Fighting for survival is a Marine trait world wide.

via BBC News.

The Royal Marines on board, from 40 Commando, only returned from Afghanistan at the end of last year.
They were involved in some of the fiercest fighting in Sangin.

After this deployment they'll be preparing to go back to Helmand again.

But in the current climate of cuts they're keen to prove why they're still needed.

The amphibious skills they're re-learning - inserting troops from sea onto land - make them stand out from their rivals.

They say it's what makes them more versatile than, say, the Parachute regiment.

The Commanding Officer of 40 Commando, Lt Colonel Matt Jackson, tells me: "This is proving what we still can do, as opposed to what we might not be able to do".

He says that's a key message when the Strategic Defence and Security Review is "biting hard".

His marines put it even more bluntly.

"We're all fighting for our survival," says Corporal Luke Wilson, sweat dripping off his face after taking part in a dawn raid on a remote UAE island in sweltering heat.

Cpl Wilson admits that the Royal Marines are stretched "not beyond our capabilities", he says, "but to the limit of our capabilities".

When they finally return back to the UK, the Royal Navy will find itself even harder pressed.
HMS Albion is due to be mothballed - another casualty of Britain's defence review.

Wow.

Seems like the Royal Marines and the US Marines have much more in common than I could possibly realize.

Fighting for institutional survival seems to be a trait shared by Marines world wide.