One Chart That Explains How the U.S. Marines Fight (2024)

The U.S. Marine Corps was founded in 1775 to conduct ship to ship fighting and amphibious warfare. In the more than two hundred years since, the Marines have evolved into America's crisis response force.

A typical Marine combat unit fields everything from fighter planes to riflemen, from hovercraft to main battle tanks. As a result the Marines can fight the full spectrum of warfare, from lightly armed guerrillas to mechanized tank armies. The 220,000-strong Marine Corps is possibly the most versatile military organization in the world.

But how do Marines fight, exactly? How are they transported to distant battlefields, and how do they integrateair and land forces into a single seamless package that operates from the sea? U.S. Naval Institute News came up with a video explainer to spell it all out.

The Marine Corps created the graphic seen above to illustrate what makes up aMarine Expeditionary Unit on a three-ship Navy Amphibious Ready Group.The chart includes Joint Light Tactical Vehicles that are about to enter service.