On the army note, I guess the MA guard is looking for qualified (potential) aviation mechanics to the tune of a 20K signing bonus. Whatever you decide to do, if it is the MA guard route my recruiter is genuinely a good guy who has been very helpful, so I'm happy to put you two in touch.
As far as USMC to Army... different world. I'm also going from Infantry to Airwing, so the only way to get more extreme would probably be go USAF or Coast Guard or something. I try not to wear being a Marine on my sleeve too much, I'm really here to learn. I'm obviously happy to be wearing the uniform. In some ways I think they are on to something -- there seems to be less needless yelling and discomfort. On the other hand there is significantly less "combat focus," but bear in mind I come at this as a former grunt.
I think your mileage may vary a lot depending where in the Army you wind up. Army infantry seems to be much more similar to the USMC spanning from marksmanship to military customs and courtesies to PT.
None of this is meant to knock the army. There are some great people in the unit I'm currently with, and the atmosphere is MUCH more collegial. A lot more people stay in as it's a lot more sustainable, and because it's State based, a lot of these people have been around one another for 6-10-20 years. It seems like a bunch of friends who do their militia thing rather than a bunch of 18 year olds getting hazed by a handful of SSgts training for war counting down the days until they get out. And I don't mean this in a bad way. Definitely happy I made the jump.
The TLDR of it is: it's a different animal, and I'd expect you to see quite a bit of variation depending on "where" in the army you end up. The branches have their differences. I don't think you should toss what you bring to the table as a Marine, but it's not the Marine Corps and there is a difference between contributing to an organization and trying to change it.
Mike
As far as USMC to Army... different world. I'm also going from Infantry to Airwing, so the only way to get more extreme would probably be go USAF or Coast Guard or something. I try not to wear being a Marine on my sleeve too much, I'm really here to learn. I'm obviously happy to be wearing the uniform. In some ways I think they are on to something -- there seems to be less needless yelling and discomfort. On the other hand there is significantly less "combat focus," but bear in mind I come at this as a former grunt.
I think your mileage may vary a lot depending where in the Army you wind up. Army infantry seems to be much more similar to the USMC spanning from marksmanship to military customs and courtesies to PT.
None of this is meant to knock the army. There are some great people in the unit I'm currently with, and the atmosphere is MUCH more collegial. A lot more people stay in as it's a lot more sustainable, and because it's State based, a lot of these people have been around one another for 6-10-20 years. It seems like a bunch of friends who do their militia thing rather than a bunch of 18 year olds getting hazed by a handful of SSgts training for war counting down the days until they get out. And I don't mean this in a bad way. Definitely happy I made the jump.
The TLDR of it is: it's a different animal, and I'd expect you to see quite a bit of variation depending on "where" in the army you end up. The branches have their differences. I don't think you should toss what you bring to the table as a Marine, but it's not the Marine Corps and there is a difference between contributing to an organization and trying to change it.
Mike
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