I believe the general issue with it is the unique nature of the USMC as an all-aspect combat unit. A US Marine could potentially have a job described as soldier, airman or sailor, and it sits a lot less naturally calling a sailor a type of soldier since the traditional definition of soldier emphasises land-based combat.
Ultimately it's just an inter-service pride thing (same as the various SF units who insist they're "operators" rather than soldiers, I guess), but there is a reasonly sensible case for doing it in terms of what the USMC actually does.
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