Something you might find yourself asking while reading Sailor Stories is, “What is a Navy submariner doing in the middle of Germany, supporting counter-terrorism in East and West Africa?” That’s an excellent question. Welcome to the world of the Joint, Global Force.
The military is comprised of several branches or services, each with a very distinct history, culture, and some might even say, language. We’ve even got our own colors. There’s some variability to this, but roughly: Navy is dark blue, Air Force is light blue, Army is green, Marines are red, and I guess the Space Force is black. Together, we are purple, which is the color we use to refer to anything “joint”, i.e. multi-service.
I came up in the Navy, which inherits a lot of its culture from the great nautical times of the British Empire. Unlike a land army, a naval unit can be at sea without any communication for months or years. Captains, therefore, were empowered to make every decision on their own, even when such decisions had significant national implications. If you remember in “Master and Commander”, Captain Aubrey pretty much decides to go to the Galapagos without any consultation from HQ. Seafaring is the OG of remote work.
This is still largely true for our submarines which operate without any modern connectivity. This is my background, so when you throw a submariner like me into a joint environment, I’m coming at it with a particular cultural ethos; a lineage of operational independence that goes back to the British Empire, for better or worse.
Each service has their own cultural contributions, and based on my experience, I can tell you parts of their cultures that I’ve come to admire, and the aspects that I try to adopt and emulate myself. (For the sake of brevity, I’ll focus on the primary services, and save the likes of Space Force for another day)
The Air Force is distinctively innovative. Although it began as part of the Army, the modern Air Force has a clear lineage to the daredevils of flight (Lindbergh, Earhart, and basically all of the WW2 pilots) that faced insanely long odds of survival. They did this through the brazen application of technology, making the modern Air Force the simultaneous home of the jocks (pilots) and the nerds (technicians), united through the marvel of human flight. Anecdotally, because flight is so complicated, this means they have a checklist for everything—attention to detail can be the difference between catastrophic failure and success.
The Army has a culture of methods that I appreciate. Everything is broken down to its smallest components and replicated. Moving thousands of soldiers across long distances is a feat unto itself, but the procedures for then engaging an enemy and securing the territory requires not innovation, but effectiveness. The Army is particularly good at figuring how to do something and doing it over and over again, through standardized procedures, good order, discipline, and dynamic leadership in the field. Army culture reminds me that you can’t lose sight of the mission, and to focus on doing what works.
The Marines are technically part of the Navy but have their own identity. There’s just something pure about their unflinching sense of purpose that I marvel at. They’re the get-it-done folks. Without hesitation, without fear, and certainly without insubordination, the Marines find a way to make things happen. But that doesn’t mean they’re just grunts either. The Marines can certainly work efficiently, but what sets them apart is a complete willingness to work harder when smarter isn’t an option, as is often the case in warfare. I aspire to have the focus and conviction of a Marine.
Each service of course has its negative attributes, no different than one’s personality, and that’s how I think about it. I think my success in the Navy is partly due to the fact that I chose a service that aligns with some of my own personality traits. And like any team, it’s important to leverage everyone’s strengths, mitigate their weaknesses, and accomplish the mission together as a unified (purple?) force, that must take on a diverse set of missions all around the globe.
Deep Dive: If you’re interested in learning more about the different cultures of the services, you might enjoy this piece from my time at the Naval War College.