Who caught the Army vs. Navy game? I didn’t, but you bet I checked the score afterward!
Just the mention of other branches of the military is usually enough to kick off a discussion on the interservice rivalry. In some ways, these rivalries are deeper than the competitiveness associated with professional sports teams. As the child of a military service member (brat), that carries down.
Now, I’m an army brat. The bases I lived on were not usually joint bases, so the rivalry was more of a background thing. For example, there was a running series of comments about the fitness of the navy and the comfort level of the air force. I was younger though, so most of it was censored around the kids.
Once my father was out, we moved to a military town with more of a mix of services. I went to school with civilians mostly, though there were several brats like myself. Culturally, being a brat became more of a background thing. Even so, the annual Army vs. Navy game brought it all up again.
The college I went to had a fairly substantial Army and Air Force ROTC programs, along with a large number of veterans. Back came the joking comments and interservice rivalry into my daily life surrounded by people who got it.
Now, despite the rivalry and the ribbing, there’s still a significant sense of community among all services. Usually, it’s one of the first things military brats bond over. That shared experience that’s similar in many ways allows other forms of connection to happen. Plus, the brat community, in general, is all about finding people who understand the feeling.
The interservice rivalry may look like a major thing from the outside. From the inside though, it’s ribbing and jokes, and a drive to do better. Just like when civilian companies pit different teams against each other, it helps us all strive to do better and become more cohesive.