View Full Version : What Do Marines Do On a Ship?
SmokeyZach
06-20-09, 09:50 PM
This is probably a really pointless sounding question. I work at Patriot's Point Maritime Museum and a ship there is called the USS Yorktown (CV/A/S-10). On the ship is a Marine "quarters" (that is how I refer to it, if there is a correct term please tell me), when I get asked what Marines did on the ship, I say, "They kept the sailors in order." (My boss, a former Marine, told me to say this). What other duties do Marines have on a ship?
I hope, one day, I might get to find out for myself as well.
ameriken
06-20-09, 11:35 PM
I believe the ship duty you're referring to is a thing of the past.
um, the yorktown isn't that old is it? aircraft carrier??
anyways, there is plenty Marines do on ship... nothing I can speak of personally, but depending on which ship would determine what it was that they did.
we always had working parties on ship, cleaned with the sailors cleaned... did guard duty while under-way... at port unless you screwed up big-time you'd be gone the entire time unless they give you cinderella liberty (back by midnight... get it?)...
um, those seem to be the generic responsibilities... the specifics from ship to ship could be answered by fellas who were on them... I'll leave it to them.
echo3oscar1833
06-20-09, 11:47 PM
On the Portland, was on for about a few weeks, we did absolutely nothing. We got on ship, with the AAV's, off of NC, headed down to Florida. The only think we actually really did was PM our AAV's, and had firewatch in the tank deck. On the Guston Hall, that was different, spent about a month on there. Had mess duty for about a week, we also had to help field day. We did AAV pm in the tank deck. Then we had firewatch, slept in the berthing areas, some nites down with the AAV's. Also did PT on the flight deck, when the helos wernt comming in. Get used to running in a circle, if your on ship alot. Oh on the Portland, they dropped the ramp on the back, and let out a huge net. We all got to go swimming that day, that was very cool btw. Chow sucked I thought, other than that not much I can say. If you go AAV MOS, expect to be doing Ship Ops, alot. Thats kinda of a duh considering the job function. SF:marine:
SmokeyZach
06-21-09, 12:11 AM
Thank you for the information, sirs, and to answer your question, Staff Sergeant Petzold, the Yorktown was commissioned in 1943 and decommissioned in 1970. She became a museum ship in 1975.
That brings me to one more question if anyone would care to answer. There is an armory in the Marine Corps berthing area. Among the weapons are an M2 Browning, M1 Garands, M14's and M16A1's. Were those used to defend the ship or assault an island or something? I get asked all the time why the weapons are on board.
SlingerDun
06-21-09, 12:14 AM
During the cold war era nuclear weapons security was the primary function of Marine detachments (ships company) who's permanent duty station was said vessel. Airwingers also deploy with carriers for months at a time but pack up and leave when the ship returns to it's home port.
All those nautical terms and jargon you may learn in boot camp and beyond start to make sense when a Marine deploys aboard a U.S.S.
Every detachment had a small arms locker, because they are Marineshttp://www.leatherneck.com/forums/images/icons/icon6.gif
--->Dave
echo3oscar1833
06-21-09, 12:16 AM
Thank you for the information, sirs, and to answer your question, Staff Sergeant Petzold, the Yorktown was commissioned in 1943 and decommissioned in 1970. She became a museum ship in 1975.
That brings me to one more question if anyone would care to answer. There is an armory in the Marine Corps berthing area. Among the weapons are an M2 Browning, M1 Garands, M14's and M16A1's. Were those used to defend the ship or assault an island or something? I get asked all the time why the weapons are on board.
Those were rifles used, in every operation, conflict, and war that, that particular ship was involved in. They are the tools used by Generations of Marines, that have protected and defended, for you to have your life that you live today. Need I say more.:usmc:
a Marine is useless without his weapon... why wouldn't we bring them with us? it's a Marines original purpose to protect naval vessels and grew from there.
as was said, those just happen to be the service rifles while that particular ship was in service.
Phantom Blooper
06-21-09, 06:21 AM
What Do Marines Do On a Ship?
Get in the sailors way....
Clean your rifle....Work on your bird/trac....play spades....get seasick....biatch....
Tie a hammock to a tree.....spray a water hose on you on a hundred degree day....try to read or write a letter...almost shipboard life....
Something you have to experience for yourself!:evilgrin:
thewookie
06-21-09, 06:43 AM
Get sick :D:(:scared:
Pete0331
06-21-09, 06:51 AM
Get in the sailors way....
Clean your rifle....Work on your bird/trac....play spades....get seasick....biatch....
Tie a hammock to a tree.....spray a water hose on you on a hundred degree day....try to read or write a letter...almost shipboard life....
Something you have to experience for yourself!:evilgrin:
You forgot: standing in the chow line 3 hours out of every day. :marine:
PT every morning and again in the evening on occasion.
Classes.
Ranges off the flight deck.
Training that can take place in a small area. Usually weapons manipulation, gun drills, MCMAP, and so on.
LOTS of weapons maintenance.
TDG's.
Guard.
After hours:
Gym time. Every Marine hits the gym at the beginning, but that tapers off after the 2nd month.
Ice Cream night
Poker night
Movie night
Pizza Night
Chili cook-off night
and so on...
I spent all my time on a flat top LHA/LHD Wasp-class.
So there were mass casualty, man overboard, abandon ship, Sparrowhawk, TRAP, and NEO drills.
We also had a company hike.
Up the ramp, around the flight deck, and down the ramp over and over for about 6 hours.
There is plenty to do, but with the amount of people and the tight quarters it usually takes about 3 times as long to do as it would normally.
Around 6 showers per 300 or so Marines, to give you an idea.
Platoon haircuts take all day.
Looking at the same douchebags for 6+ months can wear on somebody after awhile.
Supersquishy
06-21-09, 07:06 AM
Worked every day working on the Harrier, 12 on 12 off, when there wasn't any inspections or maint on the birds, nap on the red gear. Some of the best sleep I ever got was on the boat, rocka a by baby! HAH we had a "Barf-O-Meter" a string and weight and when we went through ruff stuff it would pegg out on BARF.
DocGreek
06-21-09, 07:10 AM
HA! HA! HA! HA! SONNY.....Marines are used for BALAST!!...WE move them from side to side, to keep the ship balanced! PLEASE...GOOGLE the YORKTOWN...one TOUGH old tub!! Lot's of fine men were killed, and wounded during Her duty in the Pacific, in WWII. Marine, and Navy pilots flew off Her deck to POUND JAP positions and ships, AND.....SHOOT DOWN LOTS OF JAP PLANES!!!! She's STILL afloat as a Memorium to those FINE MEN!!....MARINES, and SAILORS!! "Respect is earned, not given!".....Doc Greek
Phantom Blooper
06-21-09, 09:31 AM
Lock all friends and family outside. Your only means of communication should be with letters that your neighbors have held for at least three weeks, discarding two of five. <br />
Surround yourself with...
skipper72
06-21-09, 10:27 AM
When I rode the USS Newport News (CA-148) as XO of the Marine Detachment, duties included:
1. Operating an onboard brig (hopefully, never for Marines)
2. Standing at the ready as a landing party (participating in landing party exercises at Vieques. in Sicily, and elsewhere
3. Handling shipboard air defense coordination and manning aerial defense guns
4. Conducting landing and assault exercises with allies (in my case, Italians, French Commandos, and Britiish Royal Marines)
5. Serving as the principal Summary Court Martial officer and as Special Court Martial member, trial, counsel and defense counsel
6. Serving as OOD (In-Port)
7. Serving as a 6th Fleet Foreign Claims Officer and port-of-call Counterintelligence Officer
8. Commanding Seagoing Marines on foreign port MP duty (we did NOT consider ourselves "Shore Patrol")
9. Serving ashore in disaster relief evolutions after the earthquake at Agadir, Morocco
etc. etc.
We were "Soldiers of the Sea." MARINES! That's where the title came from. But seagoing is no more. Another hallowed tradition "bit the dust." S***-canned by the generals who were the O-1s of MY era (and far from the best of them!).
So are there still really "MARINES" serving, in fact ? You decide.
skipper72
06-21-09, 10:58 AM
Left out of the prior summary was that we were often called upon for foreign port ceremonies (as honor guard, in parades, etc.): We were the "face" of the United States Marine Corps and the United States of America at scores of ports in at least a dozen countries. And, in EVERY parade, the Marine Detachment LED!
Also left out was that. when Haiti felt threatened by invasion by the Dominican Republic, our Detachment was the advance advisory force posted to the U.S. Naval Mission.
Guess we didn't do enough as "Sea Soldiers" to be worth keeping. Must be it... At least, Bene decessit !
Actually be surprised. I read an article a waaaaaaay back that said "MARDETs" would be making a comeback to our frigate/destroyer fleet. They essentially want Marines to do what they used to do in the old days + the duties of a FAST team on water: ship security, port security, seaborne search and seizure, etc.
Btw that list of how to simulate ship's life is great. And I was only there for a week. I managed to never hit a part of my body on anything once, evidence I was born in a Navy family. Never got seasick either and actually felt worse once I hit land.
SPeaking of which you forgot that the person needs to install a railing on their front porch and throwing up over it within the first week or two of starting their "voyage." And random times throughout to simulate bad weather.
SmokeyZach
06-21-09, 04:16 PM
As Captain Burnes mentioned, there is also a brig on the Yorktown, I forgot to mention that but my question already got answered. Thank you, sir. From what I can conclude, Marines are no longer stationed on aircraft carriers? That is interesting.
What does NEO and TRAP stand for?
thewookie
06-21-09, 04:24 PM
As Captain Burnes mentioned, there is also a brig on the Yorktown, I forgot to mention that but my question already got answered. Thank you, sir. From what I can conclude, Marines are no longer stationed on aircraft carriers? That is interesting.
What does NEO and TRAP stand for?
Now your really digging up stuff.
NEO = Non-combatant Evacuation Operations
TRAP = Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and Personnel
We used to work/train for NEO's on the various dry-docked ships located in Norfolk.
Talk about close quarters....
As Captain Burnes mentioned, there is also a brig on the Yorktown, I forgot to mention that but my question already got answered. Thank you, sir. From what I can conclude, Marines are no longer stationed on aircraft carriers? That is interesting.
What does NEO and TRAP stand for?
The only Marines I know of anymore that go to carriers are the aviation squadrons.
I got to spend a week on a CV qual det for the instructor pilots at my command. The Nimitz is a fine vessel btw :D Carrier life is different though, I don't think I can put up with it for 6+ months though.
SmokeyZach
06-21-09, 05:25 PM
Okay, thank you for the responses. If any other questions are asked that I can not answer I was wondering if I could post them here? The reason I get asked so much about the ship and Marines in particular is because that part of the ship is where I work (Tours 4 & 5). Also, that is what convinces me to join the Marine Corps after college.
SlingerDun
06-21-09, 06:51 PM
Every once in awhile there was a civilian Fed agent military liason guy that would embark and brief us on legit terrorist outfits along with the known up 'n' comers. We constantly drilled hostile weapons takeover scenario's day or night somewhat because of Iran and the hostage situation but mostly because that rust bucket was overloaded with nuclear warheads. Like, whoa POTUS, dude! How many freaking 'world shakers' does one battle group need to cover it's AOhttp://www.leatherneck.com/forums/images/icons/icon6.gif It also seemed like most every foreign port had a local rogue faction we should be aware of as defenders of a floating city and it's doomsday cargo. No we didn't have alot of fun aboard that hot crowded vessel, it was suffocating and felt more like an exiled prison sentence attached to a semi-high profile occupation. Standing at parade rest in a solitary cage for two years i often regreted not flunking out of Sea School:marine: which was a scar but also a one way ticket back to the grunts and not as much float time. I do believe for a country kid it would have double sucked hind tit being a ships company Marine back in the early days of the Corps.
There was also an alleged domestic threat from recently hatched militant type eco-terrorists outfits like Earth First and other wannabes... remnants of various losers like the PLO who would like to get their hands on a nuke. Final disembarkation i packed off to Camp Pendleton an SRB that resembled an over stuffed Pee-Chee with hundreds of entries on classes attended for nuclear weapons security and anti-terrorist stuff, fighting JP5 fires, containing flooded compartments etc... most of which was not practical knowledge in a cold war line company
--->Dave
dude... you did that kind of stuff?!
kewl.
SlingerDun
06-21-09, 07:22 PM
yeah between naps hehehehe:beer:
oh, I know what you really did... but having been assigned that is pretty neat.
Alisium
06-21-09, 10:55 PM
Eat big, lift big, sleep big, get big.
Pete0331
06-22-09, 12:51 AM
I refused to gorge myself on the bullcrap navy food.
Lost 20 lbs on that deployment.
MRE's were better then the crap we had.
SmokeyZach
06-22-09, 11:52 AM
Are MRE's the same for the Army and Marines? There are some crates full of "Vietnam-era" C-Rations they have on display, I think they all have some kind of candy called 'CHARMS' and canned meat among other things. Some Army and Navy veterans said told me they have the best food out of the entire armed forces.
all C-rations and MREs are the same across the board...
'course if you were Motor-T (or any MOS that had access to a hot exhaust manifold) you enjoyed your C-rations year round. imagine Korea... cold as balls... the fat in the C-rat is solid... Motor-T is eatin' hot chow...
SlingerDun
06-22-09, 04:17 PM
Lunch time here no shoeing today installing a new swimming pool liner:cool: need 6 more hands to lay it out evenhttp://www.leatherneck.com/forums/images/icons/icon11.gif....
On the Coral Sea the cooks were Fillipino's down to the man, not the guys pulling mess duty but the cooks. So there was rice available all four meals; Lunch, dinner and mid-rats would very often be roast beef, chicken, rice, smashed taters, stewed tomatoes. I still eat those victuals at cafe's on the road and build similar meals at home with brown rice and no stewed tomatoes, you can have them. There was a quicker 'express' chow line for lunch and dinner called the doggy diner; hot dog, burger, fries, ick, period
--->Dave
Kegler300
06-22-09, 05:43 PM
Field day and play Spades...
SgtThrasher
06-22-09, 09:22 PM
We went on a Caribbean cruise in 1966.We boarded the USS Guadalcanal LPH-7 in Norfolk and sailed to Vieques for FO training.While aboard the ship we ran on the flight deck and cleaned our rifles and let the sailors run the ship.Good chow and large berthing area ,months later we practiced going off the ropes to the landing boats to hit the beach from the USS Terribone Parrish LST and eventually sailed back to Camp Lejeune on the "bone" as the sailors called her.She was a hot, cramped rough ride with little space to do anything but stay out of the sailors way.She was our taxi from training in Vieqeus,to hitting the liberty ports and we trained hard,but had lots of fun.
scifguard
06-23-09, 04:35 AM
Are MRE's the same for the Army and Marines? There are some crates full of "Vietnam-era" C-Rations they have on display, I think they all have some kind of candy called 'CHARMS' and canned meat among other things. Some Army and Navy veterans said told me they have the best food out of the entire armed forces.
Don't eat the Charms, they make it rain.
SmokeyZach
06-23-09, 09:55 PM
Alright, I greatly appreciate the assistance, here is the latest on what I have been asked. Usually there will be 'professionals' around the ship that answer these questions but:
- Someone asked me if the Marines were part of the special forces, I said no but there was such thing as MAR(SOC). What type of missions are they tasked?
- Two people asked me what the difference between a Master Sergeant and First Sergeant are (I assume they meant Marines but either way I did not know).
a Master Sergeant does MOS type work while a First Sergeant does company level administrative work... as in being the CO senior Enlisted SNCO.
a Master Gunnery Sergeant is the same opposed to a Sergeant Major.
MarSOC does SOCOM missions... if you're curious about those jobs you should ask someone who knows....
Alisium
06-23-09, 10:13 PM
Don't eat the Charms, they make it rain.
Charms were gold in my platoon.
And back when we still had dried fruit, that too.
Charms were gold in my platoon.
And back when we still had dried fruit, that too.
Apricots destroy AAVs. I'll take the charms, I'm amphibious :D
Alisium
06-23-09, 10:17 PM
Yeah, and I forgot to add...
Going to the field makes it rain.
SmokeyZach
06-23-09, 10:44 PM
MarSOC does SOCOM missions... if you're curious about those jobs you should ask someone who knows....
That would be an interesting job, probably really tough to come by too. I will ask a recruiter about it, maybe he could point me in the right direction.
Pete0331
06-23-09, 10:51 PM
That would be an interesting job, probably really tough to come by too. I will ask a recruiter about it, maybe he could point me in the right direction.
Don't be "that guy."
There are already to many of that type here.
yeah, MarSOC Marines come from the fleet not the recruit depot... don't worry about it at this stage in life.
SmokeyZach
06-24-09, 04:12 PM
Don't be "that guy."
There are already to many of that type here.
Corporal "Pete0331", may I ask what/who "that guy" is?
Sergeant M
06-25-09, 08:43 AM
Don't eat the Charms, they make it rain.
By "make it rain" he means that they're bad luck. You'll find that after being in combat too long, we (Marines) get a bit superstitious. Chuck the charms and go for the go for some wheat bread and some cheese w/ jalapenos. Also, stay away from the omelette, that **** is poison.
awbrown1462
06-25-09, 09:13 AM
read this
http://www.yorktownsailor.com/yorktown/marines.htm
echo3oscar1833
06-25-09, 10:37 AM
Apricots destroy AAVs. I'll take the charms, I'm amphibious :D
Always knew you 3rd Track Guys were a little off. Apricots, def bad luck, but thats a tracker thing. As far as charms, I guess it depends on the platoon. They were bad luck for use over at 2nd Tracks, if you got caught with some on your track, you could expect to be hazed.:D
Btw Fievel, off topic a little, what Plt. and Co were you with over at 3rd. I was Bravo Co. HQ Plt at 2nd Tracks. C7 Crew Cheif.
Always knew you 3rd Track Guys were a little off. Apricots, def bad luck, but thats a tracker thing. As far as charms, I guess it depends on the platoon. They were bad luck for use over at 2nd Tracks, if you got caught with some on your track, you could expect to be hazed.
Btw Fievel, off topic a little, what Plt. and Co were you with over at 3rd. I was Bravo Co. HQ Plt at 2nd Tracks. C7 Crew Cheif.
I didn't like the charms, but I kept them to throw in the grunts fighting holes when they weren't looking. It was my way of telling them "good luck" in Iraq. :D If I caught you with apricots on my hog, well, let's just say the amtrac gods demanded blood and retribution. :D
I spent most of my time with Alpha 2nd. After the invasion I was dropped to Echo 2nd because I was short, and finally Echo MCM because 2nd was deploying. I was crew chief of a P7.
echo3oscar1833
06-25-09, 08:17 PM
I didn't like the charms, but I kept them to throw in the grunts fighting holes when they weren't looking. It was my way of telling them "good luck" in Iraq. :D If I caught you with apricots on my hog, well, let's just say the amtrac gods demanded blood and retribution. :D
I spent most of my time with Alpha 2nd. After the invasion I was dropped to Echo 2nd because I was short, and finally Echo MCM because 2nd was deploying. I was crew chief of a P7.
YAT-YAS enough said right :D