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Go do some physical training with the Marines, then go see what the AF does and tell me they are the same...they are not. The Marines have a different job than the AF...the AF to drink coffee and play video games; the Marines to kill people.
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For the record I've known some Marines that were terribly out of shape, and I've seen what the Air Force PJs go through (they don't call it
superman school for nothing).
On the other hand, your average Airman is a technian, not a warrior. Unlike the Marines where "every Marine is a rifleman" isn't just talk.
It's a diffrence in mindset if not actuall jobs. My daily life in the Marines wasn't very diffrent from a mechanic in the Airforce. However, I was first trained as an Infantryman, and that mindset has never completly left me. If I were in Iraq right now I would be going on patrols in the area of the foward airfield where I was operating from along with supply clerks and truck drivers.
When I was in Quantico, Marines from our squadron were often pulled to evaluate new weapons and equipment along with full time infantrymen.
Mainly it's a question of "corprate culture". The Air Force is full of dedicated and hard working people, but they aren't as "military minded" as the Marines. In the Marines the mission comes first, everything else is secondary.
This shows up in the way they do maintence, as far as crosstraining is concered there is little to none. In the Marines learing each others jobs is a constant thing. I once watched an AF crew take 3 hours to change a tire.
One depoyment we landed at Andrews AFB in a C-5 after a long trip. When we landed, the C-5s Crew said "we've gone past our duty day limits, we'll see you tomorow" and walked off to their hotel leaving us with 2 helicopters to unload and no help. Our officer got on the phone to find sombody to "kneel" and open up the cargo plane so that we could unload it. One of our guys said he thought he could do it, but that would royally piss off the AF. Two hours and some very grumpy Marines later a team of loadmasters showed up.
Also institional jealosy kicks in. The Air Force gets funding that the redheaded stepchild of the military (the Marines) can only dream of. Everything from new aircraft, to spare parts, to base houseing. (there was an old ledgend that several peices of equipment in our shop were stolen from the AF) In the Navy and Marines, you have to do more with less.
For example the Air Force Thunderbirds are housed in modren state of the art hangers at Nellis AFB, but the Navy Blue Angles operate out of a 50 year old hanger at NAS Pensacola and have half the budget.
(most people say that the Blues put on a better show too)
The CO of the Thunderbirds thought we were out of our minds when we asked him to pull his F-16s out so we could put our helicopters inside a hanger. Our CO called the White House Mil Office, and 15 min later the AF was hooking up towbars to their shiney planes.
If I had to do it all over again I still would have become Marines. The pride I have from being a part of the best military orgainization in the world could never be replaced by a bigger baracks room, or a newer plane.
There you have it Brian.
Why do people look down on Southwest?
Why do people think all Marines are big and dumb?
Why do people think high school kids don't know anything?
These are called steryotypes, and while they useually have some basis in fact, they should not be taken at face value and applyed to everyone you meet.
Oh yeah, in case you didn't know the A-10 is the red headed stepchild of the AF. Many top generals would like to get rid of it, but the Army won't let them. This equals less funding, fewer spare parts, older upgrades, ect.
