Firstly, I am British, so I have 0 clue on how the US armed forces work.
My limited knowledge of the system tells me that marines and the army perform the same task, which is the primary land based attack force.
So what exactly is the difference between the 2 and how does the US decide which force to mobilise and when?
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From my limited knowledge, the Army is basically the land-based attack force, the Navy is the sea-based attack force, and the Air Force is the air attack force. In case of war, these three attack forces would proceed to wage war in their respective domains (land, air, sea).
Carriers (and their escort ships, basically a carrier task force) can “project power”, basically you park a carrier off the coast and you “threaten” with it. Carriers can launch planes so they have their own naval-aviation mini-air-force, and they can also launch troops (the Marines). Basically, this is a smaller force that can do air, sea, and ground attacks, but for projecting power and, basically, diplomacy, rather than full out war.
So, TLDR, World War 3 = Army + Navy + Air Force, whereas reacting to some emergency situation somewhere (genocide, local war, etc.) = send a carrier task force with naval gunnery and missiles, naval-aviation, and marines.
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