Wouldn't the reason be that they have the smallest budget is that the Corps are the smallest force?
The Marines make due nicely. They put MacGyver to shame.
Actually the Coasties are the smallest force, but they have a larger budget than the Marine Corps. The corps recieves less than 9% of the overall DOD budget. The Navy & Air Force recieves a large part of the monies due to they have the most expensive toys, and are always fighting for the bigger newer toys to play with. Never mind that most in these two services will not see any combat time where as a Marine is expected to be ready to drop what ever they are doing and go on patrol like any "grunt". In fact ALL Marines are riflemen first then whatever your job is second, whether that be a supply clerk,records clerk,cook,truck driver, Crash crewman,ect...[you get the idea] So we may get our headlines, we don't get enough of the DOD pie by a long shot.