# Who on the carrier flight deck are Marines? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 30, 2014, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-on-the-carrier-flight-deck-are-marines/705929 "2014-11-30T01:22:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2014, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-on-the-carrier-flight-deck-are-marines/705929/1 "2014-11-30T01:22:38Z")
See hed. The pilots are, right? (If they’re not, ignore this thread and throw things at me…) I’m interested mostly in the culture of the Marines vs Every Other Service, sub-section, Marine Pilot vs Everyone Else in the Marines. Surrounded by the Navy. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2014, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-on-the-carrier-flight-deck-are-marines/705929/2 "2014-11-30T02:18:43Z")
I know there are Marine pilots, but generally the Marines are the Navy’s infantry. So I don’t think they’d spend much time on the flight deck. They’d be loaded into landing craft when used. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2014, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-on-the-carrier-flight-deck-are-marines/705929/3 "2014-11-30T02:59:11Z")
Oh, no, I don’t mean Marines being taken from here to there to debark. I mean other personnel relating to the flights, crews, supervisors, whatever. Anyway, carriers don’t carry ground combat troops. Or do they? ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2014, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-on-the-carrier-flight-deck-are-marines/705929/4 "2014-11-30T03:51:14Z")
Carriers carry a Ship’s Company of Marines, plus (at least) one complete Marine Fighter Squadron, and back when we still flew A-6’s, maybe a bomber or Electronic Warfare squadron. Pilots, flight crew, plane captains, mechanics, admin guys, supply clerks, etc… On the flight deck would be aircrew (pilot, back seater or side seater) and plane captain (enlisted Marine who makes sure plane is inspected and prepped for flight). All the rest of the people on the flight deck of a carrier during flight ops would be Navy. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2014, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-on-the-carrier-flight-deck-are-marines/705929/5 "2014-11-30T03:59:36Z")
Too late to edit. The Company of Marines is no longer a part of the ship, having stopped in 1998. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2014, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-on-the-carrier-flight-deck-are-marines/705929/6 "2014-11-30T14:39:30Z")
I think the OP was asking if the pilots in all the airplanes on a CVN are Marines. My impression is that most are Navy pilots. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2014, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-on-the-carrier-flight-deck-are-marines/705929/7 "2014-11-30T15:29:06Z")
If the carrier is providing air support for a land operation, then it is appropriate to have Marine aviators supporting their comrades on the ground. By the way, the word “pilot” has a nautical meaning that predates the Wright Brothers. Navy and Marine flyboys call themselves “aviators”, and get very touchy if you call them “pilots”. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2014, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-on-the-carrier-flight-deck-are-marines/705929/8 "2014-11-30T15:56:01Z")
> [@UncleBill](#): > > Too late to edit. The Company of Marines is no longer a part of the ship, having stopped in 1998. I thought that on larger ships, especially aircraft carriers, they played the part of security. MP’s. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2014, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-on-the-carrier-flight-deck-are-marines/705929/9 "2014-11-30T15:59:37Z")
Look at the Tarawa class and now the America class. They are carriers meant to insert Marines. They carry helicopters Ospreys and Harriers. The aviators are often if not always Marine aviators. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2014, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-on-the-carrier-flight-deck-are-marines/705929/10 "2014-11-30T16:58:05Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Look at the Tarawa class and now the America class. They are carriers meant to insert Marines. They carry helicopters Ospreys and Harriers. The aviators are often if not always Marine aviators. True, but even I, who spent many months aboard the USS Saipan, LHA-2, don’t call those “carriers”, without the term “helicopter” in front of it. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2014, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-on-the-carrier-flight-deck-are-marines/705929/11 "2014-11-30T17:09:03Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I thought that on larger ships, especially aircraft carriers, they played the part of security. MP’s. I thought that, too. I tried to get assigned as the Officer in Charge of the Marine Det aboard the USS Missouri on it’s last tour. I found a story from 2007 ([http://defensetech.org/2007/10/24/mardets-back-in-the-mix/](http://defensetech.org/2007/10/24/mardets-back-in-the-mix/)) saying they were considering adding them back, but more as a maritime security force. But Battleships and Aircraft Carriers USED to have MarDets assigned to the boats. Stopped that in 1998. ([http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/corps%20salty%20dogs.htm](http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/corps%20salty%20dogs.htm)) ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2014, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-on-the-carrier-flight-deck-are-marines/705929/12 "2014-12-01T15:10:01Z")
There are USMC fixed wing squadrons, like [VMFA-323](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VMFA-323), who flies F-18’s, and deploys as part of a Carrier Air Wing. They have all the usual squadron personnel (pilots, maintenance crew, plane handlers, “ordies”, etc). They will wear the colored flight deck jersey’s just like the squids. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-on-the-carrier-flight-deck-are-marines/705929/13 "2014-12-01T16:50:28Z")
> [@UncleBill](#): > > True, but even I, who spent many months aboard the USS Saipan, LHA-2, don’t call those “carriers”, without the term “helicopter” in front of it. I got to walk around the Saipan when it was docked at a location I was deployed to. Looks a hell of a lot like a carrier. 😃 Sure small by today’s standards. I think equal in size to WWII era carriers like the Intrepid. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2014, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-on-the-carrier-flight-deck-are-marines/705929/14 "2014-12-01T19:18:40Z")
United States Marine Corps Aviation from the Wik.