[QUOTE='Ol Fezziwig]
Sure, the MARINES have 7-6-8 'supermen' but only for the latter portion of the war. The additional 2 BARs more than compensates for the additional FP rating. The ML, well, the MARINES
were an established force with an established doctrine (which varied greatly from the US Army doctrine of the time) as opposed to say, Rangers or Paratroopers-both of which saw their genesis during or directly preceding WW2. To grant them equal morale status doesn't seem to be warranted (though they ARE equal on the broken side, no?) at this point in time.
[/quote]
Doctrine has nothing to do with moral levels. Berserkers are not following doctrine, yet they have a morale of 10. There is nothing about Marine Corps amphibious doctrine which would suggest it comes with higher morale, and there is certainly nothing in the performance of any Marine Division that would suggest it is any better than, say, the 82nd Airborne Division. Performance is what you have to look at.
I have no issue with a 7 ML for Rangers or Paras; given the entire capabilities of the squad (FP, Assault Fire, smoke/WP capability, range, underlined ML, broken side ML), they are a formidable opponent to whomsoever they face. As for comparing their ML to other nationalities, it may be true, but only as regards GO morale state.
The question is not whether or not they have smoke capability, but whether their morale is represented correctly. And there is no evidence out there that would suggest to me that Marine troops are elite enough to have an 8 morale, like the morale level of most other elite forces of various nationalities (French, British, Finnish, Allied Minor, Russian, German/SS, Japanese), but somehow non-Marine American elite units actually had a lower morale level than the elite troops of all those other nationalities. It doesn't wash, it doesn't make sense, and there is not evidence to support it.
<snips>
(As for the Filipinos, they WERE defending their homeland, so an increase in ML is not too much of a reach from where I sit.)
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Again, you have to look at performance, not hypotheticals. Regardless of whether they were defending their homeland or not, entire Filipino units disintegrated upon first contact with the Japense. It was a very common feature in December 1941 and January 1942. It was not until after they had undergone a considerable baptism of fire, and their weakest links already killed, deserted, or surrendered, that their performance improved. Even then, their morale was certainly in no way better than the morale of a typical US infantry division.
The "6" US morale just does not fly when you consider the reality of the performance.