Okay, Army Infantry.
Just ask some of your senior folks from the Korean and
Vietnam "wars", from which branch of the military would
they like the close air support to come from when all
hell broke loose and their *sses were in a sling.
I've yet to talk to a infantry/ground pounder war veteran
who'd say anything but the U.S. Marines. And I've heard
quite a few mention things like they could feel the heat
of the engines as they neutralized the immediate threat,
or, they could have dropped the bomb in your lap if you
asked. Obviously, these are some slight exaggerations that
vets tend to embellish on, but when I saw Marine pilots
bringing back aircraft with the whole tail section blown
off, or the vertical member torn off, a hole in the wing
that four men could stand in, or that had taken a missle
right up it's tail pipe and kinda expanded the back end a
little, you begin to realized the differences in the training
between the branches. In case you don't understand, most
pilots would have punched out.
Here is another example of what Marines do, besides giving
their lives to God, Country, and Corps and dying on a foreign
battlefield.
During the Bosnia conflict, Captain Scott O'Grady's F-16 was
cut in half by a missle. He punched out of the tumbling cockpit
and made it safely to the ground. The Air Force was unable to
get their Special Forces (specifically ParaRescue) in to search
for him, or was the CIA able to locate him with Vortex or Magnum
spy satellites, so the ground was scanned by KH-11 and Lacrosse
spy satellites. Six days after he went down, Air Force callsign
Basher52 (pilot) located him. Navy Admiral Smith got word almost
immediately and contacted Colonel Martin Berndt, commander of the
24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, who was floating aboard the USS
Kearsarge, in the Adriatic Sea, at approximately 1 a.m. Colonel
Berndt decided he they would go in and pull him out immediately.
As typical of a MEU, they become Special Operations Capable (a
qualification workup the begins before Marines go on float)
The Colonel decided he would personally lead the rescue, with
a team of 41 Marines, some one of their mortar platoons. This
also included Marine pilots piloting two AH-1W SeaCobras, two
CH-53E Sea Stallions, four AV-8B Sea Harriers, along with
theater support from Aviano and the USS Theodore Roosevelt.
By 0545, the mission was planned and the aircraft were
approaching the coast. At 0621, an EA-6B detected Serbian
radar tracking the Marine raiding party, and the Serbians
were defending themselves. Less than 15 minutes later, yellow
smoke from Lt. O'Grady's flare was located, and Marines were on
the ground by 0644. Helicopter Dash-1 dropped a score of
Leathernecks to establish a perimeter. Dash-2 came in and was
preparing to unload the rescue team, when Lt. O'Grady was sighted,
dripping wet, waving a pistol, and making a bee line for the
helocopter. Pulled in through a side-gunner hatch, he wasn't safe
yet. Racing back to safety, with the sun backlighting them, the
first Serb SAM-6 (Surface-to-Air-Missle) corkscrewed past on the
left. The chopper pilots dove, skimming the surface of the ground,
and then were engaged by small arms fire, winking off of the rotor
blades. By 0730, the Sea Stallions were settling down on the
flight deck of the Kearsarge. He was safe.
Nonetheless, some Pentagon officials suspect that the
Air Force got a little careless. Normally, F-16s are
accompanied by Marine and Navy EA-6B Prowlers to
detect and jam enemy RADAR (to protect the F-16s).
O'Grady's two plane patrol had no such protection.
Just for you, CentralScrutinizer, here is more information
if you want to learn more...
One of the sources you may refer to is Newsweek June 19, 1995,
pages 25-33. If you need to search by Author, it was written
by Evan Thomas, photos by Peter Turnley, along with Gregory
Vistica, John Barry, Bob Cohn, Martha Brant, Daniel Pedersen,
Rod Nordland, Joel Brand, Andrew Murr, and Gregory Beals.