which branch would you choose and why? If you have served, why did you choose the branch that you did? After your experience, did you make the right choice or would you change the decision and go with another branch?
If You Had Joined the Military
- Thread starter Gonolz
- Start date
My old man was a chopper pilot in the Coast Guard. I would pick the Navy though so I could fly jets off aircraft carriers. Lived on the Navy base in P Cola and at the time took it for granted and didn't realize how bad ass it was...
I chose the Air Force, because when I came back from a combat mission, I wanted to be able to go to the Officers Club and have a steak and beer and go back to my own room with a real bathroom/hot shower and a real bed. Carrier living did not appeal to me.
Plus my Dad was Air Force.
Plus my Dad was Air Force.
I was in Air Force ROTC before I got sick and had to leave school my first time thru. My dad and brother are AF. I would be coming up on retirement now had I made it thru and stayed in.
I would have chosen the Air Force. My Dad was in the Air Force and it seemed like the best option to me at the time. I almost had to make the choice because my HS class was the last one to have numbers drawn in the draft lottery ... I won that lottery, number 001. However, we were out of Viet Nam by then and the lottery was a standby measure. I was able to go straight to college.
If it was random which of the five do you prefer in general not knowing the job, I would say Air Force. Their bases seem to be nicer for the most part and in much safer areas. I realize that's not always true as I would hate to live in Arkansas like my dad did while building and servicing Titan "computers"/targeting systems and there are some great Navy bases as well.
If you mean what did I ALMOST join, there were two times where I almost joined JAG. One was right out of law school and it was the Navy that was offering the best deal at the time and the other was right when I was almost 35 which is the unofficial cutoff for JAG nubes and the Marines were recruiting me heavily and offering the best deal by far.
So if you have a specialised field like attorney or physician, it pays to shop around and play them off of each other to get the best deal. If you're just a nube going to basic and they get to choose your job I would probably say AF.
Lol, those high school recruiters are hilarious. I made the mistake of taking the ASVAB or whatever it's called out of high school and allegedly scoring high and they (I'm sure otherwise it's a big coincidence) must have known I had a couple of relatives who served in the old OSS and other intelligence services, because they were on my %^# constantly to join and I was "GUARANTEED" to work in intelligence. They would call almost weekly and even after I was to college the first two or three summers they kept hoping I would fail out and harassed me all summer.
Some of my friends who fell for the promises got screwed. A guy promised a tank became a semi/transport driver and a guy who was promised fighters just shuffled around bombs.
The movie Top Gun had me all gung ho to fly F-14's off of Carriers and dogfight MIGS. If not the Navy, then the Air Force since the F-16 was pretty cool too. After I got to FSU I began to pursue other avenues 
When Top Gun came out I was already deep in my love affair with the F-14. I was the kid in the theater pointing out that the object under the cockpit was a camera system that could be slaved to the radar, and they could look at those contacts on a TV screen between their legs from over two dozen miles away...
The idea of strapping 20k lbs of thrust onto your back and zooming around open skies over the ocean still seems like a nice career. I'd be perfectly willing to kill people I didn't know to have this career, and the pay wasn't something I gave much thought. Instead I got glasses.
OHNole43123
Seminole Insider
Marines. But they also rape the boys.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/sto...04/marine-corps-highest-sex-assault/19910575/
I went in the Army. I grew up around all of the branches. Eglin, Duke Field, Camp Rudder, Hurlburt Field, Pensacola NAS, etc. Would always see helicopters flying around from Ft. Rucker too. I wanted Aviation (and then Armor). I always liked helicopters. Was commissioned Signal Corps (haha or wah/wah depending on the perspective). Time flies as the friends I kept in touch with that made their careers in the Army are reaching their 25th year and just recently retiring or finishing up their careers in the next few years.
Sister-in-law went this route. I think between the her time going to, and teaching at, the AF Academy, her post in an underground missile silo (picked up a masters also) and time spent living at an 'undisclosed' embassy she is now retired after like 20, but it may have been 25.
My Dad retired from the Navy and I grew up around Naval Aviation. I loved to watch the A4s, A7s, A1s, and the helicopters. I wanted to fly, too, but I had trouble passing that part of the test. My draft number was 333 so I was able to complete my education without any interruption. With a degree in Criminology I shopped around all of the services' officers programs but nobody was interested in anybody without a hard science degree in 1975. They were still drawing down after Viet Nam. Four years later, I had some experience under my belt and decided I was interested in the military again. I was working for a Navy Supply Corps officer and like what it had to offer. As it turned out, I liked going to sea and I liked being able to visit other countries. I was assigned with the 1st Marines in Somalia and 10th Mountain Division in Haiti. Both of those experiences confirmed my decision that I thought the Navy was the best choice.
The F4 I flew had a system like that too. My backseater was usually scanning the Dutch apartment buildings while I was on final.
And, the F14 had way more than 20k lbs of thrust per engine.
I think life as a Coastie would have been natural for me, but the timing was wrong. My older brother went to FSU as his lottery numbers for the Nam stayed high, and by the time I was of age, I was on to other things.
Younger brother went Army in reaction to the Iranian revolution and he then went Coast Guard later.
Several cousins have served in more recent times, one retired Army and another out on disability from the Air Force.
Pops was Navy late in the II as were two of his brothers. One saw some real nasty...
Mom had a brother pull wicked Airborne duty in Korea... his group put out "fires" in mean places.
Not so politically correct, we had people in Confederate leadership during the War that is so much on strange people's minds these days.
Younger brother went Army in reaction to the Iranian revolution and he then went Coast Guard later.
Several cousins have served in more recent times, one retired Army and another out on disability from the Air Force.
Pops was Navy late in the II as were two of his brothers. One saw some real nasty...
Mom had a brother pull wicked Airborne duty in Korea... his group put out "fires" in mean places.
Not so politically correct, we had people in Confederate leadership during the War that is so much on strange people's minds these days.
I joined the Navy out of high school and it worked out fine for me. I will say I worked with the zoomies for pretty much all of 1992 and those guys definitely had it good.
I joined the Navy and have enjoyed a pretty fun job for the last 29 years.
Joined the Marines. Sucks sometimes, well most of the time, but there are some great things to being a Marine that help offset the suckage.
Joined the Navy after 2 years in college because several of my friends went that route...awesome 21 years..saw most of South America, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, parts of Africa and during my years with the Blue Angels, the majority of the US. Started collecting a retirement check when I was 41 with healthcare for my family that is less a year than what most pay a month...ZERO REGRETS
Joined Army straight out of HS mostly because the small town I was in only had Navy and Army recruiters. Spent 4 years in the 101st...got out and went to college. If I had it to do all over again I would have joined the Coast Guard.
Joined the army with the idea of staying for 3 years and get out and go to college. I fell in love with it - jumping from airplanes, shooting stuff and learning explosives. Stayed for 22 years with no regrets. Would do it again the same way. No matter the times wounded I loved it and would do it the same way.
Thanks
Rangers Lead The Way!!
SGM
Thanks
Rangers Lead The Way!!
SGM
