It was then that the Marine Corps would undergo a radical transformation to do what it was asked to do. Following boot camp (for the enlisted men) and Officer Candidate School (for officers), Marines would take a more advanced garrison and field training both stateside and following their arrival in France.
Before this Marines were primarily attached to ships and used in smaller operations. (I attended Officer Candidate School in 1971 in Quantico, Virginia.)
However, the German Spring Offensive of 1918 altered that training, causing an immediate movement of undertrained troops to the outskirts of Paris. The Marine mission was to stop the German Army breach into the Chateau-Thierry, the front line at a place known as Belleau Wood.
--Cooter
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