How to keep your Marines alive in Scorpion sections (Halo 2)

One rather frustrating mechanic that the Halo series has is that when your vehicle takes damage from the enemy, that damage will be spread across any marine riding it, regardless of whether or not they were actually hit. This means that when driving the Scorpion tank, its very difficult to keep your Marines alive, as it's large size & slow speed makes oncoming fire very difficult to avoid.

Luckily there is a simple trick to bypass this issue, which surprisingly I don't think I've seen anyone else besides me use:

Simply board the tank, and drive off before they can get on!

This may not seem like a wise idea, as theoretically, they will fall behind, or be more vulnerable to the Covenant's weapons, but they're actually great at giving you support fire, and drawing some of the enemy's firepower away from you, and they will last much longer, since they aren't soaking up your damage. In fact, you'll often find that your Marines survive for the entire duration of the Scorpion section, giving you extra backup afterwards!

While following you on foot, they will also seek out other vehicles to pilot, further enhancing their combat effectiveness. (In Delta Halo, try to have two of your ODSTs keep the Warthog you used before extending the bridge. Otherwise, try to shoot an Elite out of a Ghost with your Machine Gun without destroying it, so a Marine can pilot it)

For best results, equip as many with rocket launchers (or other powerful weapons) as possible, as Scorpion sections tend to be crawling with vehicles. In Metropolis, you should be able to bring a Rocket launcher from the previous level, to add another one to your squad's arsenal.
Just be sure to stop for them occasionally to let them catch up.

I hope you found this tip helpful! Thank you for reading, and give those Marines some exercise!