This is probably the wrong context to ask this in, given as today is the anniversary of the founding of the Marine Corps, but I've often wondered about it, so will ask anyhow.
Prior to 1918, what motivated men to join the Marine Corps? In spite of the way its recalled now, it was really an obscure service prior to World War One with a very limited ground role. Indeed, it was so obscure that I recall reading in the memoir of one of the World War Two era USMC generals, who had started off as an enlisted Marine, that he hadn't even known about the Corps until an Army recruiter referred him down the street to the Corps, as the Army wasn't taking applicants due to being full, when he stopped in.
After World War One I understand it, as WWI really created the modern Corps in some ways, with WWII definitely making it what it is today. And I can understand how a young man in the 20s or 30s would join it, given the reputation it came out of WWI with. But prior to that you really hear very little about the Corps. What motivated men to join it?
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