The tests are part of Navy Secretary Ray Mabus' 21st Century Sailor and Marine Initiative, an expansive program intended to improve the well-being of sailors and Marines after more than a decade at war.

NPR: Navy: Random Alcohol Tests For Sailors In US

At the end of the war he joined the Royal Marines, but a chance encounter with the father of the future Labour leader, Michael Foot, persuaded him that no intelligent man should stay in the forces.

ECONOMIST: John Fowles

The hard lessons learned in places like Tarawa and Guadalcanal served the U.S. well when Marines turned the tide of war in Korea years later by mounting a daring amphibious landing at Inchon, behind enemy lines.

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