The Demise of the Marines?

[Anomalocaris]

The existence of the marines corp is bound up in national mythology, and it no longer a purely rational choice of national policy. So I suspect the Marine corp will continue to exist and to both mythologize itself and be mythologized so long as the United States continue to exist roughly in its current form. Only a complete defeat in a major war, similar to that experienced by Germany or Japan, can impose the disbandment of the Marine corp.