"All Marines are riflemen" Do you agree?

[FutureMarine132]

Now I hear that most pogs will never implement anything they learned from MCT. Do all marines get issued a M16 Rifle? If you wanted to go out there in the field is it a scenario where you would just have to raise your hand? I went AG Contract(Enlisted Aircrew) and because my vision isn't 20/20 I might be placed on the C-130 Gunship. I think the idea of manning the 50cal on the UH-1 is the most exhilarating/badas$ job.C-130 seems kind of squishy and that's not why I enlisted in the Marine Corps.

[sparkie]

What?

[WKranz]

To answer the question in the topic, no. 0311 are riflemen, all Marines are trained with the rifle.

I understand its an old saying, but saying every Marine is a rifleman takes away from what a trained rifleman actually does.

That being said, I believe the idea behind the phrase is that every MOS is familiar enough with a rifle that they could get in the fight if necessary.

[Wyoming]

What?

Ditto.

[Quinbo]

Yes you will be issued a rifle and once a month you will go down to the armory and pretend to clean it then once a year you will spend a week on the range shooting it.

[devilbones2]

To answer the question in the topic, no. 0311 are riflemen, all Marines are trained with the rifle.

I understand its an old saying, but saying every Marine is a rifleman takes away from what a trained rifleman actually does.

That being said, I believe the idea behind the phrase is that every MOS is familiar enough with a rifle that they could get in the fight if necessary.

This is wrong. The training requires every Marine to be a basic rifleman. Every Marine stationed on a Marine base is issued his own rifle and must be basically qualified with it. There is a qualification that you must pass in order to use it, and therefore are basic rifleman. Its like just because you can drive a car does not make you a race car driver. There are other factors besides pointing at a paper target and applying the fundamentals, but every Marine is in fact a basic rifleman.

[thezero]

You will be on a KC-130J as we don't have AC-130's (the gunship as you call it) in the Marine Corps, there are a couple that we are testing to see if we want them, I can't remember what it is called at this time but if you do end up as air crew on C-130's you will have a long ass school in Little Rock as they are Crew Master's (Crew Chief/Load Masters)

[martinj]

This is wrong. The training requires every Marine to be a basic rifleman. Every Marine stationed on a Marine base is issued his own rifle and must be basically qualified with it. There is a qualification that you must pass in order to use it, and therefore are basic rifleman. Its like just because you can drive a car does not make you a race car driver. There are other factors besides pointing at a paper target and applying the fundamentals, but every Marine is in fact a basic rifleman.

Yes your not a race car driver but you can still effectively drive a car. And not every marine can effectively use his rifle, I have seen marines load their mags upside down and not knowing why their mag isn't seating properly.

[Kegler300]

Every Marine is a basic rifleman.

[DrZ]

When I was in... I was trained with the M14 and later with the M16 and the 45. I qualified as an expert on all...but barely with that pos M16. Now... do I call myself a rifleman? Hell no! I was a wingnut and wouldn't even compete with our knuckledraggers out there.

If push came to shove.... I could hold my own but I would be a sad substitute for our grunts.

[gungygal48]

"Every Marine a Rifleman" is a slogan - it simply means we all had to qual with the weapon to graduate from bootcamp. Too many folks imply (wrongly) that every Marine is a skilled, well trained rifleman, not so...

[martinj]

I would rather have a ten year old with a sling shot then some of these "riflemen" covering my 6.

[03Mike]

There is a lot of ignorance in some of the replies that you have received here.

1. Is every Marine a rifleman - well, every Marine is trained to be a rifleman - whether or not that retain that training is a different story. It is a matter or personal initiative and integrity, as well as a leadership issue.

2. If every Marine is a rifleman (or trained to be a rifleman), is that the same thing as saying that every Marine is an infantryman? No, not by a long shot. But it does mean that if it comes down to it, you are expected to fight, and fight effectively. There are no "non-combat" roles in the Marine Corps. There are jobs where the chances of seeing combat are pretty slim, but there are no guarantees.

3. Is every Marine issued an M-16? No. Many are issued pistols, some are issued SAWs, some are assigned to crew served weapons. Headquarters company has M-240s assigned to them and they are manned by non-0331s. So, you non-03 types better pay attention in MCT.

4. Do you just raise you hand if you want to go to the field? Not sure how to answer this one... seriously. There will be times when they ask for volunteers for stuff - and I'll let the other Marines here talk to you about volunteering for stuff - and there will be times when you'll pack you gear and go to the field whether you want to or not. Will you run around the woods doing mock attacks and raids like while you were at MCT? Highly doubtful. Will you lay in a basic defense, construct fighting positions, man OPs and walk guard duty? Absolutely. You're not going to have a grunt unit assigned to provide basic security at an expeditionary air field.

Now, I might be in the minority here, and if that's the case, so be it - you say that you didn't enlist in the Marine Corps to do something "squishy" like being an aircrewman on a C-130? Well, then you might have enlisted for the wrong reason. First and foremost, I hope that you enlisted in the Marine Corps to 1) serve your country, 2) be a Marine, and 3) be part of something larger than yourself. If you enlisted to be a door gunner on some type of aircraft and light stuff up like in a video game or a movie, well, you might have just made one of the biggest mistakes in your life. If that's why you enlisted, then you'll probably be one of those 10 percenters who goes through their time in the Corps *****ing and complaining about how screwed up everything is. Don't go around thinking that your MOS gives you an advantage or disadvantage when it comes time for a d*ck measuring contest. Some of the finest Marines I ever knew came from non-combat arms MOSs - aircrewmen, mechanics, motor-T --- and I thank God that we had professionals like that throughout the Corps.

My advice at this point - take some time to do some in depth research on what the duties of a Marine enlisted aircrewman actually does. Maybe things have changed since I stopped flying in the back of the old CH-46s, but I don't remember our UH-1s employing door gunners a whole lot. But I do recall these aircrewman being top notch, hard working Marines who kept those birds flying and who never hesitated to put us in anywhere or pull us out of anywhere, no matter how dangerous it was. I remember aircrewmen putting themselves in danger helping us load injured Marines on the birds and I remember them as true professionals. Of course, I remember a handful of them as sickbay commandos, whiners, and general cheesed*cks. Generally, this is a personal choice - and as one of my favorite DIs, SSgt Ruby, used to say "The choice is up to yours... so choose wisely".

[Theoldgunny]

heck no matter your mos if your ass is under fire you are a rifleman an it has happen time an time again iwo - chosen - fire bases in nan an ill even bet the gulf war and now in afgan

[SGT7477]

heck no matter your mos if your ass is under fire you are a rifleman an it has happen time an time again iwo - chosen - fire bases in nan an ill even bet the gulf war and now in afgan

, Semper Fidelis.