Strategy Page

choi

(1) Ukraine Is No Place For A Paper Tiger. Mar 13, 2014.
strategypage.com/htmw/htlead/articles/20140313.aspx

Quote:

"the Russian Army is now smaller than the US Army (300,000 troops versus 500,000), a historical first. Worse, a third of the Russian army troops are conscripts, who are on active duty for one year. While the US Army also has a half million reserve troops who are trained and equipped to quickly enter operations, Russia has less than 100,000 similar (and less well equipped and trained) reserves. Russia also has 200,000 armed men in the Interior Ministry. This is basically a paramilitary forces equipped as light infantry. A few are highly trained commandos and riot police, but most only good for security duties not heavy combat. A third of the Interior Ministry troops are conscripts.

"since 2008, when the five day Russian invasion of tiny Georgia exposed the equipment and training shortcomings of the army, not a lot of progress has been made to remedy those problems. * * * Ukraine * * * has ten times the population of Georgia and much more capable armed forces. Russia went into Georgia with 20,000 troops, about a third of them pro-Russian irregulars from nearby areas that had grudges with Georgia. That force suffered higher losses and a lot of other unexpected problems.

Note: Wikipedia: "Russian armed forces" has active personnel of 766,000 (2013), per RIA Novosti.

choi

(2) Japan Finally Gets Some Real Marines. Mar 10, 2014.
strategypage.com/htmw/htamph/articles/20140310.aspx

Quote:

"American marines have been teaching Japanese infantry how to undertake amphibious operations for some time but these army troops were not considered marines. * * * neighboring South Korea created a Marine Corps in the 1950s, mainly because American marines were involved in protecting South Korea during the Korean War (1950-53) and the Koreans were impressed by the American marines.

"At this point some of you history buffs are wondering about the World War II Japanese marines. Well, there were no Japanese marines in World War II. What was sometimes mistaken for marines was what the Japanese called the SNLF (Special Naval Landing Forces). * * * The Japanese, like most navies, would simply arm sailors and have them land. * * * As recently as World War I (1914), America did the same thing, most obviously in Mexico where sailors landed at Vera Cruz as infantry and seized the city.  In continuation of this tradition, some sailors still regularly train as riflemen and the US Navy recently established a permanent force of naval infantry for security and coastal operations.

Note:
(a)
(i) Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces  海軍特別陸戦隊
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Special_Naval_Landing_Forces
(SNLF)

"Before the late 1920s the IJN [Imperial Japanese Navy 大日本帝国海軍] did not have a separate marine force, instead it used naval landing forces or rikusentai [kanji: 陸戦隊] formed from individual ship's crews, who received infantry training as part of their basic training, for special and/or temporary missions. In the late 1920s the navy began to form Special Naval Landing Forces as standing regiments (albeit of battalion size). * * * These SNLF units [first] saw action in China in the January 28 Incident [1932; Japan: 第一次上海事変; China: 一·二八事变] and at the Battle of Shanghai [Aug 13-Nov 26, 1937; Japan: 第二次上海事変])

"(Note: the Imperial Japanese Army also raised amphibious units called Sea Landing Brigades 海上機動旅団. These 3,500-strong brigades were used to assault and then garrison islands.)

* The "action" in "see action" (quotation 1) is uncountable.
action
www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/action
("5 [UNCOUNTABLE] fighting that is part of a war
Can military action be avoided?
killed/missing/wounded in action: a list of soldiers missing in action
see action (=take part in military fighting): We've been told we're unlikely to see action")

(ii) 海軍陸戦隊
ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B5%B7%E8%BB%8D%E9%99%B8%E6%88%A6%E9%9A%8A
(1929-1945 [but not since])

(b) Veracruz, Veracruz
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veracruz,_Veracruz
(When Hernán Cortés arrived in Mexico in 1519, he founded a city here, which he named Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, referring to the area’s gold and dedicated to the "True Cross", because he landed on the Christian holy day of Good Friday, the day of the Crucifixion. It was the second [after Santa María la Antigua del Darién, founded in 1510 by Vasco Núñez de Balboa, located in present-day Colombia] Spanish settlement on the mainland of the Americas; "In 1847, during the Mexican–American War, United States forces invaded the city. It was defended by generals Juan Morales and José Juan de Landero, but they were forced to surrender a few days later. The government of Mexico recognized Veracruz with a third title of 'Heroic City'”)

Spanish English dictionary:
(i) vero (adjective masculine; from Latin [adjective masculine] vērus “true”):
"(antiquated) true, real"
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vero
(ii) cruz (noun feminine; from Latin crux): "cross")

(c)
(i) United States Marine Corps
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps
(Created in 1775 [“Continental Marines”], the Marine Corps has been a component of the United States Department of the Navy since 1834, working closely with naval forces for training, transportation, and logistics; "The US Marine Corps had just under 203,000 active duty members and just under 40,000 reserve Marines as of 2010. It is the smallest of the United States Armed Forces in the US Department of Defense")
(ii) Continental Marines
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Marines
(formed by the Continental Congress on Nov 10, 1775 and was disbanded in 1783, [whose] most important duty was to serve as on-board security forces, protecting the Captain of a ship and his officers; "the organization would not be re-created until 1798. Despite the gap between the disbanding of the Continental Marines and the current organization, the United States Marine Corps celebrates November 10, 1775 as its birthday")

(d) marines
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marines
(The first organized corps of marines was created when the Spanish King Carlos V first assigned the naval infantry of the Compañías Viejas del Mar de Nápoles (Naples Sea Old Companies) to the Escuadras de Galeras del Mediterráneo (Mediterranean Galley Squadrons) in 1537, progenitors of the current Spanish Navy Marines (Infantería de Marina) corps)

Naples at the time was Spain’s.

choi

(2) Japan Finally Gets Some Real Marines. Mar 10, 2014.
strategypage.com/htmw/htamph/articles/20140310.aspx

Quote:

"American marines have been teaching Japanese infantry how to undertake amphibious operations for some time but these army troops were not considered marines. * * * neighboring South Korea created a Marine Corps in the 1950s, mainly because American marines were involved in protecting South Korea during the Korean War (1950-53) and the Koreans were impressed by the American marines.

"At this point some of you history buffs are wondering about the World War II Japanese marines. Well, there were no Japanese marines in World War II. What was sometimes mistaken for marines was what the Japanese called the SNLF (Special Naval Landing Forces). * * * The Japanese, like most navies, would simply arm sailors and have them land. * * * As recently as World War I (1914), America did the same thing, most obviously in Mexico where sailors landed at Vera Cruz as infantry and seized the city.  In continuation of this tradition, some sailors still regularly train as riflemen and the US Navy recently established a permanent force of naval infantry for security and coastal operations.

Note:
(a)
(i) Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces  海軍特別陸戦隊
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Special_Naval_Landing_Forces
(SNLF)

"Before the late 1920s the IJN [Imperial Japanese Navy 大日本帝国海軍] did not have a separate marine force, instead it used naval landing forces or rikusentai [kanji: 陸戦隊] formed from individual ship's crews, who received infantry training as part of their basic training, for special and/or temporary missions. In the late 1920s the navy began to form Special Naval Landing Forces as standing regiments (albeit of battalion size). * * * These SNLF units [first] saw action in China in the January 28 Incident [1932; Japan: 第一次上海事変; China: 一·二八事变] and at the Battle of Shanghai [Aug 13-Nov 26, 1937; Japan: 第二次上海事変])

"(Note: the Imperial Japanese Army also raised amphibious units called Sea Landing Brigades 海上機動旅団. These 3,500-strong brigades were used to assault and then garrison islands.)

* The "action" in "see action" (quotation 1) is uncountable.
action
www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/action
("5 [UNCOUNTABLE] fighting that is part of a war
Can military action be avoided?
killed/missing/wounded in action: a list of soldiers missing in action
see action (=take part in military fighting): We've been told we're unlikely to see action")

(ii) 海軍陸戦隊
ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B5%B7%E8%BB%8D%E9%99%B8%E6%88%A6%E9%9A%8A
(1929-1945 [but not since])

(b) Veracruz, Veracruz
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veracruz,_Veracruz
(When Hernán Cortés arrived in Mexico in 1519, he founded a city here, which he named Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, referring to the area’s gold and dedicated to the "True Cross", because he landed on the Christian holy day of Good Friday, the day of the Crucifixion. It was the second [after Santa María la Antigua del Darién, founded in 1510 by Vasco Núñez de Balboa, located in present-day Colombia] Spanish settlement on the mainland of the Americas; "In 1847, during the Mexican–American War, United States forces invaded the city. It was defended by generals Juan Morales and José Juan de Landero, but they were forced to surrender a few days later. The government of Mexico recognized Veracruz with a third title of 'Heroic City'”)

Spanish English dictionary:
(i) vero (adjective masculine; from Latin [adjective masculine] vērus “true”):
"(antiquated) true, real"
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vero
(ii) cruz (noun feminine; from Latin crux): "cross")

(c)
(i) United States Marine Corps
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps
(Created in 1775 [“Continental Marines”], the Marine Corps has been a component of the United States Department of the Navy since 1834, working closely with naval forces for training, transportation, and logistics; "The US Marine Corps had just under 203,000 active duty members and just under 40,000 reserve Marines as of 2010. It is the smallest of the United States Armed Forces in the US Department of Defense")
(ii) Continental Marines
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Marines
(formed by the Continental Congress on Nov 10, 1775 and was disbanded in 1783, [whose] most important duty was to serve as on-board security forces, protecting the Captain of a ship and his officers; "the organization would not be re-created until 1798. Despite the gap between the disbanding of the Continental Marines and the current organization, the United States Marine Corps celebrates November 10, 1775 as its birthday")

(d) marines
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marines
(The first organized corps of marines was created when the Spanish King Carlos V first assigned the naval infantry of the Compañías Viejas del Mar de Nápoles (Naples Sea Old Companies) to the Escuadras de Galeras del Mediterráneo (Mediterranean Galley Squadrons) in 1537, progenitors of the current Spanish Navy Marines (Infantería de Marina) corps)

Naples at the time was Spain’s.