General Consensus: Preferred Military Branch

[Harper314]

Hey guys and gals I'm looking for some advice here for my friend. He is looking to enlist, cause he only has a GED, in the military but has been putting it off for a while. Says he's afraid of dying and is too caught up in "bad habits" and just recently breaking up with his ex-fiance. His name is Robert, 23 ish, and has a lot of potential but can't utilize it on his own. The guy needs structure and the training the military offers to teach him how to be an upstanding citizen-soldier. First step is wanting to change which he has but I don't want him making the wrong choice. I know my fair share about such things but I want what you the people to give me your ideas and suggestions. Just don't want him to end up like most grunts and get screwed over and end up unhappy and in a dead end job.

 

For some background information he like messing around with cars, has experience working with water heaters and some plumbing. Thing is as much as I love the Navy and Air Force he'd need something like the USMC or Army to get rid of those "bad habits." For me I feel the other branches would not do the trick and he wouldn't be right for and vice versa. So please any comments or advice would be much appreciated.

[avman]

What about joining the Coast Guard? Lots of interesting careers there and less "combat". It's still dangerous of course but its a different kind of dangerous.

[Shallow]

It sounds like your friend wants to enlist for all the wrong reasons.

 

If he really wants to serve his country, then great. If he's just looking for a "free" education or boot-to-the-arse discipline, he'll most likely wind up disappointed and worse off than he is now.

 

There is no "best" choice among the branches, unless there's something specific he really wanted to do.

[Harper314]

He has good skills sets for being within the building construction, mechanical/electrical engineering field. You might not see the reasoning quite spot on with a lot of the other soldiers who are more patriotic. But this is the best opportunity for someone like himself to be surrounded with those kind of characters when your going through such harsh training. Right now he's hanging around the wrong crowd and is left off in a situation where is GED is not exactly taking him to great heights of career opportunities. The military is where I feel he can be instilled with the right morals and motivation to utilize his potential to become something more. Which will eventually manifest the American patriotism a US Soldier embodies.

 

By the way Coast Guard is not a bad idea but again I'm not sure it would be right for him. I could be wrong though cause the Coast Guard is the branch I'm least familiar with.

[Hurting85]

In my experience, the Marine Corps is far harsher. They have a very in-your-face attitude and you are held accountable for EVERYTHING. He has to truly want this though, because when he signs, it's not just a trial type thing. It's 4 or 5 years. If he doesn't want this, then he will be miserable until he gets out.