Which branch is best if joining as college grad, but not for med corps?

[blackajack]

Just curious, which of the 3 branches would be the most advisable to go into as a college graduate, but not for the medical corps? In terms of lifestyle, opportunities, deployments, and branch culture.

Military physicians get a fair amount of contact with the non-medical corps officers, right? Which branch do you see most of those non-med corps officers the happiest?

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[RichL025]

Completely unanswerable question. It all depends on what you want to do, and officer vs enlisted. Try and give us a little more specifics, why you want to join the military, what you would like to do, what your past experiences are, etc etc

 

[mac61]

I agree that this question is not answerable in a totally objective fashion, but it is a totally fair and important question, though maybe not for this board.

In short, my opinion after 16 years in the Army (No medical corps experience):

I do believe that the Army has the worst quality of life, the most deployments, and the worst duty stations. But, I kinda like sleeping in the woods, being dirty for a month (or 15 months), and dealing with a population that either enjoys the same or does it anyway while complaining the whole time, plus we blow more stuff up and shoot stuff more frequently (I AM NOT TALING ABOUT THE MED CORPS).

If I had it to do all over again, I probably would have joined the AF for my wife's/family's sake, but I have no idea what career progression etc. is like so this is likely a "grass is greener" idea. It seems to me thier facilities are nicer, in general they take care of thier people better, and they have nicer golf courses.

I think it's all personal choice, and a matter of which service offers the jobs you would enjoy; Want to drive a tank? Army. Want to be have a technical job and not work for an infantryman? AF. Want to ride on a ship and eat separately from the enlisted people? Navy. (In all honesty, I don't know anything about the Navy except that I wish we could beat them everyonce in a while on the gridiron).

I also believe that the military is a great time, but it's not for everyone regardless of the branch. The beuaracracy is abyssmal (sic), the lack of control of your life is overwhelming, and the hours/wages ratio kinda sucks, but if you know what you're getting into, it can be very fun/rewarding.

Just my two cents.


I also

 

[usnavdoc]

You have to decide what you want to do in the military before anyone can tell you what branch is best suited. In terms of the things you mention
(lifestyle, opportunities, deployments, and branch culture), the branches are all very different. Lifestyle in the AF is most civilian like in garrison and while deployed. The Army is the next best in terms of amenities on various bases. The Navy and MC are more minimilistic in terms of comfort.

People always talk about how hard deployments are with the Army or the USMC because you live in the dirt and all and eat MREs. I did that for 4 years as a medical officer serving with a Marine infantry unit. But the Navy once embarked on ship is a very tough life. 24/7 work schedule for months. No days off. 18 hours on 6 off in many fields. With very crude/ tight living conditions depending on your rank.

Some times you just have to pick your poison. All branches have positives and negatives. Well, it is hard to come up with many negatives when you are talking AF. But all things are relative.

 

[Coastie2Doc]

Remember that there are 5 Branches in the Armed Forces: Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.

My $.02 as a Coast Guard Officer:

• You will almost always be by the water, typically coastal cities.
• There are no deployments (unless you request assignment on a ship)
• The only way to be sent overseas (Gulf, Europe, South America, ect) is to request it.
• Missions are DHS oriented vice DOD.
• PCS moves are every 2-4 years, never more often.
• Coast Guard culture is less Hooah/Oorah than DOD. Also a small service culture (think small town mentality).

PM me if I can answer any Q's.

 

[orbitsurgMD]

Just curious, which of the 3 branches would be the most advisable to go into as a college graduate, but not for the medical corps? In terms of lifestyle, opportunities, deployments, and branch culture.

Military physicians get a fair amount of contact with the non-medical corps officers, right? Which branch do you see most of those non-med corps officers the happiest?

So much depends on what you are interested in doing and what kind of educational background you have. If you want aviation, all branches have that, but some allow you to spend more of your time in an aviation setting actually flying vs having other duties on the ground (e.g. AF flies more than Navy.)

Navy is obviously more maritime in locations and activities, unless you like the Nevada high desert, or the Mojave or are a Seabee stationed overseas somewhere. Navy bases are notoriously less accommodating as go attractions and amenities compared to Air Force bases, but most of them are near the seacoasts. Obviously if you want to be a submariner, there is only one choice. All the branches have special forces missions, but they differ from one another in training and applications.

A lot depends on the job you have, the people you work for and your general expectations of the work you are doing.

 

[usnavdoc]

I thought after the Cole bombing the CG started doing perimeter patrols around Naval ships in the gulf? Don't tell me everyone there was a volunteer.

The guys i met in bahrain werent volunteers. Although they really didnt have it too badly either.. I think the CG would have been kinda fun in the right job after HS.

 

[Coastie2Doc]

The guys i met in bahrain werent volunteers. Although they really didnt have it too badly either.. I think the CG would have been kinda fun in the right job after HS.

Let me amend my previous statement. All active duty positions in the Gulf are volunteer.

The units doing patrols around Navy boats are probably the Port Security Units (PSU's). The PSU's are reserve units whose main function is to provide sustained force protection operations, typically overseas. Assignment to a PSU is voluntary. PSU deployments are not. PSU's only represent a portion of the Coast Guard personnel in the Gulf.

 

[Perrotfish]

In case you haven't found the websites yet:

www.marineocs.com
www.armyocs.com
www.usnavyocs.com
http://www.afoats.af.mil/OTS/

Two thoughts from someone who hasn't been a line officer in any of the services

1) Army has taken by far the hardest hit in terms of enlisted recruit quality (measured by GPA, criminal record, and physical fitness of incoming recruits) due to the forever war thing we have going on right now.

2) I believe that Marine OCS is (officially) the only service that gives you the option of dropping on request during OCS or refusing your commission if you decide that military life isn't for you.

 

[BlueIsis]

2) I believe that Marine OCS is (officially) the only service that gives you the option of dropping on request during OCS or refusing your commission if you decide that military life isn't for you.

No - you can DOR from Navy OCS. We had many DORs throughout and someone in my class dropped two days before commissioning.

Our class drill instructor got off on saying "I want your DOR" while mashing us in the sand, ala Officer and a Gentleman.