Military elite or sect? : A qualitative analysis of the British royal marines

Abstract: The aim of this essay is to investigate if there exists any relation between what is generally considered Britain’s foremost elite military unit, HM Royal Marines and a manipulative religious sect. With theoretical data defining a manipulative religious sect, and empirical data gathered from interviews with a number of former royal marines, this essay looks at the attributes common to these two very different organisations. Interestingly, even though the experiences of members of such organisations seemed to bare some resemblance; the motivation for any comparability was quite different. This phenomenon seemed to affect the whole study, and the findings did not confirm any substantial relation between the two organisations in accordance with the strict definitions applicable to a manipulative religious sect.