What makes certain people join a certain armed forces

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wildstar

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Jun 7, 2002
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I am too old to join now but I had this burning childhood question: What makes people join certain branches of the arm forces; particularly the American Armed Forces?

As a kid, I always viewed that if you wanted to fight on land= Army, on sea= Navy, and in the sky= Air Force. Marines, well they had a name like they should have been fighting in the sea but wierdly, they started in the water and fought mostly on land. And certain stereotypes were built up over the years thanks to Hollywood and reading books.

But I grew older, and I found out the Navy, the Marines and I even believe the army fly airplanes. And all four services had special op forces - even the Air forces whom I thought were more of the computer whizzes of the bunch - hence the term the Chair Force.

So why so many branches when there seems to be so much overlap?
Why did you join a particular branch?
Any thoughts?
 
We even have an active duty Air Force SF member on the forums, maybe he'll chime in.

Germany still has compulsory military service (although that is bound to change within the next couple of years). You can choose to care for elderly/disabled/sick people instead; at a hospital, retirement home or something along those lines. Many (most?) opt for the latter and another sizable part doesn't need to serve at all because they're not physically fit enough. Others never get drafted because they got married at a relatively early age or simply because of lacking demand.
So those who do serve in the armed forces are actually quite a small minority.

I originally got drafted to serve in the air force (Luftwaffe), because that is where most people whose education is higher than average are ordered to go - for obvious reasons: grunts do not need to know how to operate a computer, for example.
I called in and told them that I would like to join the army (Heer) instead, and that years before, when they asked me at the medical check-up where I would prefer to serve, I had already told them that I'd love to be in the army. Preferably military police (Feldjäger) or light infantry (Jäger), but I made it clear that any army sub-branch would suffice - as long as it's the army. I even told them that I was more than willing to voluntarily sign up for an extended period of service (which I eventually did).

They finally managed to put me into an army unit. I sometimes regretted my choice throughout Basic Training, knowing that those who had gladly accepted their air force ticket had a much easier time in BT, and that the average education level was much higher than that in my unit.

In the end, I knew it was worth it. I took great pride in being a soldier. I'm quite sure that I wouldn't have been as satisfied if I had been an airman or sailor, no offense to those who do or would.

The reason for this personal preference of mine is simply that I wanted to learn infantry skills. Ground combat has always been and still is the quintessence of combat.
Also, for some reason I've always had more respect for the strategic and tactical accomplishments of people like Patton or Rommel than for von Richthofen's or Nimitz's.
It also has more relevance to self-defense skills and wilderness survival matters than manning a frigate's bridge or changing an aircraft tire, which I consider another plus because SD and survival are two areas of personal interest to me.

By the way, I intend to re-join the army next year as a military police cadet. I also just signed up for voluntary additional training in the army reserve a few days ago. I'm quite certain that I would not even seriously consider these things if I had spent my time in the military in the air force or navy.
 
My Dad was in the Coast Guard so I started looking into it and liked what I saw. Yes, it's one of the Armed Forces but there are also other missions they do (search & rescue, aids to navigation, law enforcement, environmental protection, etc.). I liked the concept, it appealed to me as a way to contribute something to society. Did 20 years and I had some interesting times out of it to boot.
 
Thanks Quiet Storm for a putting things a little more clearly. That is the question I am asking.

If my goal were to be in Special Ops - (still a dream of mine but I can barely do any sit ups now), I would never think of joining the Air Forces because when you think of Special Ops, most people think of the the Army's Green Berets or Delta Force, or the Navy Seals, something along these lines. And for myself, I probably would have joined the Army or Marines because I love the outdoors and tuning in my survival/wilderness skills are important for me.

And thanks Torz - forgot about the Coast Guards.
 
wildstar said:
If my goal were to be in Special Ops - (still a dream of mine but I can barely do any sit ups now), I would never think of joining the Air Forces because when you think of Special Ops, most people think of the the Army's Green Berets or Delta Force, or the Navy Seals, something along these lines.
Click to expand...

That's something I've been wondering about myself. Not that I could hack it in any SF unit, but if I could, you bet that I'd choose one of the traditional, renowned ones. If you put your a** on the line in an SF unit, you ought to at least take advantage of the bragging rights associated with being a Green Beret, Army Ranger or whatever. ;)
 
I enlisted in the US Air Force in 1965. The lifers called us "draft dodgers" and said we only signed up with the Air Force so we wouldn't get drafted and sent to Viet Nam.

Interesting concept: enlist to avoid combat. A couple of my friends got into the fields they enlisted for, Para-Rescue and Air Police, both of which were pretty sure tickets to the war zone.
 
I'm under the impression that the responses will be highly dependent upon the time frame a person joined.

I joined the Navy in the '80s. To me, it was a better "career" (I think that buzz word was just ramping up about the time). Small town job prospects were miserable and it appeared more intersting than being on the line at a factory, driving a truck, etc.

A large percentage of my co-enlistees joined for economic reasons during the '80s and '90s (when I left) in my experience. Army, Navy, and Air Force personel I dealt with, anyway. "Learn a skill", "get money for college", etc.

Marines seemed to be generally different. A lot more "Gung-Ho" attitude and reputation seemed to play a major role for first timers.

Why Navy? Figured I could see more of the world, not too enthused on living in the outdoors (glasses can be a real pain when away from modern conveniences), and the career offers from other service's recruiters didn't sound too civilian compatable.
 
Hell, I'm about to put on SSgt, I've been in the USAF for almost 5 years.

But I'm an idiot, I joined for a girl :p Granted, I do like my job, and it definitely wasn't a bad choice. I'm a crew chief on U-2s, Stationed at Osan AB, Korea.

The Air Force is slowly moving away from the 'chair force' mentality. More stringent physical requirements, more warfighter exercises, and more deployments.

Recently, I find myself wondering if I should have gone to college instead of enlisting. In reality, the Air Force gave me the structure that I needed to make something of myself. And once I get out, I'll have cash to pay for college and get my learn on ;)
 
When I went to UCONN in 1961, ROTC was mandatory for the first two years. I had never even thought of the military up until then. When they had all us freshman in a big auditorium for processing paperwork to enter the school we had to choose either army or air force ROTC. I asked the guy next to me (a complete stranger) what was easier. He said he thought the army was.:D I ended up staying with the program and got a commission four years later. Two years after that I was a tank company commander in war zone C, RVN. I stayed in for 5 years.
 
I joined the army back in 1964 for a simple reason; the guaranteed enlistment program. (don't even know if they're still doing that). Essentially, they guaranteed to send you to the training you wanted if you qualified for the school.
I wanted to be a medic, and that's where they sent me.
 
wanted to be a Marine in 1987 made a 99 on my asvab my recruiter wanted me to go into ROTC found out I had asthma dropped me like a hot potatoe

Wanted to be a marine from as early as I could remeber to belong to a group of people willing to lay down their lives for what they love, to fight and live to protect what you love.
 
Why did I join the Army?

Well, my grades in high school were not exactly college prep material, and I was really tired of going to school anyway.
And I was really tired of my little hometown in NC and I wanted to see more of the world--there had to be more to life than working at Freight-Liner or the textile mill.
So I went and talked to the recruiter.

But why the Army?

Well, this was my thinking as a young 19 year old kid.
And keep in mind that I was young and rather ignorant at the time:

I wanted to be a warrior, plain and simple.
I wanted to "fight" for our nation.

I reasoned that, in the Air Force, if you're not a pilot then you're really just someone who is helping the guy who is really doing all of the "fighting".

And in the Navy, if you're not a pilot or the captain of the ship, then once again, you're just helping out and not really doing any "fighting" for yourself.

(see, I told you I was young and ignorant)

looking back, the Coast Guard never crossed my mind--I don't know why.
Maybe I'm just too far from the coast?

So that left just the Army and the Marines as far as I was concerned.
Both were branches of the military where you carried a rifle everyday and faced the enemy up close and personal--that's what I thought that I wanted.

But why the Army?

The fact is, my older brother had just joined the Marines about a year earlier.
Well there was no way in hell that I was going to tag along and follow in my brother's footsteps.
So, I went and talked to the Army recruiter, and the next thing I knew I was going through Basic Training in Oklahoma...in December!

I did my two years and then re-enlisted for four more.
I married a female Soldier and got out--but if I had not gotten married, I would probably still be in right now.

Allen.
 
I joined the Marines just to see if I could do it. I decided about halfway through my senior year of high school. Decided to go to the reserves as I had a soccer/academic scholarship. Boot camp was a tight squeeze between graduation and college (actuallly missed orientation and all that stuff).
 
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