I get this question a lot, and not just from JIG readers. While I’m a little biased to the Few and the Proud, even I can admit that there are different benefits and downsides to serving in each of the different branches.
Well the folks over at About.com put together a decent guide to choosing a service to enlist in. It doesn’t cover everything (if that is even possible), and it focuses mostly on the enlisted experience, but it is good reading for anyone trying to wrestle with that decision.
So before you post a question on the forums or send an email, please take a good look at the guide and see if it helps answer some of your questions.
Things to Consider When Choosing Which Military Service to Join
Being that ‘Things to Consider When Enlsting in the Coast Guard’ isn’t written up yet, my opinion is that it is a demanding and rewarding service. Check out the ASVAB requirements. It may be the most stringent.
The Coast Guard is the smallest of the services with 40,000 active duty and 8,000 reservists. It’s a small and culturally diverse family. With 11 missions to be met, the Coast Guard offers a wide range of career opportunities. Check out this link that explains the 11 Coast Guard missions:
http://www.uscg.mil/top/missions/
My experience has been very positive. I joined as a reservist, because 9/11 pissed me off. I intended to complete 1 reserve contract as my duty to my country, but am now almost 8 years on and am on active duty. That says a lot after working 20 years as a civilian in technology. Also, I’m comparing my experience with my wife’s experience as an Army National Guard reservist.
All our services are excellent organizations. Know your personal and career goals, and you’ll know which is best for you.
When I enlisted in the 1990s, the stated goal was college money. At the time, the pre-9/11 GI Bill was available to every service, but only the Army and the Navy had significant kickers. With the Army College Fund, I left active duty with $40K easy for college.
What I didn’t know, however, is that many state National Guards, like Pennsylvania, have massive tuition assistance programs for state colleges. This would have been a viable option, too, and sometimes, if one got lucky, one could even sneak grad school by if undergraduates didn’t exhaust it all. Suffice to say, leveraging veteran rates on costs, my service paid all the way through a graduate degree.
But the stated intent of joining quickly was backgrounded, over nearly two decades, by the camraderie, the tasks.
Like Capt. Rubin, my own sense is skewed. Don’t join the military and do some lackluster career field that’s interchangeable with a civilian occupation. You may wince at the idea, but do something that tests you physically, emotionally, and morally. Be a combat soldier, or Marine. Be able to regale your shul with tales of derring-do. Put your knees to the breeze as a paratrooper, rappel from helicopters, heck, fly a helicopter. Make your time meaningful, let all your GI Joe fantasies come true.
And when you’re in garrison, moving wall lockers up four flights of steps, waxing floors to a mirror finish, listening to the good ol’ boys in your formation spitting their chewing tobacco-laden saliva, you will have a vision of your own country that will far exceed that of your non-serving (pantywaist) peers.
Whatever way you do it, do it Jewishly, and you will bring credit to country, family, and faith community in so doing.
All the best!