Depends on how you wish to judge things. I suspect that the U.S. Marines will have better equipment and support (we spend more after all), but the British are quite the sticklers for training, so they may get the nod on troop quality. buzzard

As a former US Marine I have to give the man to man edge to the Royal Marines. In the case of the USMC we are talking about a force of over 150,000 with a 12 week basic training program to the UK's Commando force of about 6,000 with a 30 week commando course. Even though a certain degree of political correctness has hit even the Royal Marines it still turns out some of best trained individuals in the world. I can also speak from some personal experience, having been to Norway twice on joint training exercises with the Royal Marines. The edge of course goes to the USMC In terms of equipment and raw firepower. IF you compare a US Marine Expeditonary Unit and a Royal Marine Commando it is a very lopsided advantage to the USMC. The USMC only wishes it could train every Marine to Royal Mairne Standards . But even if they had the money it is doubtful they would have enough bodies pass the training to keep the Marine Corps up to strength. A similar comparison could be made between the US 82nd Airborne and the UK Parachute Regiment. anybody who has been through the US army's jump school , and is honest, will admit to it not that difficult, keep you boots shined, learn how to fall down correctly and get through some not very difficult PT. Compare that to the selction course you have to go through just to get into the Paras. Also unlike the US the UKs jump school is not some ticket punching course for officers who will probaly never jump again after they leave Airborne school. For my money the UK Para and Royal Marines turn out some of the Best Infantry in the world and definitely the best in Europe.

"For my money the UK Para and Royal Marines turn out some of the Best Infantry in the world and definitely the best in Europe" How about the Royal Netherlands Marines? Regards, Mourning

The USMC are the better once and that's a fact. The US Marines along with the Army Rangers are the best trained ground troops in the world. My dad is an Army Ranger and they are possible the best ground troops in History. The British Marines are among the best but the USMC are the best trained marines in the world and not just in weapons and high-tech but also in training even if the US Marines only go through 12 weeks of basic they don't stop after 12 weeks because they keep training after those 12 weeks and the US Marines can also be deployed faster than and other Marine Corp in the world and they can hold out much longer during combat but I'm not saying the British Marines are bad in fact I would say they are the only Marines that could give the US Marines a hard time and they could win but it's not right to say that they are better than the US Marines because it's been a known fact the the US Marines are among the best trained soldiers in the world along with US Army they combine military might, skills, training and make them the most feard military machine in history. But the US Marines and the British will never fight against each other they are allies and both sides have said they would never fight the other one. They even train toghter and share with each other things they don't share with other nations militaries. So I say USMC and British Marines are the best in the world.

>How about the Royal Netherlands Marines?< To be honest do not know a whole lot about them except that during the cold war days they were tied withe the UK Royal Marines for most NATO ops. I had a Company XO who went over to serve with them as an exchange officer. From what I hear they are ridiculously underfunded which I would imagine hinders the training.. I do not know if they still share that same relationship with the UK now.

>The British Marines are among the best but the USMC are the best trained marines in the world and not just in weapons and high-tech but also in training even if the US Marines only go through 12 weeks of basic they don't stop after 12 weeks because they keep training after those 12 weeks.< I admire you loyalty but as a former US Marine I have to disagree. Mairne Corps basic training as good as it is, its 12 weeks is poor in comparrison to the 30 week course Royal Marines go through or even Ranger School(although realistically Ranger School is more of a leadership course.) Nor do Royal Marines stop training after the Commando course. Their Artic and Moutnain traing is perhaps the best ithe world and they have some first class reconnaissance training. But what it really boils down to is numbers. The Royals Marines only have to man a force of a few thousand the USMC has to maintain a Force of over 150,000. This means the Royal Marines can afford to be even more selective. It would be nice if the USMC could send everybody throughthe equivelent of the 30 week commando course but not only would congress balk at spending the money but the attrition would make it hard to keep the Corps up to strength.

"To be honest do not know a whole lot about them except that during the cold war days they were tied withe the UK Royal Marines for most NATO ops. I had a Company XO who went over to serve with them as an exchange officer. From what I hear they are ridiculously underfunded which I would imagine hinders the training.. I do not know if they still share that same relationship with the UK now" I respect your friends opinion, but I can safely say that it's not true. The RNethMC 1ACCP (1st Amphibious Combat Group, 2+ Batallions) is an integrated part of the UK Commando Brigade and has a training which is almost the same, some tweaks here and there. So, that includes cold-weather and arctic training in Northern Norway, survival training in Surinam, the Dutch Antilles and Vartinique, desert warfare training in Marroco and climbing and combat training in Scotland. One of the 6 SBS squadrons is completely made up of Dutch troops and called accordingly "Dutch Troop", our snipers follow the same UK Sniper courses given to UK Commandoes. And though our budget in The Netherlands isn't what it used to be I can still safely say we have one of the best soldier-for-soldier equipped and trained forces in Europe. We are too small in size though. The Royal Netherlands Marine Corps and Air Manoevre Brigade of the Army are certainly not underfunded. They still follow the same number of exercises IF they are not serving in some foreign mission, like Iraq, Cambodia, Bosnia, Haiti, Cyprus, Albania, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Turkey and though somethings could be better (a standing 4th Batallion, instead of a mobilized one, bringing forward by a few years the NH-90 for replacing the Lynx heli). Anyway, I did this as sort of a trick question as most people would almost automatically not mention them, while mentioning the UK Marines, where they train virtually identically. Your point about raw firepower and size are dead on, offcourse. Regards, Mourning

British Royal Marines hands down. In both fighting and drinking catagories! The bigest mistake I ever made was accepting an invite to the club at Portsmouth to "Knock down a few pints." with my Brit compatriots. I woke up in the right rack, right compartment, on the wrong ship. 3 Ts tied up together, crossdecked too far. That would be the same night I learned how teed off the OOD gets when you request "Permission to cross the patio, daddy-O" Ah the old days :)

"British Royal Marines hands down. In both fighting and drinking catagories! The bigest mistake I ever made was accepting an invite to the club at Portsmouth to "Knock down a few pints." with my Brit compatriots. I woke up in the right rack, right compartment, on the wrong ship. 3 Ts tied up together, crossdecked too far. That would be the same night I learned how teed off the OOD gets when you request "Permission to cross the patio, daddy-O" Ah the old days :)" Hehehe, thx! Great story!:-)

When was the last time the Dutch were ever involved in serious combat? Indonesia? Korea? I have to confess that I don't know much about your country's post-WWII history.