Cant choose a branch

Jamesconn

Jamesconn

New Member
I already took the ASVAB I did good 88. I thought it would help me decide which branch I should join based on what I was good at. I have talked to army, navy, and marine recruiters. Right now I am a senior in high school 17 years and my father was in the navy and neither of my parents want me to get shot although atleast for the first time I sign up I dont want to want to go in the infantry.

I was really only interested in army and navy. Im in JROTC and I am friends with the BC and he is going into the marines and talks about marines all the time and wears the shirts they send in the mail and give away for free all the time. I told him I was not interested in the marines but just today he told me in the morning his recruiter was coming to talk to me during school. One of the only two reasons I dont want to join marines is because I think they are brainwashed I told him I didnt want to and he sent the guy anyway.

Now I talked to the guy and he seems like he is in highschool too. I am stressing myself out over making a descision over the branches because it will effect the rest of my life forever. I dont want to push him away because I am a bit biased against the branch. My dad was in the navy and it seems like he tricked me into joining the navy from my first choice the army since I am in Army JROTC. I know that doesnt mean much but I have absolutely no experience with any branch, so how else do I make the decision. I talked to the navy recruiters and they told me I should be a nuclear somethin. All I read on the internet that mattered to me was school is 2 years and its hard with alot of math. I hate math even though I scored almost perfect.

In either branch I picked I was going to be a gunners mate in the navy or a small arms/artillery repairman in the army. I was talking to the Marine guy today and he said he knows people in the Marine equivalent and he said they are just librarians with guns instead of books and all they do is clean guns and check them out. Its probably different in other branches but none of the other recruiters talked about their personal experiences with people in that job. He said with my score I should work in intelligence he also said he knew a woman who worked in intelligence for 5 years got out and now does the same thing as civilian contractor for $180,000. I'm going to treat it as a big fish story but atleast he talked about his personal experience with the job. I didnt know the marines had intelligence.

Now I think I want to go into intelligence in the army; another choice another thing to research. When I finish this thread I will read about it but it makes sense that the likelyhood of getting a job in the civilian world related to what I did in the military is more likely if I went into intelligence in the army.

I want to serve my country. I feel an urge to fight, but I want to have a civilian job waiting for me when I get out that pays enough to live comfortably. I would appreciate it if you could tell your experiences with people in those jobs in your paticular branch to see what the difference is.

I really want to make a decision so I can put this issue to rest. I got a text from the navy recruiter that said he got the info about my surgery as an infant fromt he hospital and he will meet me in the morning. The next step is MEPS I have to choose now I dont want to waste anybodys time. The marine recruiter is going to pull me out the last period to talk to me at his office. I need help I didnt sleep at all last night and I dont think I will be able to until I get this resolved. Thanks for your help sorry the post is long.
 
Chances of getting infantry even if you wanted to get infantry are slim anyways. Thats what everyone wants to be. At least in the Marines anyways. Of course the Marines are going to have intelligence. Almost anything they have in the Army they have in the Marines and visa versa. If your worry's are going to combat and being shot at than pick an MOS where theres a slim chance of that happening. You would be suprised what kind of jobs are in the military than what what you expect. I think it really depends on what you want to do when your out of the service. I mean are you interested in desk jobs?, are you a more of a gear head?, Law Enforcement? Construction? Theres a lot to choose from. I would pick whatever branch is gonna help you attain your future goals the best. Do you just want to make big money and be miserable when your out or do you want to do something you like and make a decent money?
 
OP -- don't want to get shot?? OK, that is good BUT you have delusions about the military...

picture your own home town with all of its services... bakers, garbage men, masons, carpenters, etc, etc.......... the military has all of these things too, with one exception...... they all wear the same clothes and sometimes keep weird hours. Combat Arms are but a small part of the military.

Figure out what you would like to do on the outside - chances are there is a similar job skill in the military... whatever you do try for something that you can use once you get out.. I was in Combat Arms..... tweren't many job opening for me when I left active service.. do not regret a minute and would do it all again but the realities are there just is not much need for an *Expert Rucksack Packer*. Kapeesh? So, there will be little chance that you will ever have to face the canons or get assigned to a combat zone... many jobs in the military are akin to an 8 to 5 job on the outside.

The military is VERY rewarding, it CAN be everything you want it to be, especially once you get a little rank... WHAT your experience would be like is up to you and your attitude.

Good luck.

P.S. In future on these types of forums the proper spelling of
Marines, Navy, Army, Air Force and Coast Guard is done as *proper* nouns.... just saying.
 
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First of all, combat. If you are seriously concerned about combat you probably shouldn't join the military. I was an intelligence analyst. As an intelligence analyst you can be assigned to almost any type of unit, including infantry. I spent a few months with the 101st Airborne and another 2.5 years in the 3rd Infantry Division. You could be assigned to a HUMINT (Human Intelligence) team, which, if in a place like Afganistan, would require going out and talking to Afghans and trying to collect intel. I'm sure you can imagine this can be dangerous. You may be surprised what jobs see combat. I was on a small patrol base for a few months in Iraq. They had to bring our food and water in by convoy. Any convoy is vulnerable to attack. Those convoys were not entirely comprised of infantrymen, the COOKS went with them to get the food. You might be able to find a job that is "safe", but you have to be sure that you would enjoy that job. Besides, it is probably unlikely you would see combat anyways. I had my heart set on intel from the start. There are many different jobs in the MI Corps so make sure you investigate all of them. I mentioned HUMINT which includes interrogators and counterintelligence agents, there is SIGINT (signals), IMINT (imagery), etc. Some jobs may require a foreign language.

Don't be fooled into thinking that an intel job will guarantee you employment after your service. The 3 letter agencies expect you to have a college degree. In order to get an intel job without having a degree you would probably have to have 10-15 years of relevant experience first. Of course, college shouldn't be a problem, you will have the GI bill.

Don't let anybody but you make this decision. I spent a lot of time researching the branches. Think about everything. One reason I eliminated the Navy from consideration is I have horrible motion sickness. I did not want to be on a boat. I've had a lot of people say "those ships are so big you don't know you're on a ship", that may be true of THOSE ships, but I had friends who were on 200+ footers. Coast Guard? Forget about it, that's even worse. I've seen video of USCG boats in storms, there's no way I would get on one of those things. I'd rather get shot at in a desert. So my choices came down to Air Force and Army, and the Air Force recruiter was hesitant to guarantee me the job I wanted so I ended up in the Army.

I will say, the up-side to the Navy or Marine Corps is their duty stations. Your quality of life will be higher. Plus, I would rather be stationed in San Diego than Fort Riley/Fort Hood/Fort Sill/Fort Polk etc. In the Army you are more likely to get stationed in a crappy locations. Don't get me wrong there are plenty of nice places you could go. If quality of life is important, Navy & Air Force are the best.

Take your time, look at your options, make the decision you think is best. Don't let anybody influence you too much. Listen to them but don't let them push you.
 
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