensive and defensive anti-armor capability. The SMAW and AT4 are unguided rockets that can destroy armor and fixed defenses (e.g., bunkers) at ranges up to 500 meters. The smaller and lighter M72 LAW can destroy targets at ranges up to 200 meters. The Predator SRAW, FGM-148 Javelin and BGM-71 TOW are anti-tank guided missiles. The Javelin can utilize top-attack profiles to avoid heavy frontal armor. The Predator is a short-range fire-and-forget weapon; the Javelin and TOW are heavier missiles effective past 2,000 meters that give infantry an offensive capability against armor.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Corps operates the same HMMWV as does the Army, which is in the process of being replaced by the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV). However, for its specific needs, the Corps uses a number of unique vehicles. The LAV-25 is a dedicated wheeled armored personnel carrier, similar to the Army's Stryker vehicle, used to provide strategic mobility. Amphibious capability is provided by the AAV-7A1 Assault Amphibious Vehicle, an armored tracked vehicle that doubles as an armored personnel carrier, due to be replaced by the Amphibious Combat Vehicle, a faster vehicle with superior armor and weaponry. The threat of land mines and improvised explosive devices in Iraq and Afghanistan has seen the Corps begin purchasing heavy armored vehicles that can better withstand the effects of these weapons as part of the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle program.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Marines also operate the M777 155 mm howitzer and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), a truck-mounted rocket artillery system. Both are capable of firing guided munitions. In 2020, the Marine Corps retired its M1A1 Abrams tanks and eliminated all of its tank units. General David Berger explained the decision describing the long-serving Marine weapons system as "operationally unsuitable for our highest-priority challenges." The move leaves the Army as the sole operator of American tanks.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The organic aviation capability of the Marine Corps is essential to its amphibious mission. The Corps operates both rotary-wing and fixed-wing aircraft mainly to provide Assault Support and close air support to its ground forces. Other aircraft types are used in a variety of support and special-purpose roles. The light transport and attack capabilities are provided by the Bell UH-1Y Venom and Bell AH-1Z Viper. Medium-lift squadrons utilize the MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor. Heavy-lift squadrons are equipped with the CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter, which are being replaced with the upgraded CH-53K.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Marine attack squadrons fly the AV-8B Harrier II; while the fighter/attack mission is handled by the single-seat and dual-seat versions of the F/A-18 Hornet strike-fighter aircraft. The AV-8B is a V/STOL aircraft that can operate from amphibious assault ships, land air bases and short, expeditionary airfields, while the F/A-18 can only be flown from land or aircraft carriers. Both are slated to be replaced by 340 of the STOVL B version of the F-35 Lightning II and 80 of the carrier F-35C versions for deployment with Navy carrier air wings.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Corps operates its own organic aerial refueling assets in the form of the KC-130 Hercules; however it also receives a large amount of support from the U.S. Air Force. The Hercules doubles as a ground refueler and tactical-airlift transport aircraft. The USMC electronic warfare plane, the EA-6B, was retired in 2019. The Marines operate unmanned aerial vehicles: the RQ-7 Shadow and Scan Eagle for tactical reconnaissance.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Marine Fighter Training Squadron 401 (VMFT-401), operates F-5E, F-5F and F-5N Tiger II aircraft in support of air combat adversary (aggressor) training. Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1) operates the VH-3D Sea King and VH-60N Whitehawk helicopters in the VIP transport role, most notably Marine One, but are due to be replaced. A single Marine Corps C-130 Hercules aircraft, "Fat Albert", is used to support the U.S. Navy's flight demonstration team, the "Blue Angels".


title: United States Marine Corps

text: In general, the Marine Corps shares many resources with the other branches of the United States Armed Forces. However, the Corps has consistently sought to maintain its own identity with regard to mission, funding, and assets, while utilizing support available from the larger branches. While the Marine Corps has far fewer installations both in the U.S. and worldwide than the other branches, many Army posts, Naval stations, and Air Force bases have a Marine presence. They also cross-train with other countries.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Marine Corps's counterpart under the Department of the Navy is the United States Navy. As a result, the Navy and Marine Corps have a close relationship, more so than with other branches of the military. Whitepapers and promotional literature have commonly used the phrase "Navy-Marine Corps Team", or refer to "the Naval Service". Both the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) and Commandant of the Marine Corps report directly to the Secretary of the Navy.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Operationally, the Marine Corps provides the Fleet Marine Forces for service with the Navy's fleets, including the forward-deployed Marine Expeditionary Units embarked aboard Navy amphibious warships. The Corps also contributes some Marine Aviation fixed-wing fighter/attack assets (aircraft squadrons and related aircraft maintenance augmentation units) as part of the Carrier Air Wings deployed aboard aircraft carriers. The Marine Corps Security Force Regiment provides infantry-based security battalions and Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Team companies to guard and defend high-priority and overseas Navy bases. Security for the Presidential Retreat located aboard the Naval Support Activity Thurmont, viz., "Camp David" is provided by the Marine infantry battalion stationed as part of the garrison aboard Marine Barracks Washington.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Cooperation between the two services includes the training and instruction of some future Marine Corps officers (most are trained and commissioned through Marine Corps OCS), all Marine Corps Naval Aviators (aircraft pilots) and Naval Flight Officers (airborne weapons and sensor system officers), and some Navy and Marine Corps enlisted personnel. The Corps receives a significant portion of its officers from the United States Naval Academy (USNA) and Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC). USNA and NROTC staff and faculty includes Marine Corps instructors. Marine Corps aviators and flight officers are trained in the Naval Air Training Command (NATRACOM) and are designated, or "winged" as Naval Aviators or Naval Flight Officers. The Marine Corps provides flight instructors to the Naval Air Training Command as well as drill instructors to the Navy's Officer Candidate School. Many enlisted marines, particularly those in the aviation maintenance specialties, are trained at Navy technical training centers. The Marine Corps also provides ground combat training support to various Navy field medical (Hospital Corpsmen), Naval Construction Force (Seabee), and Navy Expeditionary Warfare personnel, units, and commands.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Training alongside each other is viewed as critical, as the Navy provides transport, logistical, and combat support to put Marine units into the fight, such as maritime prepositioning ships and naval gunfire support. Most Marine aviation assets ultimately derive from the Navy, with regard to acquisition, funding, and testing, and Navy aircraft carriers typically deploy with a Marine squadron alongside Navy squadrons. Marines do not recruit or train noncombatants such as chaplains or medical/dental personnel; naval personnel fill these roles. Some of these sailors, particularly Hospital corpsmen and Religious program specialists, generally wear Marine uniforms emblazoned with Navy insignia. Conversely, the Marine Corps is responsible for conducting land operations to support naval campaigns, including the seizure of naval bases. Both services operate a network security team in conjunction.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Marines and sailors share many naval traditions, especially terminology and customs. Marine Corps Medal of Honor recipients wear the Navy variant of this and other awards; and with few exceptions, the awards and badges of the Navy and Marine Corps are identical. Much of testing for new Marine Corps aircraft is done at Naval Air Station Patuxent River. The Navy's Blue Angels flight demonstration team is staffed by both Navy and Marine officers and enlisted personnel.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: In 2007, the Marine Corps joined with the Navy and Coast Guard to adopt a new maritime strategy called "A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower" that raises the notion of prevention of war to the same philosophical level as the conduct of war. This new strategy charts a course for the Navy, Coast Guard and Marine Corps to work collectively with each other and international partners to prevent regional crises, man-made or natural, from occurring or reacting quickly should one occur to avoid negative impacts to the United States.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Marine Corps capabilities overlap with those of the United States Army, historically creating competition for funding and missions. The competition dates back to the founding of the Continental Marines, when General George Washington refused to allow the initial Marine battalions to be drawn from among his Continental Army. In the aftermath of World War II, Army leadership made efforts to restructure the American defense establishment including 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 D. Eisenhower and Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall. The Goldwater-Nichols Act significantly reshaped the services roles and relationships with each other, enforcing more joint decision making. Department of Defense Directive 5100.01 tasks both the Army and Marine Corps with expeditionary and amphibious operations. With most of the 2000s spent in operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates voiced concerns that the Marine Corps are becoming a "second Army". Since these comments, the Marine Corps has shed its main battle tanks, reduced its size, and focused more on operations in littoral areas where the Army is not explicitly tasked to operate.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Army maintains much larger and diverse combat arms, special operations, and logistics forces. The Army has much lighter and expeditionary forces in its infantry and airborne infantry brigade combat teams. The Army also maintains heavier and more logistically taxing armored brigade combat teams. The Marine Corps, in comparison, maintains forces between these two extremes of mobility and protection. The Marine Corps organizes much smaller deployable units with integrated aviation support. The Marine Corps was historically hesitant to provide forces to U.S. Special Operations Command, instead making specialty units available to its division commanders. The Army has maintained Special Forces, Rangers, civil affairs, psychological operations, special operations aviation, and special missions units for decades. In 2003, the Marine Corps created the present-day successors to the Marine Raiders and provided them to Special Operations Command starting with the establishment of MCSOCOM Detachment One. The modern Marine Raider training pipeline was based on input from U.S. Army Ranger and Special Forces units.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: Culturally, marines and soldiers share most of the common U.S. military slang and terminology, but the Corps utilizes a large number of naval terms and traditions incompatible with Army lifestyle, as well as their own unique vernacular. As the Army Reserve and Army National Guard is much larger than the Marine Corps's Reserve, many more former active duty marines continue their service in the Army's reserve components. The Army does not require transfers from the Marines, Air Force Security Forces, or special operations of any branch to attend Army Basic Combat Training. Due to the requirement that all inter-service transfers attend Marine Corps Recruit Training, very few former soldiers serve in the Marine Corps.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: While some of Marine Corps Aviation assets ultimately derive from the Navy, a large amount of support is drawn from the United States Air Force. The Marine Corps makes extensive use of the USAF Air Mobility Command to airlift marines and equipment, along with utilizing close air support from the Air Force. The Air Force may also attach Tactical Air Control Party units to conventional Marine ground forces to provide coordination for close air support.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Air Force traditionally provides the Joint Force Air Component Commander (JFACC) who controls "sorties for air defense, and long range interdiction and reconnaissance" while the MAGTF commander retains control of the Marines' organic aviation assets, however Marine Aviation missions not directly in the support of the MAGTF will be typically controlled by the JFACC.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: The Marine Corps shares a sphere of operation with units of the United States Coast Guard, including operation of the Joint Maritime Training Center (JMTC) (previously known as the Special Missions Training Center (SMTC)), a joint Coast Guard, Navy, and Marine Corps training facility located on the Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: According to the Department of the Navy (from whence the Marine Corps receives its funding), for FY 2019, the Marine Corps received $43.2B in funding.


title: United States Marine Corps

text: In 2013, the USMC became the first American military branch to ever have a fully audited annual budget.


title: Gerard Butler

text: Gerard James Butler (born 13 November 1969) is a Scottish actor and film producer. After studying law, he turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as "Mrs Brown" (1997), the James Bond film "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997), and "Tale of the Mummy" (1998). In 2000, he starred as Count Dracula in the gothic horror film "Dracula 2000" with Christopher Plummer and Jonny Lee Miller.


title: Gerard Butler

text: He played Attila the Hun in the miniseries "Attila" (2001), then appeared in the films "Reign of Fire" with Christian Bale (2002) and "" with Angelina Jolie (2003) before playing André Marek in the adaptation of Michael Crichton's science fiction adventure "Timeline" (2003). He then was cast as Erik, The Phantom in Joel Schumacher's 2004 film adaptation of the musical "The Phantom of the Opera," with Emmy Rossum; it earned him a Satellite Award nomination for Best Actor.


title: Gerard Butler

text: Butler gained worldwide recognition for his portrayal of King Leonidas in Zack Snyder's fantasy war film "300". That role earned him nominations for an Empire Award for Best Actor and a Saturn Award for Best Actor and a win for MTV Movie Award for Best Fight. He voiced Stoick the Vast in the critically and commercially successful "How to Train Your Dragon" franchise (2010–2019). Also in the 2010s, he portrayed Secret Service agent Mike Banning in the action thriller series "Olympus Has Fallen", "London Has Fallen", "Angel Has Fallen" and the upcoming "Night Has Fallen". He played military leader Tullus Aufidius in the 2011 film "Coriolanus", a modern adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name, and Sam Childers in the 2011 action biopic "Machine Gun Preacher".


title: Gerard Butler

text: Butler was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, the youngest of three children of Margaret and Edward Butler, a bookmaker. He is from a Catholic family of Irish descent. His family moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada when he was six months old. A year later, when his parents' marriage broke down, his mother left Quebec and returned to Scotland with Gerard, aged 18 months.


title: Gerard Butler

text: Butler was head boy at St Mirin's & St Margaret's High School in Paisley and won a place at University of Glasgow School of Law. He also attended Scottish Youth Theatre while a teenager. He did not see his father again until he was 16, when Edward Butler called to meet him at a Glasgow restaurant. After the meeting, Butler cried for hours, and recalled later: "That emotion showed me how much pain can sit in this body of yours; pain and sorrow that you don't know you have until it is unleashed."


title: Gerard Butler

text: As a student, he was the president of the university law society, a position he later said he "kind of blagged my way into". When Butler was 22, his father was diagnosed with cancer and died. He said of this period in his life: "I had gone from a 16-year-old who couldn't wait to grasp life to a 22-year-old who didn't care if he died in his sleep."


title: Gerard Butler

text: Before his final year of law school, Butler took a year off to live in California—mostly in Venice Beach, where he held different jobs, traveled often, and, he says, drank heavily; at one point he was arrested for alcohol-related disorderly conduct. Describing his behaviour during that year, he recalled: "I was out of control, and justifying it with this idea that 'I'm young, this is life. This is me just being boisterous.' " After his time off in America, he returned to Scotland to finish his final year at law school.


title: Gerard Butler

text: He had ear surgery as a child that left him with a mangled ear. He still suffers from tinnitus and has hearing loss in his right ear.


title: Gerard Butler

text: Upon graduation, he took a position as a trainee lawyer at an Edinburgh law firm. However, he continued to stay out late drinking and frequently missed work. One week before he qualified as a lawyer, he was fired. At the age of 25, and an unqualified lawyer, he moved to London to pursue his dream of becoming famous. He admitted, "When I started out, I'm not sure I was actually in it for the right reasons. I wanted very much to be famous."


title: Gerard Butler

text: Initially unable to win any acting roles, he worked in a variety of jobs including as a waiter, a telemarketer and a toy demonstrator at fairs. In London, he met an old friend from his teenage days in the Scottish Youth Theatre, who was now a London casting director. At that time, he was her boyfriend and her assistant. She took him to an audition for Steven Berkoff's play of "Coriolanus". The director said of Butler's audition, "When he read, he had such vigour and enthusiasm—so much that it made the other actors seem limp—that I decided to cast him in the ensemble."


title: Gerard Butler

text: Then aged 27, Butler had his first professional acting job. Less than a year later, he won a part in a theatre adaptation of "Trainspotting" at the Edinburgh Festival. At age 30, he decided to move to Los Angeles, where he won parts in "Dracula 2000", "", "Dear Frankie" and "Phantom of the Opera".


title: Gerard Butler

text: In London, Butler had various odd jobs until being cast by actor and director Steven Berkoff (who later appeared alongside him in "Attila" (2001)) in a stage production of "Coriolanus". He was cast as Ewan McGregor's character Renton in the stage adaptation of "Trainspotting", the same play that had inspired him to become an actor. His film debut was as Billy Connolly's character's younger brother in "Mrs Brown" (1997).


title: Gerard Butler

text: His film career continued with small roles, first in the James Bond film "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997) and then Russell Mulcahy's "Tale of the Mummy" (1998). In 2000, Butler was cast in two breakthrough roles, the first being Attila the Hun in the American TV miniseries "Attila" (2001). The film's producers wanted a known actor to play the part but eventually chose Butler. He was cast as Dracula in "Dracula 2000" (2000).


title: Gerard Butler

text: He then appeared in "Reign of Fire" (2002) as Creedy and "" (2003) as Terry Sheridan, alongside Angelina Jolie. In the role of Andre Marek in the big-screen adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel "Timeline" (2003), Butler played an archaeologist who was sent back in time with a team of students to rescue a colleague.


title: Gerard Butler

text: In 2003, director Joel Schumacher was deciding on the principal casting for the film "The Phantom of the Opera", a film adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical of the same name, and thought of Butler, whom he had seen earlier in the film "Dracula 2000", to play the title character. Butler, who had had no musical experience other than singing in a rock band while he was studying to be a lawyer, was surprised at the interest, but immediately began taking singing lessons with a vocal coach. He then did an acting audition with Schumacher, and a singing audition with Lloyd Webber, both of whom were impressed by his performance. The film, and Butler's performance, received mixed reviews, though Butler was nominated for a Satellite Award for Best Actor.


title: Gerard Butler

text: Other projects that followed include "Dear Frankie" (2005), "The Game of Their Lives" (2005) and "Beowulf & Grendel" (2005).