Thread: Need help on deciding Armed Forces branch, any suggestions?

Hello,

I would highly recommend the USAF. I did it when I was a teenager in the late 70's. I did not want to end up in some country I could not find on the globe with a gun in my hand fighting and dying, but I did want to serve.

While the USAF does not promote it's enlisted people as quickly as some of the other Military branches, it makes up for it.

The living quarters you will stay in when you get to your regular base after training will be much nicer. The food is considered gourmet by the other branches. The health care was better. Everything was a step up for the people in the USAF from any of the other branches of the service of that time. My nephew tells me it is very much the same way now too.

The OFFICERS go out and fight and die in the USAF where it is the enlisted in the other branches mainly. You will be enlisted in any of them as you will not yet have your degree to qualify.

There are always exceptions.

No matter which branch or position you choose you will have to realize that the needs of that branch will take precedence over your needs. You will most likely be asked to go to COMBAT. You need to be damn sure about what you choose. You need to choose something that will fit your skills, needs and expectations very carefully. No one else will care after you join.

How much of a warrior are you? Where will you be the best fit for you and that branch. Square pegs get hammered out in the military. Your independent thinking will not work in all branches either. Lots of things to seriously consider on such a major life choice.

Good Luck. If you do deploy, I will write you. Thank you for considering serving our country. We need good men and women in all of the branches.

Sincerely,

Flash

What's interesting is that no one mentioned the United States Merchant Marines. If only I had learned about them sooner (Learned too late to apply )

Originally Posted by ems_goof

Go Navy FNG still gets the crap jobs (chipping paint anyone?) but you don't advance... EVER.
Navy Corpsman, still get to be high-speed with the Marines, but you get Navy and Marine Corps training...
Navy Boot- 9 weeks (plus P-days, so could be another week or two)
Corps School- 12 weeks (average - it's self-paced last time I checked, and can be done in as little as 2 weeks, but then you start mowing grass and chipping paint until your FMSS classes up)
Field Med School- 8 weeks
So, 30 weeks from stepping off the bus, you can be assigned as a Navy Corpsman to the Marines, working harder than any of them, making damn sure each and every one of them gets the best treatment possible (while you go without sometimes), and you become part of the BEST corps in the military. Or, you can be assigned to an Army unit, showing them how to do REAL work. Or you can be in a military hospital (Rota, Spain Landstuhl, Germany ) taking care of those who have been injured.
I went in as a Corpsman, got stuck at the crappiest location (Bethesda), but still love that I had the opportunity to be a Corpsman. And if you're with a Marine unit, and show that you're really high-speed, you can qualify to wear the USMC uniforms anyways. So what's stopping you?

Oh no you didn't put that. 30 weeks is that all? How about 13 weeks in bootcamp, 4 weeks in mct, 12 weeks in Tenn. for AO school, then you get 12 weeks for your wing school (rotor/fixed) in my case camp pendleton. Man i give you corpsmen credit for doing the job but to turn around and bite the hands that feeds. We all know corpsmen have plenty of down time. Case in point the hospital on NAS Jacksonville i'm working in now bunch of fing slackers. Not that the Corps doesn't have down time either.

My wife just made a facebook page for me and the whole crew from MCAS Kaneohe Bay has found it already. So she's been going around looking at everyones pictures from then and turns to me and asks "What the hell were we paying all of you for? It looks to me like all you guys did is drink and party." Like anyone is taking pictures when work is going on.

Back on point though if your going to go in the military take warprospers advice. Use the time to your advantage. Enjoy it and like most you'll miss it when you get out.

Flash puts it mildly when he's talking about the AF. The base i got stationed on had fucking maids cleaning the rooms if you can believe that bullshit. The food doesn't compair. He isn't lieing about that. The last study i know they did had the results that if you ate in a MC mess hall every day for every meal you will be malnurished inside of 6 monthes.

They all have there ups and downs.
Navy- great if you want to spend half your time on a boat but right now they are being downsized.
AirForce- great for staying out of harms way but it's more oriented for retaining people than the rest-also being downsized at the moment
Army- being upsized right now-plenty of different MOS's to choose from but they have the people to replace you readily available
USMC-exspendable there is no denying that but your trained better than the army so not so easy to get rid of you- MOS is wider range than any other branch other than the navy because the schools are the same IE- the airforce has a guy to take barrels off of a gun and one to break the gun itself down not the same in the navy or corps your the same one doing the whole job start to finish- If there is conflict good chance you will be in harms way but thats what its all about.

As for the merchant marines i can't say much about them. I was on a merchant marine vessel for 2 months and it appeared to more of a civilian contractor than a military branch. If thats what they are.

Originally Posted by ems_goof

Well, I was referring to the Corpsmen assigned to a field Marine unit (not a Battalion corpsman). If you have a good one, they'll be up before their Marines, making sure they have everything they need for field medical treatment plus their weapon checks, then they'll be with the unit during the operation, then they make sure all of the Marines are taken care of before doing anything for themselves (food, medical treatment, place to sleep, etc). For a good Corpsman, the Marines they're caring for come first, above all else. I've had friends who had no problem dropping everything for one of their Marines even after coming back to the States on leave. If one called them and needed help, they got it, no questions asked.
Yes, there are lazy military members out there. My last assignment was NNMC Bethesda as a reservist. In 9 months, I did 2 hours of supervised patient care, and helped with physicals for 4 hours. The rest of those 9 months I sat in a computer lab reading a magazine, or surfing the internet, or studying for advancement (which wasn't going to happen because of my assigned unit). Why? I was assigned to a unit that required officers (nurses and physicians), and not enlisted because the unit we supported didn't have a need for enlisted medical personnel.

I kinda figured that some of it was just taking a stab. I would, have, and will again take my jabs at other branches as well. Every job in the military has down time. Many days we spent playing volleyball or basketball. Sure you get paid to do your job but there isn't always enough to fill a day. No different then outside the service. Like now i should be at work but i finished it early so here i am.

Originally Posted by Too Much Damage

This intrigued me so I started to look into it. To be a door gunner you more than likely have to be 15t or 15u. Meaning you repair the helos most of the time. But this would almost guarantee you that seat.
Evidently the process in which they choose door gunners while deployed are different and is part of some mystic mumbo jumbo and who you know (thats what I gathered from various forums)

The senior crew chief makes these descisions.

The crew chief is almost always a gunner. With larger crews, the crew chief makes the descisions on who guns. Depends on the situation. Everyone repairs and everyone gets gunnery training and cross-trains at all positions. In cases like a CH-53 with a large crew and multiple guns, everyone is a gunner in-flight.

EX: A UH-60 has a crew of 4 - 2 pilots and 2 enlisted - 1 at each gun. A CH-53 has a crew of 5 - 2 pilots and 3 enlisted - 1 at each gun.

repeated thread rezzes going on :P

But I've pretty much decided on Air Force ROTC in college (either for Special Investigations or Security. Not the most glamorous jobs, but someone has to do em) Probably going to do more than the mandatory 4 years after commissioning, but I'm going to leave that decision for further down the road.