Marine aides are authorized for the purpose of relieving general and flag officers of those minor tasks and details that if performed by the officer, would be at the expense of the officer's primary military and official duties. The duties of these enlisted personnel shall be concerned with tasks relating to the military and official responsibilities of officers, to include assisting general and flag officers in discharging their official DOD social responsibilities in their assigned positions. The propriety of such duties is governed by the official purpose that they serve rather than the nature of the duties. Marine aides may be tasked to assist with the care, cleanliness and order of assigned quarters, uniforms and
military personal equipment; perform as point of contact in the officer's quarters; assist in planning, preparing, and conducting official social functions; assist in purchasing, preparing, and serving food and beverages in the officer's assigned quarters; and accomplish tasks which aid the officer in performing his military and official responsibilities, including providing security for the quarters and providing administrative assistance.

Food service specialists function in the garrison and field environment in every aspect of food preparation, administration, procurement, storage, distribution, to include funding, requisitioning, purchasing, receiving, accounting, and storing subsistence supplies required for troop consumption and/or for resale activities, units, and organizations, cooking, baking, and serving. Additionally, they perform quality assurance surveillance of food service contracts. Typical duties are preparing fruits and vegetables, meat, fish and poultry for cooking, seasoning food, baking of bread and pastry products; verify incoming shipments, prepare reports of supplies received, prepare, edit, and consolidate back-orders for subsistence stores and quality assurance evaluations. The most senior grades act as an administrative assistant to the Food Service Officer/Food Service Operations Officer and Contracting Officers Representative to the Installation Contracting Office.