Which Branch of the US Military Service Offers the Best Quality of Life?

FPrice

Retired Zoomie
NES Life Member
NES Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2005
Messages
25,922
Likes
18,479
Location
Western Mass
Feedback: 104 / 0 / 0
An interesting albeit very short article view of military quality of life. (Came from the Quora forum)

Which branch of the U.S. military service offers the best quality of life?

As a former Coast Guardsman, I recall meeting a couple of Marines on the way from San Diego to Tijuana one evening. They were in “school” and their daily routine was: up at 0430 for PT, then shower, chow, and on to class. Our life on ship was: up at 6 or so, chow, quarters at 0800, ships work (maintenance), stand two 4-hour watches (8 hours apart), etc. The marines commented, “we f*cked up, didn’t we.”
The other key difference:

In the Army and Marines, the enlisted carry a rifle; the officers send the enlisted forward to fight.

In the Air Force, the enlisted work on the plane; the enlisted send the officers forward to fight.

In the Coast Guard and Navy, we’re all on the same floating target.

During WW-II the Coast Guard had a higher per-capita casualty rate than the Marine Corp. The guy standing at the back of the landing craft driving the Marines to the beach was a Coastie. One Coastie was awarded the Medal of Honor (posthumously) for pulling several loads of Marines off the beach at Guadalcanal. His dying words were, “Did we get them all?” (Yeah, they named a ship in his honor.)
One more thought . . . The Navy doesn’t send much more than a small boat out without an officer in charge. The Coast Guard sends their top of the line rescue boats out with an E5 in charge. The Coast Guard (in the 70s) was the same size as the New York Police Department.

Yet another . . . Coast Guard Ice Breakers used to get an extra 50% added to their commissary budget when operating beyond the Arctic or Antarctic circle. So, the meals were very good. (But falling in the water can kill you.)
 
It’s four years of a young person’s life and they want to choose which branch based on who has the nicest golf course? Soft! Choose the branch that will make you the best man or woman you can be, whatever that means to you. Don’t choose based on who has a better taco night at the chow hall.
 
Depends if you are a bullet launcher or supporting bullet launchers. High technology forces have very high “Tail To Tooth” ratios.

//In the Army and Marines, the enlisted carry a rifle; the officers send the enlisted forward to fight.//
Yet the motto of the Infantry is “Follow Me,” and USA and USMC Infantry Lieutenants have very short life expectancies in combat.

Seen the USCG heading out when everyone else is heading in many times, so no one should ever question their readiness or courage.
 
Every US port we pulled into we always went to the nearest chAir Force base.

Food was always good and AC was always cold. Their on base BEQ was pretty nice, too.
USAF is the hardest branch to get into but the easiest to get through. It is the most technical of the branches. Tech support of the aircraft and weapons systems.
 
Marine Corps if you’re not a f***ing pussy.
Cherry Coats for the win
5bd2f0b6629f4b0a832f7182_QGAbL3Schf9a4dxxLGIaQV3Jpwb6MkWn.jpg
 
USAF is the hardest branch to get into but the easiest to get through. It is the most technical of the branches. Tech support of the aircraft and weapons systems.
Curious if that's still current. I worked with someone who just enlisted in the AF, at 29 years old. Zero college and, to me anyhow, didn't seem very bright.
 
Curious if that's still current. I worked with someone who just enlisted in the AF, at 29 years old. Zero college and, to me anyhow, didn't seem very bright.
Fields like Security police, the guys that check stickers and ID's coming on base, have a lower ASVAB score requirement. Cook and chief bottle washer too. "missile maintenance" can be on the low side. Met a guy whose only job was to wash the missiles. He was a few cards short of a full deck.
But for the technical fields, there is higher percentage of that in the USAF than the other branches.
Navy only needs so many nuke techs for the subs. :D
 
Which Branch of the US Military Service Offers the Best Quality of Life?
I suppose that depends on what an individual person defines as "quality of life".

Want to three hot meals a day, take frequent showers, and sleep in a bed every night?
The blue collar jobs in the Navy and Air Force might be the way to go.

Want to test your physical, mental, an emotional endurance in extreme terrain and weather?
The combat arms MOSs in the Army and Marines may be a better choice.

One Coastie was awarded the Medal of Honor (posthumously) for pulling several loads of Marines off the beach at Guadalcanal.
One of those Marines who was saved by Signalman 1st Class Munro was Chesty Puller; a Marine's Marine and eventually became the most decorated Marine in history.
 
I suppose that depends on what an individual person defines as "quality of life".

Want to three hot meals a day, take frequent showers, and sleep in a bed every night?
The blue collar jobs in the Navy and Air Force might be the way to go.

Want to test your physical, mental, an emotional endurance in extreme terrain and weather?
The combat arms MOSs in the Army and Marines may be a better choice.


One of those Marines who was saved by Signalman 1st Class Munro was Chesty Puller; a Marine's Marine and eventually became the most decorated Marine in history.

There are several AFSCs in the Air Force which will test your "physical, mental, an emotional endurance in extreme terrain and weather" also. Combat Control, Pararescue, Special Reconnaissance (formerly Special Operations Weather) will test you severely. Tactical Air Control Party, while not strictly "Special Operations" does work on the front lines with combat troops.
 
Curious if that's still current. I worked with someone who just enlisted in the AF, at 29 years old. Zero college and, to me anyhow, didn't seem very bright.

Depending on ASVAB, they can usually find a use for you. Especially if the recruiter has a quota to fill and you're too ignorant to be picky about your job.

It's rare to be "too dumb to serve," but it does happen. When I was in ROTC, we had a cadet fail the summer training she needed in order to be eligible to commission. I remember the cadre were all shocked: apparently, it was the first time anyone could remember that a cadet had completely failed to meet the minimum requirements, despite retests.

She was dumb as a box of rocks, but there were plenty of cadets just as dumb as she was who made the grade. The Army found room for them. Chemical Corps needs officers, too.
 
There are several AFSCs in the Air Force which will test your "physical, mental, an emotional endurance in extreme terrain and weather" also. Combat Control, Pararescue, Special Reconnaissance (formerly Special Operations Weather) will test you severely. Tactical Air Control Party, while not strictly "Special Operations" does work on the front lines with combat troops.
Yes, the Coast Guard, Navy and the Air Force have their little slice of hard jobs, but the vast majority of those jobs in those services are maintenance in nature.

All that being said, only about 20% of the Marine Corps is Infantry, and the Marine Corps in total only makes up about 14% of the US military.
 
Yes, the Coast Guard, Navy and the Air Force have their little slice of hard jobs, but the vast majority of those jobs in those services are maintenance in nature.

All that being said, only about 20% of the Marine Corps is Infantry, and the Marine Corps in total only makes up about 14% of the US military.

I read somewhere that back during the height of GWOT, the total number of active 11-series Joes in the whole US Army would have fit in Meadowlands Stadium.

Obviously the Army is full of other maneuver jobs, but most of the Army is the tail, not the tooth.
 
I read somewhere that back during the height of GWOT, the total number of active 11-series Joes in the whole US Army would have fit in Meadowlands Stadium.

Obviously the Army is full of other maneuver jobs, but most of the Army is the tail, not the tooth.
It has been that way for a long time for all the services.

During Vietnam the tooth to nail ratio was 1:12.9 and during the Cold War it was 1:14.4.

Without the "other end of the spear" the combat arms servicemembers couldn't do their jobs.
 
HAHAHAHAHA - until you're on a 44' that's outlived its service life in 14' seas off of Sandy Hook and it's 24 degrees outside doing a search pattern for 7 hours and you're 19 years old freezing your poorly PPE'd ass off......
Some of the best times of my life! Not at the time, of course, and lots of things hurt now when it's cold out. And when it's not cold out for that matter, and my hearing is shot, but I've never been so cold and miserable with such incredible people.

And you're right - Mustangs were NOT sufficient PPE in D1 waters in the winter. Holy shit was that cold sometimes. Been so cold it actually hurt to warm up again. Still have a scar on the top of my head from the QAWTD to the mess deck (the part of the latch riveted to the air castle pulled out while I was standing on the ladder, knocked my ass back and through the chart table). For some strange reason I miss the hell out of it sometimes. Especially the 44 days.
 
Some of the best times of my life! Not at the time, of course, and lots of things hurt now when it's cold out. And when it's not cold out for that matter, and my hearing is shot, but I've never been so cold and miserable with such incredible people.

And you're right - Mustangs were NOT sufficient PPE in D1 waters in the winter. Holy shit was that cold sometimes. Been so cold it actually hurt to warm up again. Still have a scar on the top of my head from the QAWTD to the mess deck (the part of the latch riveted to the air castle pulled out while I was standing on the ladder, knocked my ass back and through the chart table). For some strange reason I miss the hell out of it sometimes. Especially the 44 days.

Civilians will never get how wonderful it can feel to be absolutely miserable.

Neither will Zoomies.





/s
 
Some of the best times of my life! Not at the time, of course, and lots of things hurt now when it's cold out. And when it's not cold out for that matter, and my hearing is shot, but I've never been so cold and miserable with such incredible people.

And you're right - Mustangs were NOT sufficient PPE in D1 waters in the winter. Holy shit was that cold sometimes. Been so cold it actually hurt to warm up again. Still have a scar on the top of my head from the QAWTD to the mess deck (the part of the latch riveted to the air castle pulled out while I was standing on the ladder, knocked my ass back and through the chart table). For some strange reason I miss the hell out of it sometimes. Especially the 44 days.
Hahahaha, rust buckets. I saw a BM1 fil a hole in the well deck with double bubble and green death. We used to call it the slug tug at Manasquan.

The mustangs sucked lol
 
Hahahaha, rust buckets. I saw a BM1 fil a hole in the well deck with double bubble and green death. We used to call it the slug tug at Manasquan.

The mustangs sucked lol
Yeah, but they either ran or didn't. None of the million things that could go wrong on the 47's. The mains ran, and that's all that mattered. Set them to 2380 and don't touch the sticks again until you're on-scene - no constant adjustments so you didn't knock your teeth out or break your Engineer's ribs. No "oh shit, what's that alarm? I've never heard that one before!" 47 was all in all a huge improvement, but I'm always a bit nostalgic for the old sea tractor. Had some memorable times on the 44301, 44403, 44357, and 44397.
 
An interesting albeit very short article view of military quality of life. (Came from the Quora forum)

Which branch of the U.S. military service offers the best quality of life?
As a former Coast Guardsman, I recall meeting a couple of Marines on the way from San Diego to Tijuana one evening. They were in “school” and their daily routine was: up at 0430 for PT, then shower, chow, and on to class. Our life on ship was: up at 6 or so, chow, quarters at 0800, ships work (maintenance), stand two 4-hour watches (8 hours apart), etc. The marines commented, “we f*cked up, didn’t we.”
The other key difference:

In the Army and Marines, the enlisted carry a rifle; the officers send the enlisted forward to fight.

In the Air Force, the enlisted work on the plane; the enlisted send the officers forward to fight.

In the Coast Guard and Navy, we’re all on the same floating target.

During WW-II the Coast Guard had a higher per-capita casualty rate than the Marine Corp. The guy standing at the back of the landing craft driving the Marines to the beach was a Coastie. One Coastie was awarded the Medal of Honor (posthumously) for pulling several loads of Marines off the beach at Guadalcanal. His dying words were, “Did we get them all?” (Yeah, they named a ship in his honor.)
One more thought . . . The Navy doesn’t send much more than a small boat out without an officer in charge. The Coast Guard sends their top of the line rescue boats out with an E5 in charge. The Coast Guard (in the 70s) was the same size as the New York Police Department.

Yet another . . . Coast Guard Ice Breakers used to get an extra 50% added to their commissary budget when operating beyond the Arctic or Antarctic circle. So, the meals were very good. (But falling in the water can kill you.)
You do know that's mostly bullshit right? I have always hated that statement. I'm a mustang. Made SSG then ocs and retired as a MAJ. When I was enlisted we had officers with us in combat.....when I was an officer I was always out with my people.
 
You do know that's mostly bullshit right? I have always hated that statement. I'm a mustang. Made SSG then ocs and retired as a MAJ. When I was enlisted we had officers with us in combat.....when I was an officer I was always out with my people.

Yeah, most people (I hope) know that's bullshit.

Our BC wouldn't let officers take out anything but rifles, and the only people who hung out inside the wire were the TOC weenies. Sure, officers need to stay in comms... but it's not 1917. Radios can move now.
 
Yes, the Coast Guard, Navy and the Air Force have their little slice of hard jobs, but the vast majority of those jobs in those services are maintenance in nature.

All that being said, only about 20% of the Marine Corps is Infantry, and the Marine Corps in total only makes up about 14% of the US military.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Coast Guard has the most operational vs support personnel. No hard facts or research to back it up, just my estimation. (I was also operational my entire 21 years, so it might be a biased impression.)
 
“A day in the Marine Corps is like a day on the farm. Every meal’s a banquet! Every paycheck’s a fortune! Every formation’s a parade! I love the corps!”

"Man, this floor is freezing".

"What do you want me to do, fetch your slippers for you?"

"Gee, would you sir? I'd like that."

"Look into my eye. Fall in people, c'mon let's go."
 
Back
Top Bottom