United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the naval infantry service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious warfare through combined arms, implementing its own infantry, artillery, aerial, and special operations forces. The U.S. Marine Corps is a part of the United States Department of Defense and is one of the six armed forces of the United States and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States.
The Marine Corps has been part of the United States Department of the Navy since 30 June 1834 with its sister service, the United States Navy. The USMC operates installations on land and aboard sea-going amphibious warfare ships around the world. Several of the Marines' tactical aviation squadrons, primarily Marine Fighter Attack squadrons, are embedded in Navy carrier air wings and operate from aircraft carriers. These comprise the bulk of the US military's V/STOL aircraft, with 313 V-22 Ospreys, 183 F-35B Lightning IIs, and 78 AV-8B Harrier IIs as of 2025.
The history of the Marine Corps began when two battalions of Continental Marines were formed on 10 November 1775 in Philadelphia as a service branch of infantry troops capable of fighting both at sea and on shore. In the Pacific theater of World War II, the Corps took the lead in a massive campaign of amphibious warfare, advancing from island to island. As of December 2024, the USMC has around 169,000 active duty members and some 33,000 personnel in reserve.
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