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Damn. Wish I'd seen this a few days ago.
For anyone who is considering entering the military, the main thing to consider is what I call the "Get/Put Ratio". How much do you want to get out of your experience (and possible career), and how much do you want to put into it?
Ask yourself that until you can give an honest answer, and you'll have a real good idea of what branch (and specific occupation) would be best for you.
If you want to get the highest qualitiy of life possible, the most stability, and the most accomodating atmosphere for families, then by all means join the Air Force! Not saying that quality of life is all they're good for, but it's definitely one of the things that they do best. They also have many many tech-oriented jobs relating to communications (of all imaginable types) and space.
If you want the most opportunity for travel, then the Navy is it. Granted, other branches do train or deploy all over the world as well, but on a single cruise in the Western Pacific (for instance), you could stay on the same ship and visit Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, and Taiwan on port calls and liberty. One single deployment! Nobody else can touch that. Of course, if you've an aversion to swimming or ships, the Navy is probably not your best move.
My dad was Army enlisted and officer, and now continues to work for the Army as a GS- civil service guy. I really have a hard time seeing any redeeming qualities or selling points about the Army, but I'm also highly biased about how bad they suck, and have been from the time my dad shipped off to basic two weeks after I was born. I'll now recuse myself from evaluating the Army as a career option.
I can tell you that when I enlisted in the Marine Corps originally, I was trained as a Russian linguist and went to MOS school with many, many CTIs and CTCs. That is a very interesting line of work that has just as many or (probably) more land-based duty assignments than sea-based. And once you're done witht he Navy, you can always take everything you've learned PLUS a security clearance and slide right into something back in the civilian sector. I mightily recommend that particular Navy rating if you're smart but (like me) fucking hate math.
As far as the Marine Corps goes... I don't think I need to say much there. Everything you've heard and more is true. We offer a lot of different things to a lot of different people, and some of them actually see those things every day they put on the uniform.
I like to think I'm one of those lucky ones, else I wouldn't be here over ten years later still lining up targets and knocking them down daily. But again, I'm horribly opinionated in this regard.
emphant - Feel free to contact me anytime with any question about enlisting or commissioning for any service. If I don't know the answer, I'll find it for you ASAP. And I won't bullshit you like a recruiter, either!
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"Peace" is when nobody's shooting. A "Just Peace" is when we get what we want. - Bill Mauldin
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