I'm about to enlist in the USMC. Should I be a tank crewman or infantry?

Answer 1

Never walk when you can ride. Never ride when you can fly. Never fly when you can stay in your rack.

Keep as much metal between you and the enemy as you can.

Just advice from an old soldier.

Answer 2

neither, do not go to the frontlines. get a career/skills- if you go in now, you are at least 60%+ more likely to become paralyzed, injured-mentally, physically, spiritually changed for the rest of your life, are you prepared for that? that is all a tanker or an infantryman get when they take that job, the skills are not worth having if you ever plan on a full civilian life again. go for a different career in the USMC, there are other things that are really awesome you can do in there, but if you have the option, think 2x, maybe 3x or 4 before gungho and going off into the heart of darkness-(WAR).. Good luck to you and many blessings wherever you travel.

Answer 3

Knowing the service, what your recruiter promises you to get you to enlist and what you end up being might not be the same.

If you actually do have a choice there are other options to consider.

I was drafted (yes, I'm THAT old) and all I wanted at the time was to serve my time and get out and on with my life. (this was during the early stages of the Viet Nam war). Unfortunately, I scored a little too high on the tests and was talked into going through Bootstrap. I ended up a WO in CID and ended up in Viet Nam (two tours, the first one volunteered for).

None of it was what I asked for but I'm not complaining because it provided me with a career in law enforcement after I got out.

The point I'm making with this long-winded story is that you might want to consider going into a field that might help you after your hitch, like like airplane mechanics or comm or whatever.

Answer 4

Infantry

Answer 5

No matter what you will be trained in infantry. So I would go and be a tank crewman.

Answer 6

depends on what caliber you want to fire. Between the two, I would go with tank, because you'll get the infantry training, anyway.

As far as what some other people are saying, you're too young to be making decisions to please other people. If you do have a girlfriend, you probably won't when you get out of bootcamp. And bootcamp will change your outlook on a whole bunch of stuff.

Answer 7

Congratulations and Good Luck.

I served U.S. Army 1966-68, both mechanized and ground pounder.

Go Infantry, you are a part of small group in tank, whereas with Infantry platoon/squad you got more buds, more experience, smarter platoon leaders.

Stay safe, jarhead.

Answer 8

Being an old jarhead I say if you like to walk go infantry and if you like to ride go tank crewman. There good and bad with both. Good luck and God bless your desire to serve.
Sember Fi

Answer 9

think about your future.go for a job that has some civilian ties,by that i mean if you do not like the service at least get some training that will allow you to use the military training in the civilian world.so many young people go into the military and come out and have no viable use for what they learned while enlisted.there are plenty of jobs in the military that can be used in the " real world ". talk to a recruiter and check out the options if you do not like what one says go to another.

Answer 10

WTG congrats!

my DH is a crew commander he's been armoured for 5yrs he did an OT from infantry and been in for 9yrs total *L* he's now doing a CT to air but he loves his tanks he just wants to learn to fly now hahaha Good Luck on whatever you pick! You'll like either but do a bit of research before picking!

Answer 11

You need to think beyond what your MOS is going to be. If you are married or have a girlfried you like alot I would seriously reconsider joining. Deployment are very difficcult and hard on wives. The divorce rate and multiple marriage is extremely high especially for MOS that get deployed alot.

Both are good MOS. It just depends on what battalion you get with.