Why Do People Choose the Army Over the Other Military Services?

In My Humble Opinion
1

This isn’t meant to be disrespectful at all towards the Army. It is mainly a marketing and recruiting question about how Army recruiters get people to join the Army versus one of the other branches. It seems like the other branches of the military have something to differentiate themselves and the Army just comes across as generalized workhorse.

I was in Air Force ROTC in college but I decided to get out because I thought I wanted an academic career but I always liked the idea of the Air Force and I always knew that was the one for me. I like planes and the technology is very advanced. Those are two of my passions. That was all there was to it. My stepfather was once a Navy officer because he loved the sea and all things boats etc.

Here is my simplistic breakdown (although recruiting has to be somewhat simplistic itself):

Air Force - airplanes, fancy technology, and cushy bases. Not too dangerous for most.

Navy - Fancy and complex boats, life at sea, and fancy planes. Not too dangerous these days.

Marines - a service that is all an elite fighting force. Hard-core military strong on tradition, discipline. Chance at true elite front-lines fighting and the chance to be a hero.

Army - ???A workhorse that gets the job done while the others are busy with their diversions???

How do they get people based on that? Am I wrong that the Army is more undifferentiated in a marketing way than the others?

2

Navy: bellbottoms, goofy Gilligan hats, out to sea for way too long.

Air Force: Blue suited pussies.

Marines: underfunded, overused. treat you like shit.

Army : Guarantee for Germany as first assignment. Guaranteed job. Oppurtunity to go to flight school without graduating college (I decided not to go but thats a long story).

That was sort of my thoughts on it 17 years ago.

3

My take on it is they’re really drunk, and can’t think of the names of the other branches.

4

Although all of the services have many schools that ‘overlap’, perhaps the Army had availability in the certain school desired.

It ain’t all grunts, tanks and cannons, ya know. The Army offers plenty of high tech schools: Aviation/avionics, computers, satellite commo, the list goes on and on.

And, if you’re a-hankerin’ for elite fightin’ training, the Army can keep you plenty busy there, too.

And you never have to tell anyone you were a squid or an Air Force REMF. :slight_smile:

5

[QUOTE=Shagnasty]

Marines - a service that is all an elite fighting force. Hard-core military strong on tradition, discipline. Chance at true elite front-lines fighting and the chance to be a hero.

[/quote]
Despite what they are told every day, and despite what the Marine IT Specialist or Marine Cook would like you to believe, They’re not all elite hardcore frontline fighters.

Yes, you’re wrong. The Army has anything you could possibly want. Want to fly a plane? Want to command a boat? Want to be an elite fighter? Want to be a mechanice or computer guy? What to be in Special Operations? They Army can offer any of this.

6

[QUOTE=Rysdad]
And you never have to tell anyone you were a squid or an Air Force REMF. :slight_smile:
[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I wish I was a REMF. My God, I’m in the Air National Guard, I should be the biggest REMF here! But nooooo, not me. I’m the guy that gets to see the flak up close in a low, slow, defenseless C-130 so people can watch television. REMF? Oh, how I wish somedays. :slight_smile:

7

I’m in the Air Force and I have a combat job, and yet, there’s still a part of me that wishes I went into the Army. With my job, there’s still not a garuntee I’ll see combat, and I know with the Army, should I have so chosen, I could have a combat job where I will be in the thick of things.
I’m 19. I’m young. I’m stupid. And I know nothing bad can happen to me :wink: .

8

[QUOTE=RandMcnally]
I’m in the Air Force and I have a combat job, and yet, there’s still a part of me that wishes I went into the Army. With my job, there’s still not a garuntee I’ll see combat, and I know with the Army, should I have so chosen, I could have a combat job where I will be in the thick of things.
I’m 19. I’m young. I’m stupid. And I know nothing bad can happen to me :wink: .
[/QUOTE]

I think RandMcNally nailed it!

9

Kinda of on topic-

I used to give my Marine buddy shit, for him picking on his Army friend. He also talked a lot of crap about the Navy, and so on… What I don’t get, is that all of them PLAY FOR THE SAME TEAM! Hello!

One day your calling your someone a squid, and then you expect them to watch your back? Some might say that this is just joking around, but a lot of guys are serious, and really feel superior over those in a different branch. Grow up.

10

[QUOTE=ParentalAdvisory]
One day your calling your someone a squid, and then you expect them to watch your back? Some might say that this is just joking around, but a lot of guys are serious, and really feel superior over those in a different branch. Grow up.
[/QUOTE]

It’s silly, yes, but there’s an old saying, “I against my brother, my brother and I against my uncle, my brother, my uncle, and I against our neighbor, my brother, my uncle, my neighbor and I against the world.” I think it’s not entirely unreasonable to expect everyone to take that kind of attitude and come through when the chips are down, regardless of how things are at other times. You could just as easily say the people who wouldn’t watch the other guy’s back need to grow up themselves.

11

The flodfather likes to claim he joined the Navy because in the Navy, you always take your bunk and your kitchen with you wherever you go.

Perhaps people join the Army because they enjoy camping out :smiley:

12

[QUOTE=ParentalAdvisory]

I used to give my Marine buddy shit, for him picking on his Army friend. He also talked a lot of crap about the Navy, and so on… What I don’t get, is that all of them PLAY FOR THE SAME TEAM! Hello!
[/QUOTE]

Ya know, that also happens even within the same branch. Army infantry will talk shit about Army cooks, for instance. Or Army mechanics… or those lazy ass PAC Clerks… :wink:

13

[QUOTE=Shagnasty]

Air Force - airplanes, fancy technology, and cushy bases. Not too dangerous for most.

Navy - Fancy and complex boats, life at sea, and fancy planes. Not too dangerous these days.

Marines - a service that is all an elite fighting force. Hard-core military strong on tradition, discipline. Chance at true elite front-lines fighting and the chance to be a hero.

Army - ???A workhorse that gets the job done while the others are busy with their diversions???

How do they get people based on that? Am I wrong that the Army is more undifferentiated in a marketing way than the others?
[/QUOTE]

Can’t speak too much about the Air Force, as I haven’t known too many zoomies. Airman Doors is a reliable source though.

Navy- not too dangerous? Clearly, you have never been aboard a ship. They are dangerous places even in peacetime. I have an uncle and a couple cousins who did the Navy thing. It sounded an awful lot like working in a crowde, dangerous industrial setting with an added chance of drowning.

Marines- they do a swell job of marketing themselves as all-elite to be sure. ‘Tain’t so. They have clerks, cooks, technicians, drivers, and all the other less-than-glamorous jobs that the other forces have. Not every jarhead is a frontline killing machine, despite their hype. I particularly loved their Dungeons n’ Dragons themed TV commercials. :rolleyes:

Army- I was in the Army. So was my dad. So were a bunch of my uncles and other relatives. Amongst us, we did all sorts of jobs ranging from front-line infantry and armored combat in various wars to being top non-com in a mess hall to being a heavy equipment operator to being a radar technician to being a helicopter pilot to being a “spooky” guy in Vietnam and other stuff too. With the exception, I think, of flying fixed wing aircraft, the Army has most any job you can want. If being part of a truly elite unit is what you want, they have that too. In addition to all that, there are bunches and bunches of Army Reserve and National Guard units out there that make it easy to serve part-time with a unit close to your home. My home town, of <7000 people, had two Army Reserve units (1 artillery, 1 clerical) and a National Guard unit (Engineering).

14

I joined the Army because my Dad was a sailor and Mom was Marine. I wanted to do something different. In addition, I joined to serve, to serve without gimgaws and folderol. A plain uniform and a straightforward job.

15

When asked why I chose the Air Force, I joked that I saw the exact same job in bot AF and Army, but the Army description had two extra words.

Catch bullets.

Because it was nearly the exact same job, we (the AF) shared training with the Army and other services. Later, at a follow-up training, I was able to hook up with several of my Army mates again. They were jealous. I got to do the actual job I signed up for (we were all in guaranteed positions). While they were assigned to a very similar job, they spent much more time in the motor pool. Needless to say, I heckled them mercilessly.

On the other hand, the Army offered a bonus above the standard GI Bill. The Army had more jobs, and even for the same type of assignment (in my case), the Army had lower entrance standards (but higher physical standards). Plus the Army had all those cool camp outs and that greatest of camp-out food - MREs! We in the AF were stuck with a roof over our heads, cable TV, and three squares-a-day, even if they were cooked by Brits. :smiley:

16

I joined the Army because I scored high on my ASVAB (entrance exam) and could get my choice of job. The Army has many different types of jobs, and it was easy for me to change my MOS because of my ASVAB score. I wasn’t sure if I would like the first job I took, and as it turned out, I didn’t. Had I joined another branch, I might not have had that option. Also, in the Army, soldiers can be promoted faster than in the Air Force and the Navy. I wanted that opportunity. The bonuses are nice to. It seems that the Army is always adding something to my paycheck for doing something extra (i.e. airborne pay). Also, I feel a certain pride for being in the Army. So for me, it is not a fallback type of job. The Army has some benifits that the other branches don’t. To each his own though.

Sgt Schwartz

17

After my first year of college I wanted to join the National Guard. Two reasons: the college benefits and medical training. I was in pre-med and figured if I could be a medic it would be good experience. Plus, I figured it was my patriotic duty to serve somehow.

The state where I enlisted (Louisiana) had great Army National Guard benefits. Not only the GI Bill stipend, but also tuition exemption and they would pay off a great majority of my student loans. I don’t recall exactly, but it seems to me that the Air Guard benefits were not quite as good. Anyway, it was a moot point, as the Army had a MASH unit in New Orleans. I was assigned there and became a combat medic. Our unit was activated for Desert Storm and sent to Iraq.

I was glad for the experience becasue I figured out soon enough that I didn’t really like being a medic and that the medical field was not for me. So when I went back to school I refocused on a marine biology track.

My Dad was in the Navy for a while as a surgeon and my little brother was a Marine, so I know a bit about those services. Not so much the Air Force. Of course the standing joke was “Join the Air Force–almost like the *real * military!” But even through the good-natured joking, we knew what it means to be a member of the armed forces–any branch–and the respect that was due.