Incorrect. The Marine Corps had a few paratroop battalions in WWII. You may have heard of Ira Hayes. He was a paratrooper and there are still some Marines from those units living today. Many contemporary Marines, including freeper Gunny Bob, attend(ed) jump school at Fort Benning, where the Marine Corps has a detachment. Marines conduct HALO, HAHO and static line jumps. Think there's never been a Marine who has served on exchange duty with the 82nd or 101st Airborne? Don't both of those units conduct mostly, if not exclusively, low altitude static line jumps?
You may be trying to split hairs over semantics and the MOS nomenclature may be different but jump qual'd Marines can indeed informally be called paratroopers.
Quantico-based Recon Marines jump from a UH-1Y during testing recently. The aircraft, slated to replace the aging UH-1N, was undergoing tests to evaluate it’s to insert Marines into special warfare situations where landing the helicopter is not possible. Static line hung jumper evaluation, SPIE rig, rappelling, fast rope, and free-fall parachute operations from heights including 10,000 feet comprised the evaluations.
Photo by Curt Lengfield.
U.S. Marines from the 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF) from Camp LeJeune become the first to deploy from an MV-22 Osprey as they free-fall from 10,000 feet. U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Vernon Pugh. U.S. Navy photo.
[000117-M-0000P-001] Jan. 17, 2000.
A series of night vision images shows the exit of a group of pathfinder Marines from 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, jumping from a KC-130 Hercules cargo plane into the night sky in western Iraq July 23. The group of Marines performed the historic first high altitude high opening parachute drop into a combat zone for the Marine Corps. (Photo illustration by Sgt. Nathan K. LaForte)
Sgt. A. J. Hull, assistant team leader, 1st Force Reconnaissance Company, exits the back of the C-130 Hercules March 23 during high-altitude parachute training at Naval Air Facility El Centro. A good exit has the Marine arching his back and facing the aircraft, not spinning around or on his side. This allows proper orientation for nighttime maneuvers where the only light visible is from the aircraft. This was the second of three jumps that day. This particular jump is called a High Altitude, Low Opening (HALO). Jumpers exit the aircraft at an altitude of 13,000 feet.
Photo by: Cpl. Robert M. Storm
Master Sgt. Patrick M. Whelan, jumpmaster with 1st Force Reconnaissance Company, stands by while waiting to jump. The jump master inspects Marines before jumping and has overall control over the entire jump session.
Photo by: Cpl. Robert M. Storm
Five thousand feet above Kaneohe bay in a CH-53D helicopter, Marines from 4th Force Reconnaissance Company, performed parachute operations, Oct. 18. The reconnaissance Marines are trained to make silent, undetectable insertions for future missions.
Photo by: Lance Cpl. J. Ethan Hoaldridge
MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — Two Marines exit an Air Force C-17 aircraft as their parachutes jettison here April 27. More than 30 Marines, airmen and foreign service members completed a joint air assault exercise to enhance proficiency in air delivery operations.
Photo by: Pfc. Wayne C. Edmiston
SILK CHUTES AND HARD FIGHTING: US. Marine Corps Parachute Units in World War II
Marines hit the dirt in a drop zone at New River, North Carolina, in November 1942. Parachutists used a tumbling technique to absorb some of the impact of the landing.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 127-GC-495-5049
Marines of the fledgling 1st Parachute Battalion land near Fredericksburg, Virginia, following a tactical jump in July 1941. Their unexpected arrival in the midst of an Army maneuver demonstrated the disruption that parachutists could cause to unwary opposing units.
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 127-GC-495-504479