Netflix’s “MARINES” documentary humanizes the Marine Corps and is worth your time

The Marine Corps’ 250th birthday has come and gone. In celebration, Netflix released a four-part documentary series called MARINES. I recently sat down and watched each episode back-to-back and wanted to discuss my thoughts on the documentary series.

MARINES follow the members of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. A MEU is made up of a joint Navy-Marine Corps team combining Marine Corps land and air elements with the Navy’s sea element.

The MEU allows the Navy to drop Marines anywhere in the world on short order. This is how the Marine Corps acts as a force in readiness and as America’s “911.” Marines from MEUs can invade countries, protect naval shipping routes, provide humanitarian aid, and countless other tasks as the nation sees fit.

The documentary series follows three main elements of the Marine Corps side of the MEU team. We follow a pair of machine gunners who are part of the Boat teams of 1/4 (First Battalion, Fourth Marines). We also follow a Scout Sniper Platoon, specifically a sniper, his platoon sergeant, and, to a lesser extent, the platoon commander. Finally, we follow an infantryman turned helicopter pilot.

Outside of what I’ll call the main cast, we have interviews with the MEU colonel, the ship’s Executive Officer, and various other pilots, grunts, officers, snipers, and more. We also spend time with these men’s families as their loved ones train and deploy; these interviews provide insights on who these Marines are as people.

The big event the documentary covers is the 31st MEU’s CERTEX, or Certification Exercise. The CERTEX is what the combined Marine Corps and Navy team must pass to be certified to conduct an expeditionary mission. It’s a combined arms mission that is designed to test every element of the MEU and ensure the team as a whole can conduct operations.

What I liked

The Marine Corps says it does two things: make Marines and win battles. This series explores in depth what happens when the Marine Corps makes Marines, but they have no battles to fight.

In a time of relative peace, you’re making warriors who feel lost. These young Marines haven’t gotten their war, and it leaves them feeling frustrated. I got my war, but I can imagine what it feels like to train so hard and never see combat. People join the infantry because they want to fight.

The series also shows the Marine Corps’ last sniper platoon. In the middle of a sea deployment, the Marines learn that the Scout Sniper platoons will be turned into scout platoons.

Through the documentary, we get to see how the men process that loss putting a human dimension on something that’s more than a headline. We see the frustration of men who’ve trained for years to become snipers and have withstood the hardship of sniper school and STA (Surveillance, Target Acquisition) platoon life to then have that taken from them.

Ultimately, MARINES delivers a real humanization of the Marine Corps. It’s easy to forget when you see the silent drill platoon that Marines are more than dress blues and rifles. Most of them are kids, and through candid interviews, you get to experience that humanization.

We also see that it takes all kinds of people to make the Marine Corps what it is.

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Showing real Marines

Screenshot from MARINES. (Netflix)

The documentary starts by following a machine gunner – a young lance corporal – on his first enlistment. Like most 18- to 20-year-old kids. He’s what you’d expect from a Marine: aggressive; in great shape; and wants to fight.

Our sniper is a little quieter: he’s a book reader, but you can still see his desire to fight.

In real life Marines are quite a mix: from the stereotypical jock to nerds, anime fans, poets, readers, and beyond. This is on full display in the documentary. We get some truly hilarious moments when the sniper platoon sergeant is giving a tour of the ship and going through the various chow halls, pointing out the differences between the enlisted chow hall, the chief’s chow hall, and the officers’ chow hall. And for Marines this is a culture shock. You see, in the Marine Corps, Marines of all ranks eat together and the lower ranks eat first.

We also get interviews with various sailors and their opinions on Marines on the ship, showing a bit of a culture clash.

Something new to me was seeing how the upper echelon of officers’ hold meetings and have discussions. I never attended those, and was surprised to see that regardless of rank, Marines cuss like Marines. We also see the very real pressure put on Marine officers to succeed. As a lower enlisted Marine, I never saw what officers do behind the scenes, so these moments were eye-opening.

My favorite scene of the entire documentary is when the machine gunner we are following gets meritoriously promoted to corporal. When he’s called to the front, like any Marine, he’s scared. But when they start reading the promotion warrant, you see his face change and the joy that crosses it.

What I didn’t like

I think I would have traded some of the family interviews for more time following other Marine Corps occupational specialties to see how their day-to-day missions are accomplished.

It’s also worth mentioning that the Marine Corps isn’t going to give that much access without some control. So, don’t see a lot of the downsides of the Marine Corps. Sure, you see Marines soaked, tired, and cold, but everyone expects that.

You don’t see the frustration with command, you don’t see officers making bad calls, or the boredom that’s often part of Marine Corps life. We get just a glimpse of frustration here and there.

MARINES is 100% worth the watch. It’s about four hours and broken up into episodes that are about an hour long each. The humanization of Marines and the portrayal of who Marines really are is worth the watch alone. Give it a shot.

Feature Image: Screenshot from “MARINES.” (Netflix)

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