Air Force or Navy?

Question

What are the benefits of both?

I'm having a hard time deciding.

Would I have to cut my hair short for either?

I'm not even sure what job I would want to do.

Can anyone tell me their experiences with the whole process? From walking in to whatever happened. I just want as much info as I can.

Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

Okay, I am partial to one service......The Marines, but I will help you out here. I have served for 10 years and was a recruiter for three years. The pay and benifits for all services are the same. The MOS's are all pretty much available in each service as well, minus any medical MOS's in the Marines. What is different is each services mission. The Navy is an expeditionary force........meaning they deploy often, see a lot of places. The airforce does deploy, but not nearly as often and not nearly as long. You don't have to cut your hair for any of the branches as long as you can keep it in a neat bun. Don't join the service based on money, like I said, we all get paid the same. Some service promote faster than others though, and the airforce is the slowest......some say because the quality of life is better, and not as many people get out, so takes longer to get promoted. I would definately make a list of what it is you want to get out of the service, and then talk to ALL branches, even if you haven't considered them before. You may find that one of them offers something you want and you cannot find it in another service. Before I joined, I knew I needed self discipline, wanted to travel, get an education, and be proud of my service. After talking to every single service, I found that what I needed was to be a Marine. As soon as you talk to a recruiter, he will give you a practice Armed Services Vocational Apptitude Battery (ASVAB), which is a test that tells the military what jobs you are qualified for. Don't stess the test, if you have had algebra and do well in english class you will do fine. After finding out what jobs you are qualified for, talk to your recruiter about each one, if he doesn't know much about it, chances are someone he works with will. In my office we had people that worked in the infantry, communications, aviation electronics, and aviation mechanics. Make your recruiter work for you and do your homework. You can also visit a local reserve center for each branch, there are active duty people there that would be happy to talk to you about what they do. I wish you luck with your decision.

Answer 2

I am partial to the USAF, however here are some of the cons in my opinion to the Navy. Hair regulations for women are roughly the same in both branches( if you keep it long it has to be pinned back and tied up so much that most women get tired of dealing with it and cut it short). Both branches offer the about the same career training but I believe the Navy still requires that your first four years are all at sea so job choices are more limited. Navy boot camp is 13 weeks compared to 6 in the Air Force. As far as travel goes, on a ship in the Navy, you can go to tons of places that you would never be able to in the Air Force. The bottom line is what do you want to experience while you serve your country. My recommendation as far as careers go is to pick a job that translates into a civilian job. Air traffic control is a job I wished I could have had, especially since the re-enlistment bonus was (back in the mid 90's) $40,000 every 4 years! Good luck.

Answer 3

Air Force hands down, but wait till you take the ASVAB Test first, go into the branch that you score the highest on.
If you score high on the Asvab for the Army then go Army, vice verse,

I recommend that you cut your hair it will be much easier to take care of.(you won't have a lot of time for anything)

Don't volunteer for anything while in BMT,
In the Air Force you have less uniforms,,your Blues, BBU's and PT uniforms,
The Navy has the Navy's for fall/winter and the Whites for spring and summer and the dungaree's(?) and pt clothes

There are great benefits of both,
travel to places that you have read about, make a ton of new friends
The cons are
long hours, Homesickness,taking orders and following them,

So really the best advice I can offer is to just follow your heart and listen to your gut.

Answer 4

In ADF generally it's possible after you finished your initial assignment with whatever branch you can then transfer. However, under special circumstances say special interest, experience or lack of existing quality or as above said can afford to release from current assignment without any major issues you can then apply for a transfer to another branch which will generally allow the retaining of any rank if any if you're enlisted it maybe different for commissioned officers, I'm not 100% sure on that.

Answer 5

Frank has the best advice.

sirbobby:

I thought the Navy's job was to take the Marines to where the fighting is?
lol
just a little inter-service rivalry/humor. I'm sure you know the drill.

Answer 6

A cousin of mine was in the same situation last year and he ultimately chose the air force because he couldn't imagine being stuck on a boat for extended periods of times.

Answer 7

you have to cut your hair really short if you join the navy. who would want to be stuck on a boat for 6 months at a time?

Answer 8

Like Frank, I am biased,too.....


Navy.
Even if you are interested in flying, the USN might be the way to go: remember the movie "Top Gun" ? If it's good enough for Tom Cruise...:-)
My nephew is a Navy test pilot.
The Navy gets there first - they support the United States Corps of Marines in their tasks...
Not all activities are war focused: many are in support of recovery from natural disasters and the like.
It's a good choice.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dirty Dave: "they support the United States Corps of Marines in their tasks..." Sorry for the big words Gyrene...I'll
write smaller words like 'help' instead of 'support' next time.
lol. Semper Fi.
Carry on.

Answer 9

Well, its dependent on what you look for. I mean if you are more passionate about the sea, join the Navy or vice versa.

In the Navy you get to learn water-based training etc and in the Air Force, you learn parachuting, flying and air training.

Research helps.

Hope it helps.

Answer 10

Air Force = Sky = Planes & Rockets
Navy = Water = Ships & Boats

Consider the Coast Guard. (Protecting America's shorelines and ports.)
or
The SeaBees (US Naval Construction Force)
or
The Peace Corps (Long hair is okay)