Terminal Lance #256 “Lose-Lose”

One thing I can never remember hearing is a competition about the qualities of one’s respective unit. It is much more likely that two Marines will fight and brag over who actually has it worse. Marines are largely masochists by nature, and it can be seen prevalently in the genuine pride they share in how awful their units actually are.

This generally only occurs in the rare situation when you actually run into and talk to someone from another unit. It’s a weird event, almost like two dogs meeting. You feel out the conversation, you know that they’re basically the same as you but like an alternate universe version. Things are the same but… not. You start talking about where and when you deployed, and then almost immediately about how shitty it is on your side of the fence.

I’ve never entered a conversation with, “My unit is so great man, we really have our shit locked on.” Adversely, I’ve never been presented with, “My unit is tight as hell, I have no complaints.” Maybe it’s just that I generally only conversed at the level of the E-3 and below, being one myself, but no regular grunt will be apt to list the perks of their battalion before the massive list of cons.

Then again, Marines like to argue just about anything they can. Pop VS Soda, Scarlett Johansson VS Jessica Alba, Coke VS Pepsi, etc.

If there’s a point of contention worth even mentioning, it will be argued.