Best militarybranch family friendly, any california national guards??
 

Been thinking of joining the military, after having the ok from my lady i was hoping some of you vets or in service men can tell me which branch has the best oppertunities and also trying to figure out if the gi pay will be enough for me amd my family? Is there any california national guards in here or national guards that have advice or can guide me?

Unless you can get hooked up in a full time gaurd postion, the guard or the reserve aren't going to support anything since they are both weekend duties. Active duty is the only way you're going to be able to support a family without having regular civilian job.

A lot of which branch is dependant on what you're looking to do, and the type of military atmosphere you want.

I enlisting soon with the Marine Corps, but I know they offer the least amount of benefits, i.e enlistment bonus, enlistment promotion, living conditions, etc. But hey, I know I want to be a Marine.

Air Force

Your lady ? or wife . girlfriends get no say in a decision you may regret for life vs a wife.

All branches of the service have set pay rates for servise menbers for the Enlisted / Officer ranks and all are dam near the same. So to base a decision of pay wont help much think in eight years later will i want cool (USMC grunt stories - guns, running, yelling, drinking ect...) or ( Airforce /Navy alot of inside desk jokes and the occasional office prank that goes wrong :) .
So do you have a degree ? do you want a career when you get out no infantry/grunt job :( will do much in that field, or airforce / navy you are more likely to fall into a career. all that is based on what the branch teaches you not on the abilites you as an individual posses.

Read the fine print. Training opportunities differ, but your initial enlistment contract will outline everything you're entitled to and guaranteed.

Second, think about what you want to do post-military and ask yourself if the training and job experience the recruiter is selling you will put you on track to do that.

Lastly, if you want a job, go Air Force or Navy. If you want to join a fraternity in arms, join the Army or Marines.

P.S. OP, if you have any other questions, feel free to send PM.

Chair Force. I haven't met anybody that hated it. What MOS are you looking at. That will help.

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Air force, if you want the better family housing, living conditions and better locations.

I was always absolutely astounded at the desparity in the living coniditions between the Marines/Navy and the Air Force when I was overseas. There is no comparison. Better barraks, more privledges, better exchanges, restraunts, better E clubs and nice bases around the world that you actually stand a chance of getting stationed at. Doesnt mean you wont work when your an Airmen, I'm just saying your conditions over all would be completely different/better.

The atmosphere is different too. Theres a reason they dont even accept prior enlisted from certain other services.

I was in the Army over 26 years, "If you want to join a fraternity in arms, join the Army or Marines" is the best way to go. You don't know what the future holds, but working with people who have your back is the way to go. I was station on bases of all the branches. AF, easiest, but everyone was an individual, no REAL team work. Frustrated airmen looking for the military experience used to show-up to run PT with my units. They would hang out with my soldiers, complain about the AF, being too lax. I liked USMC bases best. Great teamwork, great guys!! I knew no Marine would EVER let me down!! Navy, not too impressed, always seemed to have some excuse why something didn't or couldn't get done.

Summary: AF best bases, quality of life, least work. USMC, could spend more money on quality of life, work HARD, great teamwork!! Army, good balance, good oportunities ( I went from: enlisted-nco-wo/cwo-commisioned). Navy, not too impressed.

If you join the Reserve/Guard and doing one weekend a month then the answer is HELL NO the money isn't enough to pay for anything.

If you want enough to take care of your family then you'll have to go active duty.

Well work opportunity wise the Army is the biggest. Now if you're concerned about work/family balance etc.... then Air Force is the only way to go. They'll take great care of you. Their deployment is like 3 month and getting extended is only one more month and it's some serious hardship. Plus if you're in a unique unit and you have to stay with the Army then you'll get special pay since the Army accommodations aren't up to Air Force standards.

The Navy has it's specialty and it's unique occupations.

Generally people do not enlist in the Marines for benefits, they only enlist to be a Marine.

Bottom line is choose a job in the branch that you will be happy in. Every job/branch has it's pros and cons.

I think you just need to see what each branch can offer you and your family. Everyone enlists in the branch they are in for a reason of their own.. so do a little research and see which branch can better help you. In the end.. we all serve under the same flag :]

3 years navy and 18 army,trust me when i say u.s. air force.

Air Force, clean bunks, hot chow. And if you do well, you can get into the UFO program and wear a blue jump suit, but you can never talk about it ;)

Best Advice I can give you is each branch offers something different from one another. You have to find what you want from the military and go from there. Now I always have to be the bad guy and say that you will have to climb some hurdles to get in. Military is very very selective now and they are really only looking for SINGLE 18-20 Y/O.
Military is cutting costs and your are going to be someone that will cost the militray ALOT more than most cause they have to pay you Housing, Cola, BAS etc...

Shop around and get as much information as you can. Its very difficult right now to get in and wish you all the best in making your decision.

If you want my opinion BE A DEVIL DOC best damn job in Military(NAVY CORPSMAN)

Thanks everybody for all your information and advice, if i was to join national guard full active deputy how is their deployment? And how Do you only stay in the states? I always wanted to be a marine but i havnt seen much career choices from them, i wanted to join at a younger age just to be in infrantry but now that im considering a career i wanted to kkow if anybody has information on airforce fire protection program?

I have two sons serving in the Army and a third serving in the Air Force. I know the Army is very family friendly. If you were single, you'd share a room with another soldier. If your married, they provide base housing for your family. It includes full medical coverage. Not sure about the AF as that son is single.

My sons.
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Marines have Crash fire rescue. I met a couple of Marines that do that job, they love it. Not sure how it translates into the civilian sector though. Call a recruiter from the branches you're interested in and see how you like it. But, if you're worried about deploying I'd look into something else....

I am actually stationed at the USAF firedog tech school. I'm not a firedog I am another AFSC but I have plenty of friends in the program. If you need any questions answered about the firedog program just let me know and I will find out directly from the school itself. The army, marines and navy also train their firefighters here at goodfellow afb.

Air Force over Army any day!

As someone who served 20 years in the Navy and was a recruiter for 3 of them.
I would have joined the AIRFORCE had I known. They simply take care of their people advancement is a little slower than most but the working conditions the food and the environment much better.
Trick is will they take you?????

If your worried about deployment, then dont join the military. Coast Guard doesnt have an over seas deploment, I dont think, but they have equally challenging missions.

Thinking of it, Since we have OBAMA as president again, you might not have to worry about deploying...

Yeah,they have these wars and stuff.

If your worried about staying home and local all the time,maybe the Service isn't your best choice,since it sounds like you have other priorities.

That being said, Air Force. I had a good time,even though I slept in a tent in the desert for months, stupid wars :mad:

Make extra money going TDY, I went all over and made extra cash (per diam etc...)
Load master, you get to travel drop stuff off and leave, or a communications,electronics AFSC if you have the aptitude.

It's a hard choice if you want to be home with your "lady" all the time.

No offence intended, but this sounds like joining for the wrong reasons.

Not really sure how you explain that the Army is very family friendly. As far as housing and medical it's the same for all the branches.

I think the Air Force get their own "dorm" room for singles whereas the Army have to share with a roommate in barracks and yes the "dorms" are nicer than the barracks.

Reminds me of the old: "If the military wanted you to have a spouse, they would issue you one."

What kind of job are you looking at getting? Combat arms, medical, technoligical, intelligence?

I went into the Navy for a job that would give me a career experience and college credits in the area I wanted to perform as a civilian. If I hadnt of known what I wanted to do and just wanted to get into the military in general, I would have chose Air Force.

So make sure you consider what you want to do after the military because even if you stay in all the way to retirement, you might still be pretty young comparitively when you get out and still want to work for a while especially if you get out with a college degree and other skills that make you marketable in civilian sector.

The years go by faster than you think. I know it might be hard to pick the right thing if you dont truly know what you want to do, just DONT go "undesignated" (no specific job code) choose Some Kind of job and get your military schools out of the way when your young because it sure as heck doesnt get easier to do all that physical conditioning the old you get.

My Coastie buddy was deployed three times. Once to "ABOT" Al-Asbar Oil Terminal in the middle of no where, another time to Jordan and lastly GITMO so it happens.

Cant support the family with the Guard bro. Less you land a full time position and you need to be an NCO for that as well as fighting everyone for that position. Deployments are going to start winding down and thats the only time you're getting full time pay.

Joining the military was the best choice I've made so far in life. Like others have said you have to go full time/Active Duty to be able to support you and your family. You would get your base pay, a house on base or an allowance to live off base plus some money for food.

Where do you currently live? I'm in Afghanistan right now but If you're close to where im stationed (Travis AFB, Northern Cali) I can show you around and let you talk to people on whatever job you may have interests in. Nothing like first hand experience and getting it straight from the people who work there and not a recruiter...Deployment tempo's have picked up for some jobs, I was home 10 months and came right back to Afghanistan between this year and last year. I've been in Afghanistan longer than I've lived in my new home! lol

I love all the chair forcre remarks...and the guy that mentioned that we have no teamwork??? How the hell do we get anything done without team work. There seem to be some posts that are flawed but the AF has been good for me and my family and I've been in a little over 8 years...

Look friend...

If you want to take care of your family, get an education and a degree(s) and a solid job in the civilian world. If you want a "rewarding" military style job, look into the Air Marshall's or Homeland security. Both could support a family, depending on where you live, and most importantly... have the highest probability of getting you home safe to your family.

I was a young mens youth advisor for many years. When asked about my time in the military, I responded with this...

"Whatever force you choose, make sure your choice prepares you for life beyond the military!"

Perhaps, just perhaps, you may find military life not to your liking. Take the opportunity get an education or learn a trade while in, that you may choose elsewhere.

I served 8 years in the USMC, doing a job I thought I would never do elsewhere. I have now almost 20 years in a field the utilizes the logistical training I received in the Marine Corps. Whoda thunkit?

All that being said....

No other branch IMHO beats the comradeship that the Marine Corps installs in you. That alone is reason for joining for some!

Good luck in your decision!

Is the lady going to be okay with being in a new location and you being gone for 12 months? boredom really does suck and getting a job isn't always easy at a new location. Army deployments are 12 months, then I think Marines are 7 months and AF was 3 months and Navy was 6 months. I'm only sure about the Army the others are just guesses.

Is $1,757 per month (before tax) going to be fine with you. Don't count housing since they'll provide housing.

Think this through, it's not like you're just gonna work another job it's a whole change of lifestyle. It's easier when you're 18.

Honestly I couldn't do it now, even though I'm still within the age range but it was a lot easier when I was 18. It was like a bad nightmare, okay it wasn't too bad I was just outta shape.

Yes life after the military is very important, don't choose to be a mechanic and then expect to work in an office after you get out.

DO NOT FOR THE LIFE OF YOU JOIN THE NATIONAL GUARD! I REGRET JOINING GUARD/RESERVES AND WISH THAT I HAD WENT ACTIVE, just my opinion, if you want to join the military for yourself and to challenge ur body and mind both physically and mentally then go for active all the way! As for what branch, if you want to enjoy yourself I say go air force or navy.

Your best bet get with a recruiter, take the asvab, DOESNT MEAN YOUR GONNA JOIN WITH THAT RECRUITER, ask for your asvab test results, take them to all other branches and see what jobs you qualify for! Best of luck to you and if any other question please feel free to PM me, Take care!

And thanks to the commander in chief for that!