How close are the Colonial Marines from ‘Aliens’ to actual Marines

I’m a big fan of the Alien franchise, I even tolerate the Alien vs Predator movies. I loved Alien Romulus and I recently sat back and watched Aliens for the first time in a long while.

James Cameron often uses Marines in his films, a choice that is partially inspired by his own brother who served with the Marine Corps. 

My focus today will be to break down the Colonial Marines in Aliens and talk about how close their depiction is to actual U.S. Marines. 

The ratty gear

The gear the Colonial Marines wear in Aliens is dirty, grimy, and stained. It has the look of well-worn gear as if it was worn in a few enlistments before it was passed down to the Colonial Marines wearing it in the film.

This isn’t true these days in the Marine Corps. The Marines are now the best equipped infantry force in the entire U.S. military, however it’s long been a stereotype that Marines get the Army’s hand-me-downs and they get more done with worse gear. 

I experienced this myself in 2009. When we arrived in Helmand Province, we wore gear from the Iraq War, a war largely fought in vehicles. As we arrived on base, we received modern-era plate carriers – from the guys who were leaving Afghanistan. The carriers were ripped and torn, and more than one had a bit of blood on it. 

I’m pretty sure the statute of limitations is up, so I can tell you that I stole a few M240 soft clothes and ammo bags from the Army, they were even that terrible blueish Army camo. Another guy swiped a SAW bipod that was way better than what we had. 

The squad make-up

The Colonial Marines’ squad is primarily made up of riflemen – guys toting the 10mm caseless rifles with underbarrel launchers. These are the core of the squad and they’re supplemented by a number of heavy weapons crew. 

We see two smart gunners carrying the big guns for squad fire and support. They work in pairs which is a cardinal rule of implementing machine guns. The squad also has flamethrowers for special mission needs. They prove handy and would be quite well-suited to fighting in the tight quarters of the space colony. 

The squad’s leadership has handguns, and – in a realistic way touch – they aren’t all that useful. The squad make-up makes sense and creates a squad capable of tackling threats in dynamic environments something that it shares with actual Marines squads.

Related: Everything they got wrong about the Harrier in ‘True Lies’

The Colonial Marines’ culture and the attention to detail

From the prim and proper officer to the the noncommissioned officer in charge the squad culture in Aliens is quite realistic.

We have the loudmouth and the cool-as-a-cucumber corporal whose been around the block a time or two. The smart gunners are tight with each other and in a lot of ways are orphans in the squad. This is often how a weapon’s team feels when assigned to a rifle squad or platoon. We have a mix of sh*tbirds, moto guys and professionals.

What Aliens really captures well about Marines is those moments where everyone isn’t gung ho. Most Colonial Marines are ready for their enlistment to be over and to move on with their lives. That’s a very real thing in the Marine Corps. 

And then it’s also the many little things the movie gets right.

Top does a count off as his Marines load into the armored vehicle; that’s exactly what an NCO or senior NCO would do. 

Hicks sleeping through the combat drop is quite realistic too: put Marines in a vehicle, and they go to sleep. It’s almost as if someone turns our switch off, and we all dip our heads and get to sleep while we can. It doesn’t matter if it’s a helicopter, a seven-ton, or an AAV.

And playing the knife game at chow is the most Marine Corps thing ever.

Also, when the Colonial Marines wake up out of cryo sleep they are wearing some little green underpants. These are often called “silkies” – although the ones in the movie are shorter than the ones I’ve seen, so I’d call them honorary silkies. 

The silkies are a rather humorous part of Marine Corps culture. They are often worn as a joke because of how short and tight they are. The Army is also in on the joke and refers to them as Ranger Panties. 

It never dawned on me how much Aliens got right about Marines. The film captured Marine Corps culture brilliantly and transferred it to a new battleground. As the recruiting ad says, battlefields change, but Marines do not. 

Feature Image courtesy of 20th Century Fox.

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