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irisblue

(32,828 posts)
Thu Jun 19, 2014, 09:26 PM Jun 2014

a question for a Marine or a Sailor

I am rewatching a Person of Interest, the POI is a chief petty officer during fleet week in NYC. Knowing that there is a lot of leeway, both Marines and Sailors are on leave, in a bar, pumping testosterone, muscles and relative youth....a civilian/pimp calls a sailor a jarhead, no the POI says I'm a squid. Why squid? Crackerjack I can see, but squid? Would one marine call another leatherneck? What are devil dogs? thank you in advance. BTW the bar fight scene was fun.

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amerikat

(4,902 posts)
1. Not a Marine or Sailor. However I work with many former military people.
Fri Jun 20, 2014, 04:42 AM
Jun 2014

The military has a lot of braggadocio. Branches of the military compete with other branches as to which branch is better trained, better fighters, bravery etc. Within each branch the same phenomena occurs. It's way of sorting out the pecking order I think.

Also found this statement about squids.

"The term Squid which is a Derivative of U.S. military culture , was given to : Newly-inducted Sailors in San Diego during the 60’s for they would sometimes buy an inexpensive two-stroke motorcycle for transportation while on shore, even if they had never ridden before. So, there were large numbers of unprotected, inexperienced "marine life" squirting through traffic in a hurry and leaving a trail of black "ink" (smoke) behind them. "Squid" was also a common derogatory term for sailors: Recent inductees were called "squids" by more senior sailors, and All sailors were called "squids" by Marines, Based on similarity between the way a "squid" rides and an actual squid swims. Squids can appear unable to change direction while swimming, without first coming to a near complete stop. However, once the squid does stop and change directions, it can very quickly accelerate back to its regular swimming speed. Beginning motorcyclists commonly have trouble negotiating turns, and must slow down to unnecessarily slow speed, while at the same time have a tendency to ride very fast on the straight sections of the road.

Often young, these young sailors (squids) are identified by their reckless abandon (speeding, wheelies, stoppies, etc,) and by their inappropriate attire , ( Shorts, backwards ball caps, flip-flops, wife-beater T-Shirts, etc)
They could also be called "squids" because of Paramedics' slang for motorcyclists. In a bad accident without leathers or other good protection, it's possible for the torso to become detached from the legs. At that point, the intestines can drag along behind the torso - thus giving a grisly "tentacled body" appearance"

Also found this about the devil dog reference.

The term "Devil Dog" is a very common nickname for all Marines. "Devil Dog" is historically a well-accepted term of endearment, as a title of honor. The "dog" in the phrase is usually associated with the bulldog, in line with the original 1918 poster, such as the bulldog being a common mascot in the Corps.

In contrast, the term has also taken on a negative connotation due to its usage when correcting Marines. The term "devil dogged" or "devil dogging" has come to mean lectured or otherwise reprimanded, prefaced with being called out as a "devil dog".[7]

Other nicknames for Marines include "First to Fight", "Soldiers of the Sea", "Leatherneck", "Jarhead", "Jughead" and "Juggie".

Hope this helps

Wounded Bear

(58,437 posts)
3. "Devil Dogs" was an honorific applied to the US Marines...
Fri Jun 20, 2014, 06:12 AM
Jun 2014

by the Germans in WWI. Yeah, Marines served there, too. We get around.

Leatherneck refers to an old uniform, pre-WWI, that actually had an upright leather collar.

What Marines call each other varies from "Hey, asshole" to "Marine!" and everything in between. Or at least it did when I was in. Often one is called by one's rank, or a derivative like Sarge, or Gunny (for Gunnery Sergeant, which is an actual rank). Master Sgts are generally called "Top" or something like that.

But we used each other's names a lot, too.

Aristus

(66,089 posts)
5. I'm ex-military myself. I was a tanker, and tankers can bullshit with the best of them.
Fri Jun 20, 2014, 11:46 AM
Jun 2014

But I get really tired of all the military horseshit TV writers think service members spew every minute of every day.

For a while, every exchange Steve McGarrett had on Hawaii Five-Oh (the new one) sounded like this:

"Navy Seal! Fist-Bump. Tough Talk."

A typical exchange with one of my tanker colleagues when I was in sounded more like this:

"Hey, Dennis, wanna go downtown and see what's shakin'?"

"Sure."

"Cool."

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