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United States Colonial Marine Corp

From Xenopedia

(Redirected from USCMC)

The United States Colonial Marines (USCM) are a group of fictional space Marines first introduced in the movie Aliens. They have taken a prominent role in the successive games, comics, and novels set in the Aliens series.

The exact details of the Colonial Marines are not expressly revealed in the movies. An associated book Colonial Marines Technical Manual by Lee Brimmicombe-Wood was published by HarperPrism in 1996 and describes their force structure, tactics, and especially weapons in some detail.

Contents

[edit] History

The USCM is the United States' "force-in-readiness", who are at all times ready to operate in environments far from home soil. By the year 2179, the USCM has roughly 165,000 Marines divided into four Divisions, four Aerospace Wings, and numerous support groups. There is also a reserve Division and Aerospace Wing with an additional manpower of 50,000 Marines.

The USCM, along with the United States Army, are part of the United Americas Allied Command. The primary duty of the USCM is to maintain the security of the United Americas signatories and colonies, and serves as the vanguard of any major problem.

The USCM has fought on more than two dozen worlds, including Tientsin (8 Eta Bootis A III), Helene 215, Linna 349, and the infamous Acheron LV-426.

[edit] Organization

The fighting groups are organized into three Marine Space Forces, each has primary responsibility for securing their areas. A Marine Space Force consists of one or two Colonial Marine Divisions and a Colonial Marine Aerospace Wing for ground air / space combat respectively. They are:

[edit] Equipment & Weapons

The Colonial Marines are likely best known for their use of the M41A Pulse Rifle, a futuristic assault rifle with an underslung grenade launcher, and for the M56 Smart Gun, a large machine gun which is actually worn by the user using a sophisticated harness mechanism. Also featured in the movie Aliens are the M240 Incinerator Unit, the M4A3 Pistol, and the UA-571C Sentry Guns. The Colonial Marines also employ a variety of land and aerospace vehicles, including the M577 A.P.C., the UD4L Cheyenne Drop Ship, and the Conestoga-class assault transport ship USS Sulaco, all of which are featuring in the film. A variety of other tanks, artillery, and anti-aircraft vehicles are also mentioned in the Colonial Marines Technical Manual.

One of the Marines, Corporal Dwayne Hicks, is seen carrying a personal weapon of his, an "old-fashioned" military pump-action shotgun, "for close encounters". It is also implied by the mess-hall and cargo bay scene in Aliens that the USCM are also highly trained in knife fighting (and are equipped accordingly) as well as close-quarters-combat, making every Colonial Marine a formidable warrior even without the use of firearms.

In the expanded universe between video games and books, additional weapons have been seen and mentioned. Below are the weapons featured in following Movie's, Games and Books.

[edit] Movies

Aliens

[edit] Video Games

Aliens Trilogy

Aliens vs Predator: Gold Edition

Aliens vs Predator 2

Aliens vs Predator: Extinction

Aliens: Colonial Marines

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Aliens vs Predator (2009-2010)

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

[edit] The Marines of Aliens

In the 1986 film Aliens, the Colonial Marines were prominent characters. The actors playing the Marines were required to read Starship Troopers as part of their training prior to filming. There were a total of thirteen Marines if Bishop (341-B) is to be included. They are listed here with their service number and names of each actor in parenthesis:

After their ship, the USS Sulaco, is dispatched to Acheron LV-426, most of the Marines are killed during the encounters with the Xenomorphs. It should be noted that although some were slain outright during the combat (Frost, Crowe, Ferro, Wierzbowski, Drake, and Spunkmeyer) others, such as Dietrich and Apone were captured alive by the Xenomorphs and likely served as unwilling hosts for the Endomorphs.

The two Marine survivors did not star substantially in the sequel, Alien³. Hicks died at the start of this film and Bishop made a brief cameo appearance but asked Ellen Ripley to permanently shut him down, though it is believed he was recovered by the rescue team sent by Weyland-Yutani at the film's end.

[edit] External Links

Retrieved from "http://avp.wikia.com/wiki/United_States_Colonial_Marine_Corp"