Old Corps /New Corps/ what corps?

[tripledog]

I read a lot of posts on here and many refer to the old corps. Never do I

hear a boot referring to his/her duty as in the New Corps. So that I do

not make a mistake in refering to what I served in (yea yea I know the

Marines are the Marines , regarless of when u served and I say BS to that)

When did the Old Corps start and when did you THINK it ended? And

what would you call the "new Corps?"

[Ed Palmer]

Just keep in mind that OLD CORPS was Yesterday and New Corps is tomorrow

Old Corps - New Corps - My Corps

[Mongoose]

I always thought the new Corps started in 75. I thought they started restructuring training at that time.

[0331 2 0369]

I don't think you can nail a date to that honestly. It's all up to the individual. When they served..... how long they served...... changes they saw....... etc....

[lonewolf121]

Old Corps 75-76? 80’s Marines, 90’s Marines, now Marines...Different; but all still the same. I was actually thinking about this very thing yesterday. Look at Vietnam vs. Afghanistan. Different alcohol regs; sure VN Marines may have had COs that banned alcohol; but at least it was existent. Different abilities to get tang; if the need arose, don't even think it's possible over in the Middle East. Different region, different environment, different strategies. Same breed of fighting Marines; just different times. Like kids arguing about who had it worse, the older kid will always insist it was rougher, “Well, you didn’t have it as hard as me, because Mom and Dad used to beat me.” Without ever considering how it was for the younger sibling.

[haebyungdae]

I think the stop and start is really dependent on whether you are currently in service right now or not. Marines that are out will have an opinion based on the time frame they were in just like I will equate any time frames to my period of service. To me, the idea of old and new Corps seems to follow the changes in generations in the Marine Corps; especially senior SNCO leadership changing from one generation to the next.

I would say that having joined in 2003, old Corps would encompass those who served during the Gulf War era and are still in service. As for when the old Corps stopped and new Corps began, there are many different opinions about that, but I would considered the old Corps ended less than a decade after the end of the Gulf War. By this I mean that once the immediate supervisors (Cpls and young Sgts) that had no wartime experience started to gain in numbers to those who did.

I would also equate everyone prior to my end date as old Corps, though, I'm sure there would be opinions about old and new Corps among those that served in the various wars that the US has fought and the respective times of peace.

Old Corps or new Corps we all are Marines, but among us all there are those Marines, those older guys that have been around the block many times. The guys that are well respected for their dedication to the Corps and for technical expertise, the guys that take no guff from nobody without consequence. That is old Corps to me, those highly respected E-8s and E-9s (probably some E-7s in there too).

That's my two cents.

[hbharrison]

I guess I missed the change some where to me it has always been the Marine Corps and the only diff was that there were a lot of young Marines now doing what I did before just with new equipment and some new orders. So to me there is no new or old Marine Corps.

[DrZ]

I believe the old Corps was anytime before you served and the new Corps is anytime after you served. My older brother, who went EAS one year after I entered, kept telling me how different I had it from him. LOL... seemed like a lot of BS.

To me...the Corps is the Corps. Training has been modified and improved. Marines are still Marines.

Enough said.

[June 1975]

There has always been old Corps / new Corps. If you get a chance to meet a WW2 Marine or read some of their memoirs, you hear the veteran Marine of their day refered to as "old breed". I am sure that Marines today think of VN Marines as the old Marines, and the VN vets think of the WW2 men that way. I am a Marine that is old, but I don't think that I was in the "old Marines"!

[Old Marine]

So, does pulling mess duty at the last supper qualify for old Corps?

[03Mike]

When did the Old Corps start...

As others have said, the Old Corps started in '75... that'd be 1775, by the way.

Obviously there are many, many different opinions. From a historical viewpoint, I've found probably the clearest delinieation of "Old Corps" and "New Corps" to be December 1941. Those on duty with the Corps prior to Pearl Harbor differentiated themselves from the slew of new recruits that came in after Pearl Harbor -- and I think that there is some legitimacy to that. The Marine Corps changed significantly between 1940 and 1945.

I think that the Marine of 2011 bears much more in common with the Marine of 1961 than the Marine of 1961 does with the Marine of 1911.

What was it Puller said? "Old Breed, New Breed? Doesn't matter so long as it's the Marine Breed!"

[Wrench3516]

"OooRahh!"
The Old Corps!

Now I know how it all started!

Scene: Tun Tavern, Philadelphia . Date: 1775. Time: evening.

Capt. Robert Mullan was sitting at a candle-lit table with a feather pen and an open ledger
before him. He was recruiting the world's first U S Marine Detachment.

The first potential recruit, whose name has been lost in antiquity, walked up and said,

"What's the deal?"

Mullan said, "Just sign this book, and I'll give you $5, which is your first months pay,

a bottle of whiskey and you're in. Of course you have to have your own musket.

The recruit thought for just a second and said,

"OK. I have a musket", signed, became the Corps very first Marine recruit, took

his $5 and bottle into the back room to wait.

Second potential recruit walked up and asked, "What's the deal?"

Mullan said, "Just sign this book, and I'll give you $5, which is your first months pay,

a bottle of whiskey and you're in. Of course you have to have your own musket."

Looking sad, the second recruit said, "I'd really like to be a Marine, Sir, but I don't own a musket."

To which Mullan replied: "Don't worry about it, son, we'll cumshaw one for you."
(. . ...which meant he was going to steal one from the Army.)

So he signed, became the the second Marine, and walked to the back room with his $5 and bottle of whiskey.

The first Marine looked the second Marine over and, by and by, asked, "So what was your deal?"

The second Marine replied "Well, I got $5, a bottle of whiskey and a musket."

The first Marine thought on it for a while and finally said:

"Yeah. That figures, but you know, back in the Old Corps, you had to bring your own musket."

Fideli Certa Merces

A Marine should be sworn to the patient endurance of hardships, like the ancient knights;
and it is not the least of these necessary hardships to have to serve with sailors.

[Carpshooter]

I use to think it was when there was no cross rifles on the NCO chevrons . I now think that the " old Corps " ended with those who had the Marine numbers , of which my DIs forced me to remember mine in boot camp . back in '69 , before using social security numbers !

I can still remember mine as I will need them , when I die in order to report in and join my brothers in " heaven " while reporting in to guard the streets there , as " God will only trust Marines " !

[FistFu68]

With all Due respect My 2 cent's worth is when they stop letting Drill Instructors knock the Chit outta Chitbirds & letting QUEERS openly serve was The Day The Old Corps became New Corps!!!

[Danno77]

The real answer to this question (and you can read up on this in history books) is: The old Corps was prior to WWII. The new Corps was WWII and after. They didn't even have a single Marine Division prior to the 2nd World War, 1st MAR DIV wasn't activated until Feb 1941(eve of WWII).
WWI- approximately 70,000 men,
Prior to WWII- approximately 13,000
Max manpower during WWII-approximately 485,000
Korean War- approximately-261,000- a lot of Reservist.
Vietnam- I believe it was just over 300,000
When I was in (1977-1981) approximately 180,00
Today- approximately 203,00.

I guess an argument can be made for the spike that occurred during World War I, but you can see by the numbers that the spike during World War II of 450,000 new Marines is dividing point between the old Corps (13,000) and the new Corps (485,000).
* Most of these numbers are taken from Wikipedia and Global security.