Need advice army, navy or airforce which to join?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Faldureon decided he wants to travel the world, meet interesting people and shoot them aka join the US military. Problem is there are too many choices and I dunno which one is better.

So tell me which is the optimal as far the benefits/amount of shit you gotta take ratio goes? Also which one is the hardest to get into and advance in? Which one is the easiest? Any reason why it is that way?

Also how do you get the whole thing started once you’ve made up your mind? I haven’t seen too many draft offices around here.

2

Email a recuiter at any of the branches, they will find an office near you. Believe me, they will.

As far as advancing and what is easiest, I’d say it depends on what you want to do.

Also, decide whether you prefer land or water.

3

Well the recruiter part sounds trivial enough, as far as what I want to do I’d say I’ve always wanted to try out for a strategist of some kind or other.
No real preference as far as land or water as I am a reasonable swimmer and a decent runner.

4

They’ll all tell you their branch is best. If you want to be a tough guy, join the Marines. If you want to shoot at stuff (and be a moving target) join the Army. If you want to play it safe, i.e., not get shot at, join the Navy. I haven’t seen too many high-seas battles in recent years. But you’ll have to live like a sardine for most of your tour.

Also, swimming isn’t really a qualification in the Navy. They prefer you stay in the boat. :wink:

5

My advice is go to college first, then join the military, if you still want to. You’d be going in as an officer, in other words management.

If you don’t want to go that route, I’d advice the Air Force as the service the join. No long duty at sea, little chance of being close to the action, and no heavy duty physical training like the Marines. Air Force training tends to translate much better to civilian jobs too, and also tends to be more technical, also good.

For the record, I joined the Navy, but spent some time at Air Force bases, and AF would be what I’d join if I was to do it again.

6

bayonet1976 are you a telepath? I am about to graduate with a bachelors in computer science. Just soooooo not up for a nine to five at this point in my life I would rather get shot at. How is going as an officer better then going as a trooper? Pay or stuff you gotta go through?

7

Avoid military service. At least during the current Administration.

No, this isn’t partisan sh#t, it’s good advice.

The pay is not good, and certain policy makers are stripping away Veteran’s benefits like there was no tomorrow.

Morale is low, and that makes it harder on you than you realize. After all, your seargent’s morale will be low too, & he can make your life Hell, merely because he wants to. Dwell on that, my friend.

Consider joining the Coast Guard. The Veteran’s status is the same, you’ll be in the US, not the Persian Gulf, and the Coast Guard does help protect us from terrorists, in a very useful way.

In addition, you’ll help control smuggling, fight fires at sea, rescue boaters, protect endangered species, control pollution, and enforce the law at sea. You’ll save lives in a direct & immediate way.

8

Pay is better for officers, so is housing, food, and so on. And like I said before, you’ll go in as management. Which means that at a minimum you’ll avoid the grunt work, for the most part.

9

Having spent more than 20 years in the Army, I would say Coast Guard or Air Force. They seem to treat their personnel better.

The Coast Guard will not necessarily keep you in the US. Some Coasties served in Viet Nam.

10

Also, as a Navy vet., I’d suggest Air Force. But, as a college graduate, I’m not sure what the enlistment (commision) duration would be.

As an enlisted, at least when I was in, the duration was a six year comittment. However, you break up that comitment. As I did, 4 years active, 2 years inactive. Meaning, I was on-station in uniform for 4 years. Two of those years I spent out of active duty but, on-call as it were, if something were to happen.

A friend of mine got 3 and 3. Don’t know how but, I would suggest getting the smallest time active possible.

When you’re sending your resume around, it’ll say, college graduate and honorably discharged from US Air Force. No one, but, no one will care how long your active service was.

Get 2 years if you can, but, I doubt it.

Also, made triple sure that your speciality that you’ll be concentrating on in the service is usefull on the outside. Being a jet machanic is great but, on the outside, guess what, you’re working at the airport, that’s it. Not alot of options.

Just my 2 cents.

11

Some went to the Gulf War, and some went to Op Iraqi Freedom. It’s true, however, that the majority of CG assignments are in the US. Alot of folks and most cutters deployed to Iraq are home now. The only CG folks going to Iraq these days are the ones that want to go, it seems.

faldureon, I’ve been enlisted in the CG for almost 13 years now, and if you have any questions about it, I’d be happy to give you the “Straight Dope”. I’m not a recruiter, I’ll give it to you straight. Ask here, or if you prefer, my e-mail address is in the profile.

12

The advantages to being an officer are many. Pay is a big one. Low-to-mid enlisted members get paid next to nothing…Many junior enlisted personnel, especially with families, have to resort to assistance from welfare. I work on an AF base, and see this happen fairly often.

O-1’s (the lowest officer grade, 2nd Lieutenant or Ensign), get paid a lot more reasonably. You’d can expect to have about 8 years of enlisted service under your belt before you get paid what a 2Lt straight out of school makes. You won’t get rich being in the military, but officer pay is at least livable. DFAS Militay Pay table)
But you’re getting a BS, the only real prerequisite for becoming an officer. So there’s very little reason not to get a commission.

Officers are in positions of authority, and for someone with authority issues like myself, that sure beats starting out as an E-1 and having every single person you see telling you what to do all day long. The opportunity for officers to direct subordinates varies between the services.

You go in as a 2Lt in the Army, and you may well be put in charge of a platoon of 30 enlisted personnel, wherein you are on par with a lesser deity. On the other hand, in the AF, that structure is less common. I work in a building full of officers and civilians, and the Lts are the peons with no one to boss around. It’s a bit rank-heavy in my organization.

However, a lot of the time, enlisted personnel have more hands-on/exciting/dangerous jobs (however you care to look at it). Officers are often paper-pushing, desk-bound, keyboard-tapping professionals. Pilots are a notable exception, however. But they don’t call it the “Chair Force” for nothing.

Each service is different, and has varying job opportunities and different cultures. You’ll have to keep doing research to find the right fit. If you’re technical-minded, as the Comp Sci degree might indicate, the USAF might be a logical choice.

Also, many people would agree that the AF is the easiest service to handle. Physical fitness standards and basic training, for example, are somewhat more relaxed than those of its sister services. The Marines are thought of as tougher, and they do what it takes to maintain that image, which generally involves a lot more toture. The Army isn’t much different…plus they all have those damned berets, now. :stuck_out_tongue:

If I were to join, the AF would undoubtedly be my choice. I don’t think I could adapt as easily to the organizational climate of the Army or Marines. “Hoo-ah” is not in my vocabulary. And as for the Navy, I just don’t like the idea of being on a boat that much. I have a long naval tradition in my family, but it’s not for me.

13

A couple afterthoughts…

You actually may find it tougher now than usual to get a commission from the AF. Since you’ve not attended the Air Force Acaemy, and didn’t do ROTC, your method of earning a commission would be through OTS (Officer Training School). I hear that right now, OTS demand is low, because USAFA and ROTC are pumping out all the officers the AF needs. I’m sure it’s still very possible, but I’ve just heard the competition is higher than usual now. But the military doesn’t often turn away volunteers.

Also, I hope that none of my above statements are taken as disparaging to any enlisted folk out there. I was just pointing out some obvious and perceived differences in the roles of officers and enlisted personnel, and what he may find desireable about the different career paths. The importance of the guys with stripes on their arms cannot be overstated.

14

Speaking as a Naval ROTC member, I would highly reccomend going Navy; not quite as “easy” as say the Air Force, but without the ground-pounding slogging through mud you find in the Marines and Army(I thank the people who are willing to do that), but you get to see a lot of the world; you could get liberty calls in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Italy, Ukraine, and all over. You can’t do that in the Air Force.

I would reccomend going through OTC and becoming an officer, as there are numerous advantages to that path, such as higher pay, generally greater respect, you already have a degree, and IMHO, much nicer uniforms.(Not to disparage any enlisted folk out there- If I did that, my Dad (A salty old Chief with 22 years in) would find out and kick my ass.)

Also, the Navy recently created a new Surface Warfare designation - 1165P, SWO Information Professional, that you could try for, that might be up your alley.

Finally, it would be very nice to have a straight doper as a fellow Naval Officer, in my future career.

15

Thanks for all the input guys. Don’t really know exactly what I wanna do yet but the officer thing sure does sound like a great idea.

16

Here’s the advice my dad, a veteran and an officer, gave me: Don’t join the military until you get drafted, and when you do, take the draft notice to the airforce recruiter. If you’re not going to heed the first part, at least heed the second.

17

Forget the whole idea and grab a guitar and travel the country playing honky tonks.

That’s what I SHOULD have done.

18

If/When you DO go to a Recruiter (who grabs Enlisted prospects) or an Officer Selection Officer (whom snags Officer candidates), have clear in you mind what you want. If you choose to go Air Force Officer route (they have the very best facilities of all the services, in my experience), and you know of some job that fits your CPS degree, push for it and do your darndest to get it in writing (a guarantee), if at all possible. There may be a great need for Vehicle Maintenance Officers and you are assigned to be a grease monkey, while you really wanted to program Satellites.

19

My dad was an Air Force officer. GO AIR FORCE!

And my brother just went to AF basic a couple of days ago. (The officer thing is good, but college didn’t work out for him. At least not yet. So he’ll be enlisting for probably four years.) We haven’t heard back from him yet, but were told to expect a phone call anytime. I guess he’s surviving, since they haven’t sent him back here yet. :smiley:

I’d recommend Air Force or Navy, from what I know. The Marines kick ass, but you have to REALLY WANT to be a Marine. They do, however, have the best dress uniform.

Yep, there was one cute Marine at Wal-Mart yesterday collecting toys…oh my yes. :slight_smile:

20

Hey, I got to all of those places! And about 100 others as well. :smiley:

But travel in the Air Force is limited to a few AFSCs. If you’re not flying, it’s going to be tough to see a lot of different places quickly.

And what audiolover said about getting an OTS slot is correct. OTS is the most flexible means of entry into the officer corps, meaning it can be ramped up or shut down quickly as demand for 2LTs fluctuates. So if they say “no thanks” this week, wait three months and call back.

I had a great time on active duty, and I’d recommend the Air Force to anyone considering the military.