Need help deciding between 3 military branches

[byteware]

Air Force: Better housing, better assignments, shorter tours, fewer tours, better food, get a pilots license and you are treated like gold.

All this is true.

Anything else and you are treated like every other member of every other branch. lol

Umm... not in my experience.

Even E-4's in the Air Force aren't really treated with the respect of an E-2 in the Marines.

 

[byteware]

figured you were a marine considering how you took my comments so personally... yes all base pay is the same, but not bonuses, hazard pay, etc. And who the hell would join the marines over another branch for the clothing allowance? I thought you guys didn't allow gays? And honestly a very small percentage of people leaving any military branch work for the nsa. There just arent enough jobs there for everyone, which is why a specialty like that isnt very practical outside of military service. Thats why I don't know or have heard of ANYONE around here working there. about 90% of them end up working at kenworth or doing construction (not that there's anything wrong with that, I did construction for about 4 years)
I don't think theres anything wrong with joining the marines so don't take it so personally. I was just giving my opinion and a little friendly joking which, as usual, was taken seriously

Actually, I worked in Military intelligence in the Marines. NSA actively recruited from our ranks. It was rather annoying, when someone got close to EOS, someone would show up to talk to them about moving over to NSA. This was especially true of our hackers. The NSA regularly brought them in to do joint exercises, and regularly sent people to talk to them ( I think they actually offered to arrange to terminate their military contract to bring them over).

There are only so many jobs at NSA. That is true, but trying to get a single TS clearance starts at $100K. If that person isn't qualified for a clearance, then that's $200K you've had to spend to fill a single position. If the clearance is higher than TS, then it gets even MORE costly.

NSA will take just about anyone that they can get their hands on. If not them, then get your Four year degree, and start working for the FBI/CIA. Your clearance and your training will almost guarantee you a job.

 

[Weazol]

figured you were a marine considering how you took my comments so personally... yes all base pay is the same, but not bonuses, hazard pay, etc. And who the hell would join the marines over another branch for the clothing allowance? I thought you guys didn't allow gays? And honestly a very small percentage of people leaving any military branch work for the nsa. There just arent enough jobs there for everyone, which is why a specialty like that isnt very practical outside of military service. Thats why I don't know or have heard of ANYONE around here working there. about 90% of them end up working at kenworth or doing construction (not that there's anything wrong with that, I did construction for about 4 years)
I don't think theres anything wrong with joining the marines so don't take it so personally. I was just giving my opinion and a little friendly joking which, as usual, was taken seriously

clothing allowance is the money you get each year to maintain your uniform. (I never spend it all on my uniform so thats extra money in my pocket)

 

[OstrichSaK]

Umm... not in my experience.

Even E-4's in the Air Force aren't really treated with the respect of an E-2 in the Marines.

We're basically saying the same thing here. In the AF the pilots get ALL of the respect and everyone else in the AF is basically treated like... everyone else.

 

[antjonz]

after serving 24 years in the Air Force. If I had the chance to do it all again, I wouldn't change a thing. It really depends on what you want to do in the military. There are so many jobs in the Air Force that you can do in the civilian world, that's not really the case in the Marines and Army (IMO, with the exception of medical, security, and personnelist jobs). The Air Force is more specialized than other branches. Meaning in the AF, you migh have an E-2 that's in charge of recordkeeping, but that will be his primary and only job. In the Navy, an E-2 wil do more multi-tasking duties. I will also say that I believe the Navy makes rank faster, but that rank will be taken away quicker if you screw up. I had a special duty assignment working in a Navy confinement facility in South Carolina, and I went to quite a few Captain's Masts (like a disciplinary meeting) seeing people get demoted.

If you decide NOT to go into the AF, make sure whatever branch you decide, get a medical job. That's almost a sure job once you get out the military, and the medical field has the most females.

 

[byteware]

after serving 24 years in the Air Force. If I had the chance to do it all again, I wouldn't change a thing. It really depends on what you want to do in the military. There are so many jobs in the Air Force that you can do in the civilian world, that's not really the case in the Marines and Army (IMO, with the exception of medical, security, and personnelist jobs).

That's not really true.

There's everything from intelligence to SatComm's to Radar maintenance. Electronics Repair, Mechanics for all the different vehicles. Air Craft Repair (remember, we have our own mini Air Force).

There are even IT jobs. If you want to do it, they likely have a job for it in the Marines (aside from Medical... the Navy handles our medical care).

 

[Weazol]

That's not really true.

There's everything from intelligence to SatComm's to Radar maintenance. Electronics Repair, Mechanics for all the different vehicles. Air Craft Repair (remember, we have our own mini Air Force).

There are even IT jobs. If you want to do it, they likely have a job for it in the Marines (aside from Medical... the Navy handles our medical care).

I think most people just assume marines run around with guns and don't do anything else.

 

[antjonz]

I think most people just assume marines run around with guns and don't do anything else.

Well...that's all I've ever seen them do.

Seriously, I'm sure there are more jobs in the Marines that I've failed to list, but I believe there are a higher percentage of jobs in the AF that will transfer over to the civilian sector.

 

[byteware]

Well...that's all I've ever seen them do.

Seriously, I'm sure there are more jobs in the Marines that I've failed to list, but I believe there are a higher percentage of jobs in the AF that will transfer over to the civilian sector.

I don't believe that to be true.

Even our non-technical jobs transfer over to the civilian sector.

Grunts get out and become cops. Just about everything else has a technical aspect that will transfer over to the civilian sector. In fact, I can't think of a single job that DOESN'T transfer over to the civilian sector in some fashion.