What service to join?

Recently I have been running into a decision on what service I would prefer to join. I would like to aquire a lot of detail and insight from people rather than from some bias recruiter telling me that there are no other services but only the one he is recruiting. I'm 24 years old, I'm currently going back to school for general business with transfer classes to go to a 4-year college for business management with the though in my mind to persue a double major in marketing. However, I have also been debating on joining the National Guard. Some of the reasons I have been considering it are; 1) I have screwed up a lot in my younger years and now I am trying to accomplish EVERYTHING and I want to be part of something very respected while serving for my country and also receiving benefits like school being payed for, 2) the guard seems to have a lot of flexibility with still going to school and being able to possibly finish before I get deployed federally or nationally, 3) I am still dependent on my parents as we recently moved 900 miles away from the place that I thought I hated but actually love and now I'm currently trying to move back there since they love it here.


I am 5'6", 125 pounds on a good day, very slim and toned. Doing pretty well in school for the most part except accounting has been making me want to take an accidental jump out of a very high window but I'm hanging in there. Other classes are going great, I currently work for a CVS and am working to becoming a pharmacy technician. But like I said, I want to be part of something superior and challenging as my friend said, "you need a challenge!" I was hoping to get as much detail from the people who actually know and not some bias view. Everything else I check online or from a recruiter is all marketing and trying to sell what they have. I want an objective answer please. I also considered transfering from the guard to the Marines after I am done with school as the Marines don't seem to have as much flexibility with my busy schedule with classes etc. All in all, I am confused...|||Hello Geoff,





Well, first off, you are too old to be going to college now at 24 years old and hoping to join the service when you are done after 4 years of college. You will be TOO OLD to join the Air Force and Coast Guard and Marines.





There are two possibilities for you.





A. If you really want to be an officer in the military then you can go to a college now that offers ROTC and take 4 years of ROTC and then you will be commissioned when you are 28 years old and will report in about 2 weeks after that for 4 years of active duty in the service that you pick for ROTC. OR:





B. You can enlist now that you are below the age limits and serve 4 years of active duty. THEN, you can use the POST 9/11 G.I. Bill and go back to college and take up any degree you wish to study for as the G.I. Bill will pay for your education (at the state college rates).





You can become a pharmacy tech (2 year training) at any time. The military has time limits on age so that should be your primary concern now - especially that you are 24 years old. General Business degree can wait. It is a common degree and will always be available even if you are 40 years old.





Now - what service to be a part of. Not the Marines. No Marine EVER EVER EVEN thinks about comparing services when they decide about at age 13 that they wish to become a Marine. Marines don't care about "pro's and con's." Marines don't care about what the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard does or doesn't do. Marines ONLY see one thing - Being a Marine is all that they want to be.





Now, you have a choice to be in the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Coast Guard.





You base your decision on matching your military philosophy to the military philosophy of the service. No matter what recruiters tell you joining any of the branches of the military is a WIN-WIN for you and the Department of Defense.





If you wish to be in ship for almost 50% of your service time than the Navy is for you.


If you wish to be on ship everyday going out to sea to rescue boats in distress or interdict smugglers, etc., then the Coast Guard is for you.


If you wish to be on a base and be part of the 95% that support the 5% of the pilots that fly Air Force planes then the Air Force is for you.


If you wish to be in the field a lot and live on the land and fight with a weapon then the Army is for you.





That's how you decide. Because if you fully accept the philosophy of that military service than you won't "bit*h" about the service when you do become a member of it. Many people who say that they hate the service actually chose the wrong service for them when they signed up.





If you don't like the ocean than don't join the Navy for any reason. Remember, when you are in ship for 2 out of 4 years there is not going to be any sex going on! Thank about that. Can you live like a "monk?"





Best wishes,





Larry Smith


Senior Master Sergeant, USAF (Ret.)


First Sergeant|||Join the Marines.|||i think you're too small........... unless you're a girl|||You want military personnel, who love their own branches of the military to give you an unbias opinion about what military branch to join? That's a fat chance bud, because each individual is going to tell you why their branch is best and it won't be unbias.





I suggest you cut out the National Guard, they are a watered down form of military, if you can call them military at all. They are state funded and not federally funded so the perks aren't as good. The Naval reserves is part of the largest and best branch of the military... The Navy. The Navy is about brains and braun, not just brains like the Air Force or just braun like the Marines. The Navy is bigger than Air Force, Marines, and Army put together, it is the best and largest military branch in the world.





The Navy promises the exact same benefits as all the other branches of the Military, except their benefits are better than the Air National Guard, National Guard, and I believe better than the Coast Guard.|||Part of that depends on what you mean by "screwing up" when you were younger. If it involved the police and you have a record you can put this out of your mind altogether as you probably won't get in to begin with. Other than that aside from NG and the Marines there are a thousand possibilities. Here is what I think will help you. Stop looking at this from the angle of a Branch to join and start looking at it from an angle of what "Job" I would really like to do then research which branch has that Job that you think will fit you best. Kind of like a hypothetical difference between CVS and Wal Mart. First say to your self which one should I apply to? Then ask your self what Job would I want to do or apply for? Then you say I would really like to be a pharmacist then when investigating further you realize that only CVS has a pharmacy, Wal Mart does not so are you going to apply at Wal Mart just for the sake of being a Wal Mart Employee or are you going to pursue a company that employs people in the field you really want to do? (I know W Mart has pharmacies this was hypothetical exemplar :) )


So there you have it. I know a lot of folks join different branches for different reasons but these days really you have to start looking at what job it is you want if your undecided on a branch. You can go into the Marines with all that education and end up miserable especially when you get sick and go pick up your meds from the pharmacy and the Navy folks who run it. Then you say to yourself holy cow, why didn't I join the Navy, I could have been a pharmacist and here I am doing this job in the Marines. Do what you want but I think were looking at the wrong criteria in the decision making process here.