Why Are The Marines So Stylish?

some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world the Marines don't have that problem so over the last few years I've created quite a few videos ranking military uniforms around the world consistently the United States Marine Corps in particular their dress blues seem to dominate the top positions now I'll admit I'm a bit biased as a marine I can't help but admire the Perfection of our uniform that being said if you get down in the comments you're going to notice there are guys that served in the Army the Air Force the Navy even the Coast Guard we've got guys from branches all over the world saying you know what I wish we had had a uniform like that so all this begs an answer to the question why are the Marines so stylish through the shore so the obvious reason why Marines are so stylish is that we are Brash we are loud we are in people's face telling them all the time how good looking we are now I'm only partially kidding here because this is a big thing that the Marines push again and again a lot of propaganda here if you're over getting recruited probably some of you guys remember when you're 18 maybe you're talking to an army recruiter okay this is the real military here talk to a navy recruiter this is Technical Training the Air Force is like a corporation doesn't even feel like the military the Marine Corps it's a friggin religion I mean seriously some of you guys probably remember your recruiter telling you that hey yeah you're not going to pick up any technical skills it's not going to be comfortable but you know what you're going to look good in that uniform now for those of you guys with a rational mind you're thinking how in the world does that work for recruiting well the answer is it works really well because the Marine Corps takes a weakness is of all the military branches they are the least funded per person by far I mean our equipment seems like it's all used leftover stuff from the Army but they turn that around and they say you know what it's not about the equipment it's not about how much money you spend on your weapons or this new equipment I mean the Air Force I'm a single bomber that's almost the Marine Corps budget the Marines say you know it's all about the individual Warrior and they focus in on mindset and the warrior ethos because in case you didn't know the Marine Corps is the smallest of all the military units not counting the Coast Guard we're talking 180 000 active Marines compare that to 350 000 in the Navy 330 000 active in the Air Force and their Reserve components are pretty large as well the Marine Corps only has like 40 000 each of those other branches a hundred to two hundred thousand reserves and with the Army counting the National Guard their reserves and their full-time we're talking almost a million so yeah when you're outnumbered and you're constantly facing a Congress and lawmakers that want to kind of eliminate the Marine Corps they're like why don't we just fold this into the army cut them up the Marine Corps has to take a different approach and that different approach has resulted in a culture that is cult-like a culture that pays attention to everything is Extreme seller celebrates the fanatic I mean the person that yeah let's just say that you meet marines that the Marine Corps is literally their life not only do they have full-on tattoos all over their body but their truck is decorated their house is decorated what this created is a fanatical cult-like culture in the Marine Corps and for most Marines we absolutely loved it we like to think you know this is what it was like to be a Spartan 2 000 years ago kind of the idea of sacrifice the whole ethos of the group is more important than the individual and I get it many people are repelled by this but there are many others that are drawn to it because they want that sense of belonging that sense of family and the Marine Corps gives it to them in fact I'm going to share with you a story from when I was in OCS art Gunnery Sergeant would read us bedtime stories but they just weren't any stories these were the citations from Medal of Honor winners in particular I remember the story of Corporal vittori he served in 2nd battalion first Marines first Marine Division during the Korean War now to paint a picture of the setting of this story time so you're in a squad Bay and it's been a 15-hour day you've been up since 5 a.m it's now almost 10 o'clock at night and you've got this Gunnery Sergeant who was huge intimidating scary I mean you're more scared of this guy than you are of uh the devil I mean he is going up and down the squad Bay and all of a sudden his voice changes he's like maggots I've got a bedtime story for you you ready and all of a sudden the attitude changes everyone's like motivated going yeah yeah yeah yeah you just hear everyone's like laying in their beds making these barking noises and he starts to tell us the story now I'm going to link to the Medal of Honor citation down in the description because I'm not going to do it justice in this quick summary signed by Harry Truman but basically Corporal vittori his unit was being overrun and he had already earlier that night engaged in hand-to-hand combat had saved a number of his fellow Marines and all of a sudden they were having to step back they were being overrun there was a hole in the line so they had to plug it they had to step back and he's like okay I'm gonna cover the entire platoon so this guy sets up in a machine gun position everyone else falls back he refused to fall back and he's just there firing this machine gun and he kept firing and he kept firing and the entire unit step back and the next day when they went back they found his body and apparently the guy like had actually stuck his leg like in a position to stop the bleeding because he'd been shot so many times the leg he was dead but around him were 200 dead Chinese and as horrible as that sounds nowadaysion I'm reading this stuff and being like people erupted during that story time you just heard like guys barking motivation you know this type of mentality some people may view it always like a little bit Yeah crazy but in the Marine Corps this type of culture of love for one another it wasn't about you know the killing it was about simply the mentality the fact that he had given up his life for his friends he had made the ultimate sacrifice in every Marine in there and we weren't yet Marines we were still going through OCS people were just motivated to be a part of this community now what does this have to do with style well before I get into the five reasons I want to talk about that's the X Factor it's the culture it's the love of the core it's the fact that you don't want to diss this uniform you know there are so many things that can make a man look good in a uniform but one of the things not talked about is just simply that you love the uniform you love the unit you want to represent yourself that you care about who you are you not only show respect to yourself but you show respect to those who served and others that wore that uniform and that you don't want to let them down so now let's get into the details and I'm going to count down to five five being the least important reason the Marines look so stylish and that is because they are in great shape the Marine Corps PFT I'm not sure if you're familiar with this I think it's the hardest physical fitness test in all of the service yes the seals may have a very tough you know hell week and all the other stuff Delta may have some amazing training but as an in is the entire service has to go through this PFT doesn't matter if you are a colonel doesn't matter if you are a boot recruit you're going through this PFT and you're being judged now when I went through and I served from 1997 to 2003 late after coming back from Iraq it was something that uh the PFT was the same for everybody and the highest I ever scored was a 280 a perfect PFT score is going to be a 300 and you can get a hundred for each for the run if you can do this under 18 minutes I think I was running about a 17 30. I was pretty quick runner I ran cross country in college uh pull-ups I would only get 80 on this because I could do it the most 16 pull-ups upper body I wasn't huge this was something that was always kind of my uh yeah it was just tough for me but I did knock out 16 and then it was crunches you got one point for a hundred so you do a hundred crunches and that one was always pretty easy now for any old Marines out there you may be surprised to hear that they actually changed up the PFT so they've actually added more crunches they made it more difficult so now people have to take it seriously the Run they've kind of left as it is but now you've got the option of doing push-ups instead of pull-ups although you can't score as high of a score so most Marines do not take up the option but they've also adjusted it based off of your age but in any case most Marines are in excellent shape now you may be thinking isn't that the same for all the other services and I'd have to say no the Navy the Air Force the Army even to an extent is more lacks than the Marine Corps in terms of what is allowed the Marine Corps is just a really big stickler and they check it all the time you have to do the PFT every single year and then they're measuring if you look like you way too much you've got too much weight around the midsection uh they're gonna kick you out so why does this make them more stylish because in general it's very rare to see an out of shape Marine unless he's been out of the Marine Corps for a year and he kept up some of those bad eating habits he picked up in the field and yeah yeah sometimes Marines yeah sometimes we do get really big after we leave all that being said notice I put the body fitness at number five because that's just expected let's go on to the next one which you could argue is equal in importance and that is the personal standards of dress and of grooming now some of you guys may have gone to schools where they've got a dress code maybe they explain it in one to two pages the Marine Corps has a dress code and it is in a 250 page manual yes everything is spelled out there is very little room for interpretation from the exact measurements and placement of every metal and ribbon to how much allowance should be in the clothing to how things should be cut how things should be tailored which pieces you're going to wear with what everything is laid out in the uniform guide and what's even crazier is this 250 page manual seems to be something that Gunnery sergeants first sergeants sergeant majors they've got this stuff memorized and they are not afraid to point out even if a lieutenant who's walking by they love it actually when it's Lieutenant they're like Lieutenant uh just wanted to point out your your bar is slightly off here I'd appreciate it if you would go in and correct that now if you're a lance corporal they're not going to talk to you that nicely they're going to grab you and tell you to un yourself with uh you know the knife hand point being is these guys you've got not only this guide but you have enforcers on every base and it seems like these guys are popping out of trees if you are just slightly off and again they notice all these details it's like a game for these guys and it's this standard across the board whenever somebody goes onto a Marine base they're like wow everyone looks good because everyone is following a standard you don't have those anomal least occasionally you do have someone that is a we call him a bird and uh yeah those guys are eventually pushed out or they're on their way out point being is across the board you never see really many slip UPS because everyone is correcting everyone and of course let's talk about hairstyles now the shades had a lot of people think oh you're in the military just go with the shaved head that's what you get in boot camp and that has no individuality what people fail to miss that are in the civilian world is that actually there's a lot you can do with the up to two inches you are allowed on the top of your head in the Marine Corps now very rarely does anyone ever have that full two inches on the top area maybe if you're over in the wing maybe if you're a short timer you're on your way out or you are just a rebellious liberal in the Marine Corps I was actually kind of this guy I was I'd wear t uh tie-dye shirts occasionally on my off time and I was considered a hippie which is funny back at my liberal College I was considered a conservative so I kind of didn't fit in either way but when it comes to the hair hairstyles high and tight is going to be very common and this is what is predominantly you see throughout the Infantry they want it simple they want it clean also really popular was the high fade this one was viewed as a little bit more acceptable especially out in the savannah world uh really popular again over in the Infantry occasionally you would see this in the wing but usually over in the wing you would see the medium fade and the low fade the low fade definitely again that's the guy probably going to be getting out the guy that wants to be a bit rebellious low Fades were pretty rare especially if you were enlisted because Gunnery sergeants yeah they're just like what is that crap go to you know go to the PX in fact you would have these guys hanging out at the PX you'd walk out and they'd be like go right back in and get that haircut and again the regulations were really clear beards were not allowed unless you had a particular type of chit or you're dealing with some type of Shaving issue but oftentimes guys would find razors that would work with them better just a quick tip if you're dealing with ingrown hairs consider going with a single blade safety razor it will just change your life that being said you know Sideburn length and all that stuff was regulated and watched you pretty much got a haircut every single week in the Marine Corps which is why a lot of guys cut their own hair because it could get expensive but it was pretty cheap on base now today's video gents is brought to you by vitamin as an owner of the company I can tell you we make the best damn grooming products on the planet made in Australia leveraging natural and organic ingredients if you want clear healthy youthful looking skin vodiment is the company for you and to make this simple down in the description of today's video I've got the best deal you're ever going to see for our daily Essentials kit this is everything you need delivered right to your door to start looking better fast we're talking a face wash a face scrub and a face moisturizer in your package you're going to find the exact amount you need with clear instructions on how to use it all of this at no risk to you because gents if you're not happy with the product if you don't feel you're looking better within 30 days you can get your money back seriously gents I stand behind every product over on the vitamin website so whether or not you're dealing with thinning hair you're dealing with oily hair you are dealing with a dry scalp we've got you covered with Specialty Products if you want to look more handsome you want to look better go check out vitamin again that link in the description of today's video is going to help you save money over at vitamin and help you look better so standards when it comes to Fitness standards when it comes to wearing the uniform and that takes me to the next point is overall the Marine Corps uniforms were relatively simple especially when compared with the Army and all of their specialty units and all the different covers which is basically a word for hats all the different stuff that they could wear the same with the Navy the Marine Corps is very simply laid out starting at the top there are four different types of Marine Corps uniforms there is going to be the combat uniform and this seems to change every 20 to 30 years depending what's going on they're looking for function they're making small adjustments I think the biggest changes I saw as I was getting at is we went from black boots that you had to polish to a no Polish boot which I think was a great Improvement in addition they went over to the digital camo which I'm not sure was a huge Improvement but I know now it's standard and everyone seems to like it now as you can imagine the combat uniform is straight up function does it make the Marines life easier and combat everything here is tested out and they're continuously looking to refine the uniform using different materials using different cuts different fits next up we've got the service uniform and this is one a lot of civilians are not familiar with but Marines know as when you're checking in on bass this is like your business suit equivalent it looks good it serves tons of purposes oftentimes you're going to get your picture taken with this one if you're going to be day to day maybe working at the Pentagon this would be the uniform that you would wear now going into a little bit more detail when it comes to the service uniform there are service A's service B's and service C's now what I love about these uniforms is that they really are interchangeable they're built off of each other uh the service a you've got the jacket right there and this is going to make this the dressiest of all the service uniforms so again if you're checking into base if you're working at the Pentagon now if the service be in the service C this is going to be if you're working on a day-to-day basis like on a military base you're not having to dress up as much it's just a regular day at work and uh with the Bravos or the Charlie's you're also going to notice they've got the Garrison hat cap I loved this hat also called the piss cutter it is a yeah it's just a good looking cap I thought you could also if you wore a flight suit that's actually where I wore it the majority of the time but uh yeah this is just simple work utility uniform now gents if you're enjoying today's video do me a favor and slash that like button seriously gents the K Bar this is the knife of the Marine Corps we just absolutely love arcade bars next up let's talk about evening dress perhaps the least known Marine Corps uniform and this one is for very special occasions this is going to be at inaugurations balls you're going to see really high level events the equivalent here is white tie so you're going to see vest you're going to see cummerban ones uh but still within a military uniform you're going to find that most lower level officers and most enlisted personnel are not going to have this uniform because there is rarely a situation in which they would need to wear it but if you have duty over in Washington DC if you are at an embassy you're going to find that this is probably a uniform you're going to need to pick up because there will be situations in which you'll need to wear it and I do want to point out the boat cloak here yes Marines can wear cloaks still per our regulations I actually have a boat cloak I never wore it when I was in the service I picked it up afterwards and have to say that they are friggin awesome you gotta love the fact that we can bring in a cape yeah now let's talk about the blue dress uniform also called the dress blues this has to be the most iconic and famous Marine Corps uniform out there and similar to the other ones there are variations so you are going to see the Blue Dress A's you're going to see the Blue Dress bees blue dress C's and blue dress D's now anyone that's ever been into our Marine Corps Recruiting Station you've probably seen the Blue Dress C's and D's really depends on the time of the year the seas are going to be more formal simply because you're wearing the tie with the long sleeve shirt but Deltas you're going to see you know during the hot summer and this again very regular wear in a recruiting station and you'll also see blue dress seas and D's worn by marines that are serving on security guard Duty so a little known fact is that all U.S embassies around the world they actually have a marine contingent who is there to serve security so you'll have anywhere from maybe a dozen two in some cases the larger embassies you'll have you know upwards of 50 to almost 100 Marines serving at this units going in and out usually you won't have an officer he'll be traveling around inspecting units but any Marine that is served on Embassy Duty can tell you that it is one of the most interesting probably cool experiences out there which a lot of Marines don't even know about but is uh yeah highly sought after now the Blue Dress A's are iconic because they have popped up in so many recruiting posters in addition if you're on leave or you're on Liberty and you're going to be attending a wedding if you are going to be getting married you can actually wear this uniform hence why it's seen so many times outside if you're going to be at a Marine Corps ball I know we had ours multiple times in Vegas whenever you're in Pendleton it's just easier to drive to Vegas they've got it all set up and let's just say the parties were crazy but that was the uniform that you would wear out on the town and so many people would see yeah Marines going crazy having a great time looking good and it is Iconic I'm going to talk specifically about this uniform and the colors in a few minutes but let's just say that it is very easy for a guy that is a five or eight even below that to knock himself up to an eight or nine when he's wearing that uniform because you're in great shape it fits you well it has to be you know follow regulations here and it is just cut in a way that makes any man look amazing so Marines are in great shape they've got simple clean good looking uniforms that are regulated as to how they can wear them what else is going to make Marines stand out from the rest of the crowd guys it's tailoring little known fact here is that Marine Corps uniforms are tailored to fit on them a lot of the other branches I noticed they just put on something that fits off the rack and they go with it but whether it's the Marine Corps Exchange or you're going into the Marine shop and I remember when I graduated from college and I got my commission one of the first things they told us at TBS is okay everyone needs to take out a loan for five thousand dollars like what like yeah you got to buy your uniforms enlisted you're actually issued but officers have to buy but one of the things I learned because I had to make a decision am I going to go with the exchange or I'm going to go with the Marine shop because I'm like why would I pay more money to go with the Marine shop apparently their tailoring was better although some people will arguing nowadays that there's not really much of a difference in any case you're going to have to have multiple adjustments things were going to have to be made to your size and I don't think you see this to this detail you can actually have your uniform adjusted I know in Air Force the coasties do it these other branches do it but the Marine Corps everybody does this there are tailoring shops surrounding basis because you need to get things let in you need to get them adjusted you need to get them tightened up in certain areas whenever you know you're spending more time in the gym and it is something that people inspect like before you have your you know we have inspections all the time so you're putting on all these different uniforms and they are yeah they'll do inspections like okay put on your dress blues or put in you know your your service Ace and when you're wearing this uniform during the inspection they're going to look at how it fits you so oh hey you need to go get this adjusted you need it was in fact my first custom suit was not a regular suit it was my Marine Corps uniform made specifically for me so all that being said Jets what really makes Marines so stylish what's the number one reason well I think this is going to surprise a lot of you guys but it's the Marine Corps respect for history as to why our uniforms and why in general I think Marines are are so damn stylish in fact let's look at these images as we go through history looking at the Marine Corps uniforms it was back in 1798 the first time that the iconic blue was introduced to the Marine Corps uniform now in 1834 we did go through a green phase Andrew Jackson really wanted to see that but within five years we were already going back to the blue and red these iconic colors we just noticed that hey they work they grab attention they are absolutely good looking our iconic eagle globe and anchor was adopted in 1875. you're going to find that all Marines wear this on their uniforms and it is viewed that something only a marine can wear on the top of our cover let's talk about the quarter foil this is seen on dress caps and it's something that apparently it was for Sharpshooters so that they could identify friend from foe the reality is that's probably not true it was a popular French fashion and again these have been around in on our covers since 1812. then we've got the blood stripe you'll see this on the legs of corporals and above on the enlisted side and all officers wear this it was added to the uniform in 1892 and those gold buttons worn on our blue coats that have an eagle an anchor and an arc of 13 stars have actually been on our uniforms since the year 1804 making them one of the oldest items still in use that is worn on a modern uniform next up we've got the marmaluke sword adopted in 1805 this was to commemorate Marines Crossing 600 miles of North Africa to capture the Barbary Coast Town of demma to this very day it's mentioned in the Marine Corps hymn to the shores of Tripoli now how does this respect to history how does it make for a great looking uniform making Marines so stylish because I think we can all agree that it is a travesty when you have somebody go in and mess with something that is great yeah what's that the first rule of coding if it works don't touch it now a lot of people are going to say well you can always improve things that's true but you need to understand why is it there and I think the Marine Corps has done an excellent job of looking at its history and very slowly changing and improving upon things but it's funny the Army just went back to their World War II uniforms guess what the Marine Corps our services were first adopted in 1943 yeah we saw something that worked and we didn't mess with it yes we've made Minor Adjustments the materials have changed maybe some of the fits some of the lengths but these are very small adjustments because when you see something that's beautiful that's a work of art well keep going with it unless you know and the combat uniform is to me the only big exception here because we do see major advancements here more when it comes to our dress uniforms when it comes to our nicer clothing what's great about this is that you can make an investment here and I think this implies you can Lessons Learned here is that you can apply this to your own Wardrobe when it comes to wearing a jacket a sports jacket Guys these have been around for a hundred years guess what they're going to be around for another decade so you can spend good money to look great today now specifically the colors of the dress blue uniform these are going to be on the enlisted side midnight blue sky blue Scarlet gold and white now this color combination here is great especially because they don't go evenly if it was 20 of each of these five it wouldn't be a good looking uniform instead of what we see is the majority is going to be the base neutral colors the two blues and then you bring in the accent colors that gold with the red with a little bit of white this is what really makes the details on the uniform pop and a little bit of trivia here can you see what the difference is between the officer uniform and the enlisted dress blue uniform come on look at it quickly I know okay we've got the accents are slightly different a few little details but you see the color difference it's big so the officer jacket is black and it's the enlisted jacket right here it is going to be navy blue it may not seem like much of a difference but it is per regular nation and I'm not sure why they started that one you know it's a very slight variation I have to say that looking at the two I really do like the officer Jack but then again that was my I don't know agree disagree let me know in the comments below which who wears it better the enlisted side or the officer side when it comes to their dress blues I want to hear from you guys down below now gents if you enjoyed this video you want more about the Marine Corps go check out this video I did a little while back about the life lessons I took from the United States Marine Corps and I think any guy can take so uh yeah it's a good video go check it out boom right here semper fi oh yeah

Channel: Real Men Real Style

Views: 974,488

Keywords: why are the Marines so stylish, why are the the Marines stylish?, how to dress like a Marine, how to look stylish like a Marine, marine corps, us marine, mens clothing history, mens fashion history, why are the marines the best, antonio centeno marines, rmrs, real men real style

Id: PHAOD2tM_sc

Length: 26min 19sec (1579 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 09 2023