The U.S. Marine Corps was established on November 10, 1775, when the Continental Congress ordered the raising of two battalions of marines to serve as a landing force alongside the Navy. The Continental Congress further resolved that the two battalions of Marines should have an understanding of maritime operations to be employed on board naval vessels. In 1999, marine units deployed to Kosovo to support Operation Allied Force. Shortly after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, DC, two Marine units deployed to the Gulf, and established forward operating bases in southern Afghanistan in November, under Operation Enduring Freedom.

Marine Corps Plaques
While the Marine Corps has a much smaller number of installations, both in the U.S. and around the world, compared with other branches, there is a marine presence at a number of Army posts, sister Army services, and Air Force bases. While a portion of the Marine Corps aviation assets are ultimately Navy-derived, the majority of the support is drawn from the U.S. Air Force. The Marine Corps also provides land combat training support for various staffs, units, and commands in its sister services Field Medical Corps (Hospital Corpsmen), Navy Construction Forces (Seabees), and Naval Expeditionary Warfare. The U.S. Marine Corps, an independent armed service in the United States Department of the Navy, is charged with providing Marine forces to seize and defend advanced bases, and conducting operations in land and air incidents to naval campaigns.

The U.S. Marine Corps was also the only service the Continental Congress had charged with being able specifically to engage in combat on the air, on land, and at sea. The U.S. Marine Corps is also responsible for providing units to serve on specific types of naval vessels, and as security forces on U.S. shore installations and diplomatic missions overseas. The U.S. Marine Corps has also played a critical role in developing the Rapid Deployment Force, a multi-service organization created to ensure flexible, prompt military responses worldwide, as needed. The 2013 Mackenzie Group (named for its leader, then Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. Mackenzie, now Gen. Mackenzie, the CENTCOM Commander) asserted that forward presence and crisis response was a major driver of Marine force strength due to the stress deployments placed on active-duty forces.

Although the Marines have operated on all these dimensions, they are predominantly a sea-based force linked with the Navy, moving from sea-based operations to ground combat operations.

Upon the retirement of Marine Corps Gen. James Conway as commander of Marine One Marine Expeditionary Force to take on new duties, Conway criticized American military and civilian leaders for being too aggressive at first to deal with Blackwater USAs killings, then for being inconsistent by withdrawing the Marine units so rapidly.…