mmarsh said:
I have never been in the service, but I think your question might have an easy solution.
If you go Navy there is a chance you'll be put on a ship. (Yes I know there are many land-based Navy jobs. But you never know where you could wind up).
If I were you, I would ask myself, if I could stand being at sea for several months at a time? If the answer is 'no', then I doubt the Navy is for you. If the answer is 'yes' than I'd follow DTOP's advice.
Don't take this as an insult, but if you've never served you cannot know what type of adventures you can find from being on a cruise. Let alone the great challenges of duty while on those cruises.
I did a 10 month cruise during Vietnam on an aircraft carrier, we were on Yankee Station for some of the longest line periods at that time, but we did make some stops for liberty that were great.
Later I did a cruise on a smaller ship to the North Atlantic, we visited Tromso Norway, Stockholm Sweden (the crew not on duty had lunch with the King), Amsterdam, and
Edinburgh Scotland. We had great times in all of those port visits.
As for the Air Force over Navy or vice versa, I naturally would recommend the Navy. I did 8 years active and 20 1/2 years reserve, if I had it all to do over I'd have stayed active for as long as I could. Time seems interminable(sp) when you are young, but when you grow older you see that it races by.
The training offered by the services is typically very high quality, I've heard independent sources admit that Navy technical training is the best. If you are looking for something that you can take with you and apply after you leave the service I'd again recommend the Navy.
I work with an Air Force retiree that was in the same basic field I was in, he feels that his training was more systems oriented than component level oriented. He could black box exchange and get a plane in the air again, but I could do the same thing without having to send parts of my equipment off to a depot for someone else to repair.
The Naval Air side might be more like the Air Force with their technical repair as keeping them in the air is paramount to everyone.
At least you have chosen the two best!! IMHO!