About ten yrs ago i was away at college and had thought that joining the army was a good idea for me. I called my dad and he told me to wait a few yrs and than join. well a few yrs turned into ten. On my 30th b -day i told my father that it was my time and that i was going to join the Army NG. My dad went off the wall. He told me about what he had gone through with the USMC while in Vietnam. He told me if i joined that i would prob be sent overseas and he does not want me to go through the same things that he did. I KNOW in my heart that joining is what i want to do, but i have to have my dads blessing. Should i just join and tell him or try to get him to see where my heart is?

A Marine recently insisted that the USMC “are the 1st to go an fight and have been throughout American history”
I’m curious, where is my history of ‘firsts’ wrong:
Current Iraq War – Army 3rd, 82nd & 101st IDs invade at same time as 1st MD.
First Iraq War – Army 82nd ID has DRF in Saudi first.
Panama – Army 5th, 7th & 82nd IDs invade with some Marines.
Grenada – Army 24th & 82nd IDs invade with some Marines.
Vietnam – Army conducts operations in RVN from 1961, Marines after the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964.
Korea – Army 24th ID’ (TF Smith).
World War II – Army in Philippines, Marines in Guam, Navy in Hawaii attacked simultaneously.
World War I – Army 1st ID in October 1917.
(For the sake of space, I’ve left out units < division and single service conflicts, like the Marines in Lebanon or the Army in Mogadishu.)
The claim that Marines are the 'first to fight' is frequent and said in a literal way in this forum. Can anyone support it with facts?