The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-05-27
GET YOUR WAR
TALK STRAIGHT
BLUEJAckETS AND MARINES
ARE NOT THE SAME BY ANY
MANNER OF MEANS-puTIES
ARE VERY DIFFERENT AN
ANCIENT RIVALRY.

Kansas City Star: B~lueiackets are
sailors. marines are not. Remember
that! The two words, commonly
held as synonymous by the lay mind,
mean radically different types of Tight
ing men. To call a bluejacket a
marine is as wrong as calling a sailor
a soldier, or a boilermaker a black
smith. Sometimes both do the same
kind Of work with the same tools;
but they follow different trades.
Aboard ships there is little love lost
between bluejackets n marines.
Each looks down upon the other as
beings of a lower social grade. Each
never loses an opportunity Of be-
lifting the other. To a bluejacket a
marine is a "leatherneck," to a marine
a blueiaCket is a "fatfoot." Both re-
sent the sobriquet the other has given
them and sometimes it is taken as an
insult. So be careful in your address
when you meet one OF either service.
It is we'll to remember this:
How to Tell Them Apart.
The big tall fellow at Twelfth and
Walnut streets with a red stripe on
his light blue trousers and three yell
low chevrons IN his dark blue blouse
is a marine. The men in dark blue
| shirts. with sailor collar n tight
| nlppSQ, WluS- DOILOI1SQ IFOuSSLS VI NiiC
same shade around the federal build
ing are ~bluejackets. They like you to
know that. More marines may be
| seen around Main street and Missouri
avenue. If you look at their caps you
will notice they appear to be like that
| of a soldier. On the front. however,
! will be a globe in bas-relief. with an
anchor behind and scroll above. A
bluejacket wears a fiat blue. sailors
hat with the name of his ship in sold
letters in front. When a bluejacket IS
promoted to be a chief petty officer,
| corresponding in rank to the noncom-
missioned staff officers of the army,
he wears a blue cap similar to the ma
rines, but witha gold anchor diagon-
| ally across the front and the letters
gu. S. N" in silver. His coat is double
| breasted with eight brass buttons, and
coat and trousers are the same dark
blue, while a marines blouse is
dark and trousers light blue.
Bitter Feeling is Old.
The feeling between marines and
b~luejackets is as old as history. In
former days ~bluejackets were gener-
ally a pretty tough lot. If they weren't
fighting an enemy they might turn
and fight their own officers. So some
sort of a guard was needed, The ma
rines were the guard. Also, the ma
rines in those days were the main
ffthing men of the ship and the
b~luejackets merely attended to the
duties Of eamen Nowadays a blue
jacket does the main part Of ship
fighting. Marines man only small
guns. Formerly the marines were po-
lice officers of a ship and that did not
make them more popular with blue
jackets. .
B~lueiackets in this day perform all
the duties connected with the naviga-
ton OF the ship and also the handling
of the guns. In addition to being sail
ors they must be competent artillery
men, artisans and know the rudiments
of infantry drill.
Marines have nothing to do with
ship navigation. They are, soldiers
carried aboard ship for just such pur'
poses as the capture of Vera Cruz
They give a naval commander
professional landing force to enforce
his nations demands. Bluejacketi