Everybody I know tells me to go into the AirForce... PLEASE, I NEED SOME HELP ON THIS!!!?

Question

I've decided that I WANT to join the service.
This is the one of the biggest decisions that I'll have in my whole life.
Everybody I know, pretty much tells me to join the Air Force.
But I like the US Marines. I respect, and admire everything about them; but I have ABSOLUTELY NO clue what to do.
I shouldnt join the Marines over the USAF because of Admirantion and respect should I? Someone please help me!!!
Thank you for your help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just wanted to thank everyone for your input on my question. You all have been a tremendous help; and I want to thank you for your support.
I always heard that you should follow your heart.
I believe my heart is in the USMC.
Thank you all once again.

Answer 1

Ok, first of all I am not saying this to offend other people especially those in the USAF or the USMC but here are the truth that you might wanna think about, both are doing a good job and have their positives and negatives. If you join the Air Force you will recieve a good training, benefits and a chance to get into the rarest SF in the world the PJs(only 250 of them around) but you will be surrounded by Pedophiles and homosexuals(but I am not saying all of them) and being molested will be a part of life in there especially if you want to go into an academy, not to mention the insults you will recieve from your fellow soldiers in other branches but also from some military-oriented civilians. While in the USMC you will also have proper training that is essential to combat, but it is also gruelling if you want to be in the USMC you should prepare yourself first. Benefits are also good and you will also have a chance to try out for the considered best SF in the world the U.S. Navy SEALs(yes, you can). But you will have to sacrifice a lot of things for those benefits for example: I know this guy say his name is John and he was killed in action, he was awarded by the government by giving him a pretty medal and rewarded his family by giving them US$ 200,000, not including his funeral. I don't really know if its the same in the Air Force but I heard that the U.S. government will pay much more for the brains they will have a good use of. Now, think, to make it simple would you want wealth and knowledge(Air Force) or honor and respect(Marines). And think about what the guy above me said about the beer and stuff. I myself have the same dilemna and chose to be in the USMC so that is why I am training very hard to make it, and I chose it because I like the thought of helping other people in 3rd world countries like in Somalia and engaging myself to close combat. As for you do you enjoy flying and dropping bombs to enemy targets or dropping relief goods to civilians that were affected by the war or do you like to fight from a thousand miles away cause if you do, you should be in the Air Force. But if you are in the gray line try signing up to be a Marine pilot. I also think that you should follow your heart to bring out the best in you like what my Godfather told me: "Do what you Love and Love what you do". Whatever choice you make I hope you will not have any regrets in the future, thank you for thinking of serving our country and I wish the best for you.

Answer 2

I'm active duty Air Force and I'll give you some positives and negitives about the Air Force.

Pos. Our deployments are much shorter than the Marines, granted we are on a 18 month rotation (home for 18 gone for 4-6months) When the Marines are deployed for 18 months at a time. Everyone says that oh I can handle 18 months deployed, but let me tell you 6 months is a long time!

Neg. Right now they are booting 1,000 of troops from the Air Force, so you might not get the job you would like.

Pos. AF offers more jobs than the Marines.

There are many more, but those are the main ones I can think of. I would actually talk to someone you know who's in the marines and air force to see the difference and see which one you like better. Also recrutiers are evil. They WILL and DO forget to tell you the whole truth. But they are also VERY helpful in deciding which is best for you!

Also, the Air Force isn't a desk job that you sit at home. So dont let all these guys who are in the Army wishing that they could be in the Air Force tell you that. I actually load cargo on aircraft and I'm LUCKY if I get to grab a bite to eat some days.

Good Luck

Good Luck!

Answer 3

I am in the Air Force, but I have friends in the Army, Navy and Marine Corps. I have also worked along side guys in the Army and Marines. The way I see it, every branch of the service offer the same jobs in some for or another. The jobs are just listed under a different title and the training may be more in depth with certain branches. The two branches you are thinking of are good choices, you will get some of the best training out of those two. The tuition for college right now is 100% paid right now in any branch, so furthering your education is highly encouraged. The pay is good considering that for the first part of your career if you stay in the barracks you don't have to worry about rent or utilities, and you don't have to worry about groceries if you eat in the mess hall. If you choose to wait until you are an E-5 to live off base (which it is ecouraged you wait until then) you will have income to support it along with the housing allowance. Regardless of what people say, in any branch of the military the amount of travel depends on your job. Certain jobs put you on worldwide deployment, while another could limit where you can go. Personally, the reason I went Air Force instead of Navy is because I didn't want to have my base sunk out from under me. But I am enjoying my time in the Air Force, I really think that your choice between the Air Force and Navy are just left to preference.

Answer 4

Ok, this is all coming First hand from a Marine. ME! I ponderd on that same decision when I first joined, and you see where I ended up. I even turned down big bonus's from the Army and the Air Force.(Go ahead and tell me I'm crazy) I didn't join for the money, I joined to serve my country at the time it needed me the most. Some may call me stupid for turning down the money, but.....My pride, Comradory, and brother hood as a Marine, and knowing I'll never ask my self this question "I wonder if I could have made it in the Marines?", is more important to me. My time I spent Active Duty is a time i'd never ask back for the world. Even the bad times. You just have to ask your self what you want out of it, and why are you really joining, and the answer is right there in front of your face. I have friends who served and still do serve in all other branches of the service, and some love it and some don't. I even have some that wish they would have just joined the Marines to begin with. I served with Marines who even got out of the Corps and went to the Army, and 4of6 regretted it. One doesn't cause he wouldn't have met his current Wife, but still wishes he was in the Corps instead. Also think about this....Once you complete Marine Corps boot camp, you never would have to go through another services basic trainning again. If you decide after your first enlistment that you wanted to go Army or Air Force, then you are in with out having to go through there Basic Trainning. If your in the Army and you decide you want to become a Marine, you have to go through Marine Boot camp no matter if you were even an Army Ranger!! I went to Boot camp with a Sgt of the US Army Rangers who decided he wanted to be a Marine instead!

Also as far as MOS(job) wise goes, there are basicly the same jobs in the Marines as there is in the Army and Air Force. There is a butt load of different jobs that you can do and branches of those jobs you can get into. I am a MP for instance, and other then just being a MP, there is Dog Handling, CID(criminal Investigations), AID(Accident Investigation Division), SRT(Special Reaction Team/ SWAT),
also Corrections (Working in the BRIGG/Jail) falls under the same job field.

Hope this helps you! Good luck and best wishes in what ever decision you make.

P.S. the Marines also have the best looking Uniform!! that is something nobody can even argue with.

Answer 5

First of all, thanks for your thoughts of joining the service, and I hope that you go through with it, as I was in the service and now am a veteran.
Second, don't be swayed by anyone on which armed forces that you should join. Many people who did join have many things to tell you from both side of good and bad experience being in the armed forces. However, you should not join the armed forces if some one who has never been in one told you not to join.
The reason is that some one else's experience is going to be different from another person even if they had join the same service, be it may the marines, navy, air force or the army.
What you want to do before you decide to join, is to evaluate where you want to go and what you want to do in the military. This is because, once you have join and go to boot camp the government started to invest in you, meaning that they pay for your training, in boot camp, you will get paid, and then they will pay you for your technical training. So, what you want to do is to decide what you will want to do in the military, not only that this will give the tax payers a good investment to invest, it is also will affect your attitude in the military and most importantly your well being, mentally, emotionally and physically.
Why you might ask? Because, if you have done your technical training and actually started to work in the field (not all the servicemen get to go to war) and then you realized that you don't like your job, guess what? You just wasted all that training for nothing because you didn't like your job, and therefor you could careless of how your job outcome and this could effect the whole company or department you work in, also to remind you that the lives of your other service member could be at risk. Don't get fooled by signing on bonus, because though it might sounds good, it still will be taxed and it can go out as fast as you get it.
What you want to do is to decide what you would like to do in the service and if you are happy with what you are going to do than it is not a job to you anymore, but it becomes a passion or some type of a hobby that you can enjoy doing.

Be wise, and be true to yourself, only then you can be happy in the service, which ever it is you decide.

Answer 6

The biggest deciding factor for me was the fact that the Army is the only branch that gives civilian licensure for all of it's jobs. They adjust their training to meet their standards as well as those of the civilian world so that you get a civilian licence. EXAMPLE: I am a combat medic and an LPN in the Army, I have both and EMT and LPN(nurse) licence, I can work in any hospital or for any ambulance in the US because I have the exact same licence people go to college for. The Navy has a medical job called a corpsmen, their scope of pracitce(what they legally can and cannot do as far as providing medical care and treatment) is slightly higher than an EMT and lower than a licenced nurse, they are trained very well however they can only work in a military hospital while they are active duty, once they are out of the military they can no longer do the jobs that they did while they were enlisted. If they want to work in the medical field as a civilian they have to go to regular college just like everyone else, despite all of thier training and years of experience. The Army, however, incorporates civilian licencure standards into theier job training in all fields and tests you during or at the end of training so that when you complete your Army job training you have a licence that you cn use as a civilian be it as a reservist or when you get out of the military. Again, the Army is the only branch with civilian certification, also some of the branches(including the marines) only cover certain fields whereas almost any job you can do in the civilian world you can do in the army. And if you're interested in being in one of the more elite "hard core" groups in the military look into Special Forces, Rangers, Airborn, or Air Assult. (all US Army)

My best suggestion would be talk to a recruiter from every single branch and don't make a decision until you've learned all you can about each one.

By the way I have met people from every branch who have switched over to army, including several drill seargants, all have said army is the best.

Answer 7

They both have pros and cons. For training for a life's work, the USAF is the best! You also get rank much faster.

The Marines will make you a man. Of course you have a greater chance of dying as a young man in the Marines, but for actual experience, it is the Marines.

I was Army in 'Nam. Of course I was drafted and didn't like being told what to do.

The Marine basic is much harder than than the Air Force, but you are better trained when you come out of it.

Air Force is much safer, for the most part. They do have forward observers etc., but since they have expensive aircraft, they are more often based back away from combat.

It is your choice, Choose one that fits where you want to go in life and you will be fine.

Answer 8

The Few, The Proud. Do they want you?

I don't know of anyone sane who would say not to join the Marine Corps because they are less respected than the Air Farce. (Intentionally misspelled.) Just kidding.

All branches of the US Armed Services should be held in the highest esteem by everyone. Keep in mind, the Marine Corps is a department in the Navy...the Men's Department.

Okay, I'll stop. But seriously, God Bless and Keep all our service members and their families.

Answer 9

If you want the best of both worlds, join the Army. You can join the branch with the most distinguish history and yet select a job that not only will challenge you physically but mentally too. Believe you me, there are many Ex-Marines in the Army. To tell you the truth, the Marines, will make you a man and once you become a man, you join the Army. The Army has this strict policy of not accepting boys, so you if you want to become a man, join the Marines but if you are man already join the Army. The Air Force is for wimps, most "men" in that branch know that they can not make it in the Army nor the Marines and they would claim because they are smart. I do know know how many people scored in the high 90s in the ASVAB and enlisted Combat Arms but I tell you what, there are many. I am one of them, maybe because I was looking for excitement? yea, that was it. If you are going to join the AF, might as well stay at your local community college and get your cosmetology degree and work at the local Supercut.

Answer 10

Piss on both of them and join the Army. Marines are great, but are definitely and strictly combat arms. Air Force and the Army will give you a greater range of MOS positions. Just remember that the point of it all is you are serving something greater than yourself (be it your God, Country, Family or all three). So any service you join will let you find out where your line is (tolerance) and make a you a professional of a different sort. What ever your decision might be when it comes to what service you volunteer for, we here at home appreciate your commitment and will support you in and your mission.

All the best and Gods speed!

OHHHHHHHH! RAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Captain Walker
US Army

Answer 11

N the airforce your chances of not losing a leg or arm in combat are much better than in the Marines, but you sound like you want to wear the pretty blue suit and climb mountains and fight dragons like on the comercials, so yeah...join the Marines.