Interservice rivalry

U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen taunting U.S. Military Academy cadets before the 2008 Army–Navy Game

Interservice rivalry is rivalry between different branches of a country's armed forces. This may include competition between land, marine, naval, coastal, air, or space forces.[1]

Interservice rivalry can occur over such topics as the appropriation of the military budget, prestige, or the possession of certain types of equipment or units.[1] The latter case can arise, for example, when a navy operates naval aviation units, which can be viewed by the air force as an infringement of its traditional responsibilities.

For the most part, interservice rivalries may only be limited to administrative or internal functions, and the branches may otherwise have warm relations and a willingness to work together when necessary, with the rivalries usually only manifesting as in-jokes and light-hearted stereotypes (such as, in the United States Armed Forces, the stereotype that marines eat crayons) or, in more serious contexts, organisational politics disputes that are usually resolved over time. However, in rare instances, interservice rivalries may be so severe that the branches will outright refuse to cooperate or may even sabotage each other, even during an ongoing war or when lives are at stake (such as the rivalry between the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy).

The term also applies to rivalries between a country’s intelligence services and law enforcement agencies (e.g. the FBI and CIA in the United States[2]), the emergency services of a jurisdiction (e.g. the NYPD and FDNY in New York City[3]), or separate services in the same field (e.g. the LAPD and LASD in Los Angeles County, California[4]).

  1. ^ a b "Interservice rivalry". The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. Oxford Reference Online. Berkley Books. 2001. Retrieved December 7, 2008.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ Cooper, Richard T.; Meyer, Josh (May 26, 2002). "CIA-FBI Feuding Runs Deep". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 16, 2023.
  3. ^ National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (2006). 9/11 Commission Report. Barnes & Noble Publishing. p. 310. ISBN 0-7607-8174-5. During the descent, they reported seeing many firefighters who were resting and did not seem to be in the process of evacuating. They further reported advising these firefighters to evacuate, but said that at times they were not acknowledged. In the opinion of one of the ESU officers, some of these firefighters essentially refused to take orders from cops. At least one firefighter who was in the North Tower has supported that assessment, stating that he was not going to take an evacuation instruction from a cop that morning.
  4. ^ Milchovich, Dan (July 2, 2008). "Race, rivalries and turf". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 16, 2023.