Assuming you are talking about US military, while it may seem to the layman that army personnel and marines do similar functions (as could be argued among the other branches of military service, as well as the coast guard, and even merchant marines), they receive vastly different training and provide completely different services to military efforts.

Therefore, they should not be combined into a single military branch, though, arguably, they already are under the auspices of the Pentagon and serving the same Commander-in-Chief (the President of the USA)!

However, I have always wondered if military service should give training similar to that of a two-year college (though not for that long a period, of course), such that every recruit would receive training from all branches of the military, so that the individual soldier can determine which might be best for him/her (and, of course, provided that they pass tests suitable for that branch of service). In other words, just because someone enlists as, say, a marine, doesn't mean that he/she is best suited for that branch of the service.

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