The military is all of what you make of it, everyone has their own reason's to join. I myself decided to become one of the few, the proud, The Marines. I wanted the chance to travel, and meet new people, as well as challenging myself all while doing outstanding service, for myself, my friends, my country, and for god.
It all depends what you want out of it.
If you just want a change of scenery then the military will deffinatley provide that for you. If you are looking to get into the medical field, then the Navy would deffinatley be the way to go.
As far as a steady, relaxed office type job, All branches has them, although I'd imagine they are easier to come by in the AirForce or Navy. If you are trying to go the infantry, then it's handsdown the Marine Corps, or the Army.
If you are just trying to do some time, save up some money, and use the G.I. Bill for college, I'd go with the Air Force or Navy before the Army or Marines.
I've recently read a lot about NTer's getting dicked around by their recruiters and not really knowing what's going on or what to expect. Recruiting is not an easy duty, it's hard for a recruiter to find a fully qualified person with the intent to join not having any disqualifying factors. As all of the branches are trying to downsize in the near future, that will just make the recruiters more selective on who they try and enlist. There is the "topple down" effect though, where there will always be a need for new enlistee's / recruits because if the same enlisted people stayed in the ranks, they will keep getting promoted and there won't be anyone on the bottom.My advice, I did a lot of research by just googling whichever branch and going to their official site and reading everything about requirements/eligibility and what not. About.com also has an extremely in depth description of all the branches, with detailed information about each specific MOS and what to expect. Research and find what it is that you WANT to do, and get out there and talk to a recruiter and let them know what you want and be firm about it. If they try and feed you some BS try and find another recruiting station and see what they say.
Let me just say I'm not like a lot of Marines who look down on the other branches, I realize we are all brothers and sisters in arms and i am not Bias'd against other branches. For the most part the military is all voluntary, and while people have different motives/reasons to join, everyone can find a branch that suits them best.As the other posts have already mentioned the military payroll is based on military paycharts which go off of Rank and Time in service.
Example an E-4 in the Marine Corps will make the same as an E-4 in the Army.
Time in grade makes a difference as well,
An E-5 who has been in for 5 years (or more)
would make more BASIC PAY than an E-5 who has been in for 3 years.
There are special allowances though, such as having children or a spouse/dependants.
Based on my experience, You have a wider possibility of being stationed somewhere in the Navy/Air Force as there are far more installations than the Marine Corps has, but this all depends on your MOS/Job.
Some of this you may already know but I'm just throwing my 2 cents in.
As far as me, I've been a Marine for 2 years, and I'm currently in Afghanistan, and I'm set to return to my base at Camp Pendleton, California.
I've busted my !$* and have been promoted to E-4, and I don't plan on easing up. I'm unsure about my future, I'm entertaining ideas from all aspects, and I am either going to re-up, go to college for basketball, do music, or open up my own boutique.
Whichever path I choose to take I know i will be successfull from what I've learned in the Marine Corps.
hope this helps OP
