Hypothetically, can you enlist in a branch of the U.S. Military & then after a few years, transfer to another?

Question

Like if you enlist in the U.S. Army and then after a few tours as a soldier transfer to the U.S. Marine Corps and become a marine? So when you retire, you can tell your grandchildren that you were both a soldier and a marine, an army marine. Or another example would be if you enlist in the U.S. Coast Guard and then after a few years transfer to the U.S. Navy and be deployed overseas. Or another example could be if you are a U.S. Navy aviator and then after a few tours transfer to the U.S. Air Force to become an Air Force aviator as well. You just have to get use to landing on bases instead of aircraft carriers that is. When you retire, you can tell your grandchildren you were both a U.S. AIr Force and a U.S. Navy Pilot.

Answer 1

yes you can. If you are in the Army you can go to the air force or the Navy without repeating basic training. If you go to the marines you will need to go through again. If you go to the coast guard you go through and loose rank.

So in theory you could go into all of them.

FYI you would just retrain and do a different job if they don't have an equivalent.

Answer 2

is it theoretically possible? yes. realistic? Not remotely. for one thing Officers cannot switch from one Branch to another as easily as enlisted types can, and even they can't do it on a whim.

Currently, the AF will not accept any prior service, enlisted or Officer. the Navy rarely does. it is far easier to go Blue To Green- AF or Navy to Army or Marines. NOT the other way around. Easier to do so after an initial tour, not after having been with one branch for several.

Answer 3

yes it is called inter-service transfer

A friend of ours retired after 30 years from the National Guard. He was Navy, then Marine, the Air Force, then Army, then National Guard.

Answer 4

Yes you can I put 6 years in the Marines and 14 in the Army

Answer 5

when I was in the Navy we had a guy who started in the air force, went army and ended up in the Navy, 18 years in and he was an E-5. he did retire at 20 years though.

Answer 6

No, the US Military does NOT recruit at Prisons -- do you actually think the Government will trust a Felon with their Resources and the lives of their fellow servicemen? A Position in our Volunteer Military is a Position of Trust -- we "Support and Defend" the Constitution of the United States. That Trust is BROKEN irrevocably when one has a felony conviction -- and how does one repair that? YOU do NOT because you made poor choices to land in prison in the first place.

Answer 7

Hypothetically, yes you can. In reality you can change services once at the end of your first tour. While in Coast Guard boot camp we had a Marine in my induction class. He did an abbreviated boot camp of about 3 weeks where they taught him enough basic seamanship to survive and then they assigned him to a small boat station near Petaluma CA.

Answer 8

I know people who have been in more than one branch, it might be hard for some aviators though, since they are generally trained on particular aircraft. But why would you do something just to tell your grandchildren about it? Why not just for a sense of acccomplishment?

Answer 9

It depends on what position you serve. Some jobs exist in one service that aren't in another. For instance, a lucrative career in the Navy is that of nuclear engineer - or other jobs related to a nuclear sub. Obviously it wouldn't transfer. Carpenters and heavy equipment operators at least exist in Army, Air Force, and Navy.

It depends upon what job you want to have, your record of service, and your age.

Answer 10

I think you can my friend was in the Navy. and now he's in the National Guard and even did a tour in Iraq. I think you have to complete your commitments first to whatever service your in then ,I don't see any problem you serving in another branch of the service.